The collaborative programme OA-RCSP supports research institutions in Africa with the establishment of Open Access repositories and thus facilitates the access and use of knowledge. It is conducted by the Royal Tropical Institute of the Netherlands, the Association of African Universities and other collaborators like the UNESCO, INASP, national consortia and several other institutions.

The OA-RCSP includes a wide range of different activities and products like a toolkit, a knowledge sharing platform, training modules, workshops and the mobilization of resources. One of its key features is the building of corresponding communities and networks s that should ensure a sustainable information management on Open Access principles without binding the users to a specific software.

The support will be provided during the whole process of the repository development: Assistance will be given during the conceptualization, planning, implementation and management of Open Access repositories. Still the process is completely performed by the African organizations and only facilitated by OA-RCSP.