Nota: this is a rewriting of a previous version of this post where we had indicated the amount of the grant awarded to Jeffrey Drope and Marquette University was $451K, a number that appeared on IDRC's website. We trust they know how much they received and the site will eventually be clearer. We thank Jeffrey and Marquette University for this correction.
This contract was signed in June 2009. It is part of the global budget of $5.2 millions provided to IDRC by the Gates Foundation.
The post on the IDRC's site does not say what the participation of the African advocates is and if they'll receive any part of the financial support that is given to Jeffrey Drope (who had previously been awarded smaller consulting contracts).
Jeffrey Drope is the brother of Jacqui Drope who is the senior program officer of the ATSA program. Her name usually appears when ATSA grants are advertised but in this case it is replaced by Greg Hallen (new RITC program leader).
The announcement published on the Marquette University site :
Prof. Jeffrey Drope Receives Major External Grant
Prof. Jeff Drope has received a major external grant to study the effectiveness of utilizing political science research in the implementation of major policy initiatives in Africa. Focusing on tobacco cessation approaches in western Africa, the grant is being funded by the International Development Research Centre in Canada. As a result of the grant, Prof. Drope will not be teaching in the fall, but he will return to teaching in the spring of 2010.
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Copy of the page of the IDRC site that presents this grant (as of December 2)
Project Number 105837Start Date 2009/06/11Program Area/Group SEP | ATSA
| Area Under Study | Sub-Saharan Africa | Africa | Africa South of Sahara |
478500
| Project Type | Research Support Project |
| Project Sub-Type | Program Development |
| Project Status | Active |
| Administrative Unit | Ottawa |
| Regional Office Area | ESARO |
| Responsible Officer | Hallen, Greg |
| ODA Sector | Health Education |
| Canadian Collaboration | No |
| Duration (months) | 6 |
| Extension (months) | 9 |
| Planned Completion Date | 2010/09/01 |
| Total Funding | |
Abstract
The Africa Tobacco Situational Analyses (ATSA) supported by IDRC and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation aims to understand the critical determinants of success for tobacco control in Africa. Analyses are currently being carried out in 12 sub-Saharan countries. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has requested and received country reports on an ongoing basis, and has asked that this continue for the duration of the project. To date, however, much of the information that has been gathered has yet to be organized, analyzed and synthesized for this type of reporting. This grant will allow Marquette University, in partnership with IDRC's Research for International Tobacco Control (RITC), to organize the data that has been collected over the past year and that will be collected until the end of the project in a thoughtful, concerted manner. Marquette University (Milwaukee, USA) is a private research university that focuses on service learning and promoting social justice in Africa.
Recipient Institution(s)
| International Development Research Centre |
| Acronym | CIID, CRDI, IDRC |
| Street Address | 250 Albert Street | Ottawa, Ontario | Canada, K1P 6M1 |
| Website | http://www.idrc.ca |
| Institution Type | Public |
| Geographic Scope | International |
| UN Organization | No |
| Component Number | 002 |
| Research Status | Active |
| Institution Country | Canada |
| Marquette University |
| Street Address | 1341 W. Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 341 | Milwaukee, WI | USA, 53233 |
| Mailing Address | Office of Research & Sponsored Programs | Holthusen Hall, Rm 341 PO BOX 1881 | Milwaukee, WI | USA, 53201-1881 |
| Website | http://www.marquette.edu |
| Institution Type | Private - Not for Profit |
| Geographic Scope | International |
| UN Organization | No |
| Component Number | 001 |
| Research Status | Active |
| Institution Country | United States |
| Researcher Name | Jeffrey M. Drope |
Dear TCA Blog,
Your recent entry about our role in the ATSA project has come to our attention and in the interests of transparency, we wish to correct a significant error, and make a couple of relevant comments.
1) The grant awarded to Marquette University was for approximately $118,300 (USD). We cannot say for certain what the $478,500 amount that you reported is, but we assume that is the total for synthesis and related activities in the larger ATSA budget and program. Our team is executing one part of the synthesis. Also, while Jeffrey Drope is indeed the principal investigator, more importantly, he and his team of graduate researchers have been and are working closely with the ATSA country team leaders and members, and the rich materials they are providing, in order to produce drafts of the syntheses.
2) The IDRC announced the grant to Marquette University publicly and officially to all of the ATSA teams in June, 2009.
3) Because the synthesis process proposed and then executed by Marquette University has been to bring the ATSA teams together, and gather and disseminate (currently internally within ATSA, but it will be public once all of the teams are pleased with the product) the important tobacco control information that they have identified, roughly half the grant was earmarked for bringing the teams together for discussion and sharing (primarily at the African Heart Network conference in Abuja, and the AORTIC meeting in Dar es Salaam); the other half of the grant helps to subsidize researchers' salaries and other necessary research support.
Thank you.
The Marquette University ATSA Research Team
Posted by: The Marquette University ATSA Research Team | December 01, 2009 at 07:38 PM