On July 14, 2020, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced $15 million to support a partnership between Arizona State University and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in the Republic of Ghana to create an innovative research and training center to improve African supply-chains.

The new Center for Applied Research and Innovation in Supply Chain-Africa (CARISCA) will train researchers and practitioners, produce new research, and translate and apply state-of-the-art research from around the world to improve local supply-chains, particularly in health care and agriculture. Understanding local needs and improving how local products and services, such as food or critical medical supplies, move from producers to customers is critical to developing strong, self-reliant economies, and for reaching the poor and marginalized across Africa.

Through this partnership, the new research and training center will do the following:

• Establish Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology as Africa's preeminent source of expertise on the sustainable management of supply-chains;
• Become a resource for researchers in Ghana and across Africa to drive innovative research and training to improve African supply-chains, particularly for women and the most-disadvantaged customers and producers; and
• Leverage the private sector, governments, and civil-society partners to connect African businesses, researchers, and practitioners in supply-chain management to global resources.

USAID works strategically with institutions of higher education to bring ingenuity and innovative approaches to solve critical challenges along the Journey to Self-Reliance. Higher-education partnerships can build and strengthen scientific research capacity to fill gaps in knowledge and empower governments, civil society, and the private sector in our partner countries to address their own development challenges.