Article
CLEAR-Africa consortium sets direction at inception meeting in South Africa
The CLEAR-Africa consortium held its inception meeting from 14–18 October 2025 at Skukuza Safari Lodge in South Africa, bringing together principal investigators and research teams from all six partner institutions. The meeting marked the official launch of a programme aimed at strengthening national and regional resilience by developing epidemiological-economic modelling frameworks to inform evidence-based decision-making.
Over three days of technical and planning sessions, partners established a shared vision, aligned methodologies, and outlined work-plans for the next two years across all work packages.
Day 1 focused on orientation and technical grounding. Teams conducted stakeholder mapping exercises and reviewed approaches to epidemiological and microeconomic modelling, including data needs, contextual differences, and considerations around ethics and data governance.
Day 2 centred on integrating work packages. Participants examined how the modelling components will align and discussed strategies for policy implementation and translation. They also explored capacity-building mechanisms—such as knowledge-translation workshops and consortium awards—and drafted activity schedules for the coming two years.
Day 3 addressed governance, financial management, and communication. Finance officers reviewed reporting guidelines, while governance discussions covered the formation of an advisory board. Partners also clarified communication protocols and expectations, closing with a Q&A session with the SFA team.
The meeting concluded with partners aligned on next steps and equipped with a coordinated plan to advance CLEAR-Africa’s modelling and capacity-building goals across the continent.
