UKRI-KFPE Workshop: Working in Effective Partnerships to Address Sustainable Development Goals - Workshop report

In September 2018, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Swiss Commission for Research Partnerships with Developing Countries (KFPE) held a joint workshop in Tanzania.The purpose of which was to bring together researchers and stakeholders from the Global South to identify:

• What constitutes best practice in research partnerships
• How to engage researchers and governments from the Global South in research programme agenda setting
• How to translate research outputs into development impact

Through a series of presentations, breakout sessions and a panel discussion the attendees identified a number of recommendations for how research funders could support and promote equitable partnerships and research translation. The key messages are highlighted below.

Engaging stakeholders from the Global South in the development of North – South research programme is important to ensure that the programmes address the priorities of developing countries. Funders could engage stakeholders from the Global South more effectively in the development of programmes by:

• Using a participatory process to involve stakeholders from the Global South in co-designing the research programme agenda
• Establishing local advisory networks
• Developing a greater understanding of national/regional priorities•Providing support for national/regional priority setting
• Launching broad calls and providing support for applicants from the Global South to develop proposals
• Using a range of tools, technologies and resources to engage stakeholders from the Global South in dynamic and wide ranging consultations about priority setting.

Researchers in the Global South face a number of challenges such as poor infrastructure, lack of core institutional funding for research, lack of resources, lack of mentors and lack of local funding opportunities. North - South research partnerships could address some of these challenges by:

• Providing support for countries to develop research priorities that align with their national development agendas
• Providing support to strengthen institutions and research governance systems and access to infrastructure and equipment.
• Supporting research capacity strengthening

Funders could do more to support and enable equitable North – South Research partnerships, throughout the funding cycle. For example:

• During the application process, funders could provide guidance to applicants on the expectation of equitable partnerships, proactively support partnership developmentand work to make the application process more accessible to applicants from the Global South.
• Funders could include evaluation of the equitability of the partnership and the impact of the research in the Global South in the assessment process. Funders could also put mechanisms in place to ensure that applicants from the Global South are involved in all aspects of the assessment process and work to strengthen theircapacity in the peer review process.
• During the lifetime of the project, funders could continue to actively support the partnership and work to reduce the burden of their financial and administrative processes on the Global South. Funders could also provide mechanisms to enable researchers from the Global South to engage directly with them and their systems. Funders could also provide support for continued capacity strengthening in the Global South.
• After the project is completed funders could provide support for impact and evaluation activities and links to follow on funding.

There are a number of challenges and barriers to translating research outputs into policy and practice including institutional factors such as a lack of investment, difficulty engaging and getting the buy in of policymakers, lack of capacity for research translation and limited resources. To support and enable the translation of research outputs into policy and practice funders could:

• Work to create an enabling and supportive environment for translating research outputs into policy and practice
• Seek evidence that the project is relevant to national priorities and that there is local buy in and support to enhance the likelihood of the uptake of the research outputs
• Dedicate a component of the application and assessment process to the description and assessment of the uptake of research outputs into policy and practice.
• Support capacity strengthening for research translation for both researchers and policy makers

Conclusion

The workshop report provides a framework for funders to develop good practice in supporting equitable research partnerships and maximise impact through North – South research funding programmes and offers funders a valuable lens through which to review their existing funding processes.

UKRI is committed to using the recommendations detailed in this report to identify opportunities to further embed the principles of equitable research partnerships in its research programmes.