CARISCA using its industry engagements component translates research into development impacts by adapting the successful approach of ASU’s Frontier Economies Logistics Laboratory (FELL), which convenes and fosters collaboration among ASU departments, USAID, private sector partners (PSPs), and civil society organizations (CSOs) to apply supply chain research to development challenges. CARISCA engages a broad base of external Ghanaian and African stakeholders to identify pathways for applying research to shape local policy and meet in-field needs. CARISCA involves the Ghana Chapter of Women in Logistics & Transport (WiLAT) and CSOs to ensure inclusion and positive impact for women and disadvantaged groups. The industry engagement component currently uses the following approaches to achieve its goal annually;
CARISCA’s SCALE Concept is modelled after ASU’s Frontier Economies Logistics Lab which seeks to engage industry players in converting research into action. SCALE complements these research capacity strengthening activities of CARISCA. CARISCA host annual SCALE meetings to translate research into real-world solutions for Ghanaian and pan-African supply chains. SCALE convenes: Practitioners from the private sector, governments, and civil society organizations to discuss supply chain challenges and opportunities. Researchers from KNUST, ASU, and CARISCA affiliates from other higher education institutions, including faculty, graduate students, and selected undergraduate students at the SCALE Lab provide expertise in helping to solve these problems.
SCALE also engages local and multinational private companies, including our private sector and CSO partners that bring access to networks, technology, and real-world best practices.
CARISCA leverages SCALE to identify the most innovative, scalable collaborative projects to strengthen supply chains and provide funding and technical assistance to maximize their likelihood of success and widespread uptake. After each SCALE meeting, a committee comprising the CARISCA project director, senior KNUST SCM faculty, and project partners reviews concepts created by participants and choose one to two to fund or explore based on their potential to solve developmental challenges and scale in Ghana and Africa.
CARISCA prioritizes projects in health and agriculture and those with the highest potential to positively impact women and disadvantaged stakeholders in supply chains. CARISCA determines the right mix of funding and in-kind support from the SCALE Support Fund and stakeholders, respectively, based on each project’s size and scope. CARISCA’s faculty assist projects by adapting SCM research and providing their expertise on an ongoing basis.
CARISCA offers revenue-generating consulting to local and regional governments, higher education institutions, private companies, and CSOs that translate research into approaches for solving local client problems. CARISCA’s consulting focus on the adaptation of research, assistance in implementing new technology and methodologies, and personnel training. CARISCA’s leverages on its the center’s strengthening of its faculty’s SCM research capacity and stakeholder network growth to expand its consulting engagements along with the types of services offered as well as the diversity of its clients it can serve.