A Seattle perspective of DFAT as a funder

CANBERRA — Seattle-based BIO Ventures for Global Health is one of the many partners supporting the delivery of Australia’s aid program. Established in 2004 with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and Biotechnology Industry Organization, its mission is to solve global health issues by forming connections between people, resources, and ideas. The organization connects scientists and researchers from low- and middle-income countries with private pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and life science companies. “There is scarce funding out there and everyone wants to know that they aren’t just funding an organization that is going to write a few publications and articles and not evaluate the sustainability and impact of their program.” --— Jennifer Dent, president, BIO Ventures for Global Health Through the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Re:Search program, BVGH is achieving its goals by establishing sustainable partnerships to facilitate the development of new medicines and technologies to fight neglected tropical diseases, malaria, and tuberculosis. It is through this global initiative that Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade became aware of BVGH and its potential to support Australian aid objectives. “Through WIPO Re:Search we coordinate specific capacity building where BVGH matches scientists from low- and middle-income countries research institutes with both private industries — pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies — as well as academic organizations,” BVGH President Jennifer Dent, told Devex. “We coordinate scientific exchange programs to support knowledge transfer and capacity building across a number of fellowships,” Dent said. In 2013, DFAT started providing funding to six scientist sabbaticals lasting between three and twelve months. The first round supported the training and professional development of African researchers, in line with Australia’s investment priorities in sub-Saharan Africa. Researchers developed capabilities in drug, vaccine, and diagnostics for diseases impacting their home countries. DFAT rated the fellowships a success — it aligned nicely with goals to strengthen scientific capacity within partner countries as well as support the control and elimination of infectious diseases. The second round in 2016 funded an additional 10 scientist exchanges and became more closely aligned with Australian aid objectives, through a focus on the Indo-Pacific region, with institutions in Australia acting as hosts. DFAT was the first government partner for BVGH. As BVGH begins negotiations on what the third round of this partnership will look like, Dent discussed DFAT as a funder and doors the collaboration is opening. Partnering with DFAT While DFAT provided funding for the scientist sabbaticals, the funding went through a chain of organizations, including IP Australia and WIPO before being supplied to BVGH as part of WIPO’s funds in trust from member states. The director general of WIPO — Francis Gurry — is Australian, and Dent believes that Gurry’s advocacy of the program and good relationship with the Australian government helped push the initial partnership over the line. “All of those stars aligned to help us execute this demonstration program and then DFAT looked at that project to see its value,” Dent said. The program also fit objectives and did not require a large financial investment. Since the program was well defined, DFAT was could be hands off in the first round, it was a low-risk option despite this being a new partnership. When BVGH developed a mid-term and final report to share with DFAT, Dent said the feedback was fantastic. And through the success of the initial collaboration, follow-up fellowships were agreed upon with funding for a third round expected to be finalized in the first half of 2019. Despite IP Australia acting as a facilitator, the work of BVGH is to support the objectives of DFAT in delivering the Australian aid program, making it important to be on top of changing objectives. Since the beginning of BVGH’s partnership with the Australian aid program, Australia has had five changes in prime minister, which has dramatically altered the Australian aid program — including sectors of focus, geographic footprint, and budget. “What our team does is we look specifically at Australian aid strategic goals and objectives,” Dent explained. “There is scarce funding out there and everyone wants to know that they aren’t just funding an organization that is going to write a few publications and articles and not evaluate the sustainability and impact of their program,” Dent said. While BVGH has experience engaging philanthropic organizations, research institutions, and private organizations as funders, DFAT was the first government organization that provided funding for these scientist exchanges. “Our experience with DFAT has been positive from the beginning,” Dent said. “With the first program, they gave us complete leeway. They had some very general criteria that they wanted — to promote exchanges between countries and institutions — and were open to a defined program, but we had a lot of flexibility in the choices within that framework.” Expanding work with other aid partners The circles in which BVGH operates do not necessarily create a direct line of communication to global aid organizations, despite their objectives supporting the Sustainable Development Goals. In the area of infectious diseases, Dent sees BVGH as providing an important service in facilitating scientific knowledge to identify the gaps in medical research. “We have been thinking about developing a model that brings together and looks at the burden of a disease, and if it is near elimination we should be investing in surveillance and diagnostics,” Dent explained. “Thinking about the investments strategically and being able to help to inform the funders of where their dollars are best invested is important. Currently, there is not a model linking all of those aspects,” Dent said. Dent said it was important for aid organizations to understand the sustainability scientific exchanges bring and she also hopes BVGH’s work with the Australian aid program will help open doors for other donors to consider supporting exchanges to build medical and scientific capacity in LMICs. “I’ve had discussions with Germany and the European Commission,” Dent said. “Our work with Australia is a fantastic demonstration. It provides an opportunity to present this work we have managed to other aid organizations as something we could deliver for them in a manner tailored to their interests.” “There are a number of countries that want to strengthen scientific knowledge and connections international, and the work we have done with Australian aid showcases how BVGH can support this.”