This report is a contribution from the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI), Norway, as part of a research project on Access and Benefit Sharing carried out in cooperation with the multi-donor ABS Capacity Development Initiative for Africa. The Initiative is supported by the DirectorateGeneral for International Cooperation (DGIS) of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Institut de l’énergie et de l’environnement de la Francophonie (IEPF), and is carried out in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Implementation of the Initiative has been commissioned by the BMZ to the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH. The FNI research project, which started in 2009, is aimed at improving the knowledge foundation and management related to working on ABS in Africa and internationally.