A new research institute is being established to overcome ‘brain drain’ in Central Africa by training researchers and scientists at home and providing incentives for them to stay and work on solving local issues.

An article in the Huffington Post explains how talented scholars in the region often head to developed countries for their education and stay abroad; “weakening the region's ability to deal with dire challenges such as water and food security, climate change, loss of biodiversity, and public health”.

The Congo Basin Institute is being established in Cameroon by the University of California, Los Angeles in partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), The World Agroforestry Centre and several other international development organizations and US universities.

The institute will provide a state-of-the-art research facility with the latest equipment, laboratories and distance learning centers to provide training to local and visiting researchers working issues critical to Central Africa. It provides a new model in capacity building with US universities bringing international education and research facilities to the developing world.

Read the full story: Slowing the Brain Drain in Central Africa to Protect the Environment and Public Health