Can Forgiveness Be Strengthened in West and South Africa?

TWCF0101 Project Image
  • TWCF Number:

    0101

  • Project Duration:

    September 19, 2014 - September 18, 2017

  • Core Funding Area:

    Big Questions

  • Region:

    Africa

  • Amount Awarded:

    $938,248

Director: Dr. Everett Lee Worthington

Institution: Virginia Commonwealth University

In West Africa and South Africa, the capacity of researchers in universities to conduct publishable research on forgiveness is underdeveloped. The main aim of this project is to foster forgiveness research by African researchers on Africa-centric issues. This projects pursues two major directions. First, it helps train better researchers who will study Africa-centric forgiveness issues. Three safeguards to insure this include (1) requiring training and testing in focus groups to discern what local, regional and continent-wide forgiveness issues are; (2) early consultation with experts in forgiveness in Africa; (3) requirement that the research be Africa-centric and the adherence to that requirement is part of the evaluative criteria. The project aims to establish two regional centers (University of Ghana in Accra, i.e., Legon; University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa), built around a regional director and a consultant-collaborator who select, train, and mentor 19 promising young faculty researchers in West Africa and 13 in South Africa. Two training and networking conferences will be organised at each regional center to stimulate research collaborations between emerging researchers and (a) senior researchers and (b) each other. The conferences are set for January and February of 2016 in West Africa and South Africa, respectively. After our emerging researchers have passed content and methodology competency assessments,  they will submit a letter of intent for a program of study, which will be evaluated. Participants will be winnowed from 32 to 12. They will create Initial Funding Inquiry Forms (IFIFs), which are critiqued and evaluated, identifying six top projects for development grants to carry out one (or more) of their planned studies. Of those, 2 to 4 may be funded by TWCF.  Second, Africa-centric forgiveness research is encouraged by fostering collaborations. The PI and each of two consultant-collaborators will work collaboratively with one or more emerging investigators.

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