Recommendation 1: Strengthen the use of context analyses in programme plan-ning, implementation and evaluation.
This evaluation has shown how political, economic and socio-cultural context matters for BRC programme implementation and results. Decisions about establishing new programmes or continuing existing ones should be based on thorough analyses of context, including outlining implications for the different stages in the programme.
This should address the recruitment and capacity development of researchers, the building of research support services, pathways for research dissemination through relations with policy-makers and the private sector and public engagement. In particu-lar, programme sustainability beyond support from Sida needs to be programmed in.
Such an analysis should be an integral part of the Concept Paper or Programme Docu-ment developed by the partner institutions, as well as annual reports and evaluations.
The purpose is to relate programme interventions to relevant aspects of, or changes in, the overall context in order to reach the larger objective of high quality and rele-vant research for poverty reduction and sustainable development (Figure 15).
Recommendation 2: Lower the ambitions of the holistic System Approach by making it more flexible and targeted.
We recommend that Sida model’s multi-level system support at international and regional levels be discontinued as we have concluded that this is best addressed through support to research and research networks (see below). The support at na-tional level needs to be more flexible taking different contexts and organisana-tional strengths and weaknesses into consideration in the planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of the programme. As a ‘model’, the overall approach should be loose, implicit and less systemic than the current System Approach – with a ToC only being explicitly developed at the programme level of RCD. The support
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should be tangible, short-term and of direct relevance for RCD – on the notion that in-stitutional absorption and use will best be facilitated as part of RCD and research pro-cesses. To account for this change, we suggest that the term ‘System Approach’ is substituted with the less ambitious and committing ‘Organisational Level Support’
(Figure 15).
Recommendation 3: Support national research organisations with shorter-term interventions of direct relevance for research capacity development.
The evaluation has shown that the quality and relevance of research organisations at national levels differ considerably between the various BRC programmes. Their roles range from restricting open or critical research through various control mecha-nisms to facilitating research through funding and active demand for research-based knowledge. Some institutions remain politicised and ineffective after years of sup-port. The most relevant organisations at national level are ministries (for research pol-icies, strategies, regulations etc.), and education and research councils (for education and research programme accreditation, research funding etc.). These are essentially the responsibility of the governments in partner countries, and without government engagement and investments they will not be sustainable. The BRC programmes should, after careful assessments, support selected features of these organisations with shorter-term interventions – either because they represent specific bottlenecks or have particular relevance for research capacity development (Figure 15).
Recommendation 4: Support partner university organisations with shorter-term interventions in administration and physical infrastructure when necessary to secure minimal support for research activities.
As emphasised in this evaluation, universities are complex organisations with their own histories, authority structures and bureaucratic constructions that are difficult if not impossible to change from the outside. Support to formal university policies and strategies (for research, gender equality, consultancies etc.) have been enmeshed in university politics and practise and mainly aided ongoing processes rather than led to fundamental changes. Administrative support and tangible or material interventions in library, ICT, labs etc. have been important for facilitating ongoing research activities but have not fundamentally changed the research environment for example in terms of reading culture. The BRC programmes should continue to support selected features of the partner university organisation and physical infrastructure in order to bring it up to minimum standards, while acknowledging that it is only through the active en-gagement with these facilities as part of research processes that the research environ-ment will fundaenviron-mentally change (Figure 15).
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Figure 15: Organisational Level Support
7.3 RESEARCH CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT
Recommendation 5: Move the focus of the Sida model and BRC programmes to-wards a stronger emphasis on research capacity development and research as practise.
A key finding in this evaluation has been that the implementation of the Sida model has led to programmes that mainly focus on support to institutional structures and individual training, but less on agency or the ‘glue that binds’ those levels to-gether. What needs to be given stronger emphasis is the ‘missing middle’ relating to theories of individuals and groups as agents of change and their impact on research environments and institutional development. We believe that such a focus will make the programme more effective, relevant and sustainable. This represents a shift of fo-cus from the current System Approach and Basic Logic where multi-level institu-tional support and RCD is assumed to lead to more and better research of quality and relevance to society, to a focus on the research process. In order to accomplish this shift, there is a need for a suitable Theory of Change as the basis for planning, imple-mentation and monitoring of programme and sub-programme activities. We suggest that this can be drawn from the theory of social fields. In outlining related recommen-dations below, our point of reference will be the ToC presented in Chapter 5 and Fig-ure 16. For each sub-programme, the more explicit baseline indicators, programme interventions and programme targets must be adjusted to the specific context and cir-cumstances of each partner country/university – depending on where they are in terms of overall competence and capacity.
Figure 16: Theory of Change: Research Capacity Development
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Recommendation 6: Increase the emphasis on research leadership, qualified re-searchers and research networks as collective actors.
The BRC programmes have focused on individual capacity development, contrib-uting to increase the number of PhD researchers primarily in STEM, agriculture and medicine. The suggested alternative approach proposes to i) have a system for PhDs/
individual research capacity development that is flexible and maximises output and ii) give stronger emphasis to supporting research leaders with entrepreneurial qualities for building research groups and networks – both on the assumption that this will lead to more and better research and enhanced wider-scale impacts. A new Sida model and BRC programme approach should:
a) Continue to support PhD students through the sandwich programme in partner countries where that is necessary in order to have a critical mass of researchers in selected areas of research (see below).
b) Be more flexibility in terms of supporting PhD studies at other universi-ties/ through other programmes where that is warranted, such as at quality universities in South Africa and Latin America.
c) Support post-doc scholarships at Swedish or other international universi-ties of special quality/relevance.
d) Identify and support strong research leaders for building research groups in identified priority areas (see below), preferably at partner universities but alternatively in cooperation with other national and regional institu-tions/networks.
Recommendation 7: Limit the number of research areas and themes in order to build strong research programmes and enhance the position of research.
The individual capacity development and research component in the BRC pro-grammes have focused on a broad range of disciplines and themes deemed relevant by the partner country governments and universities. It has also focused on STEM, agriculture and medicine at the expense of social sciences – despite increasing atten-tion to the merits of multi-disciplinary research. The proposed alternative approach is to focus on a limited number of research areas, themes or programmes of social rele-vance (as was the case in Vietnam). This will help support the establishment of stronger research programmes with competent research leaders. It will also help cre-ate a critical mass of researchers with capacity to enhance the position of research and influence the research environment. A revised Sida model/BRC programme approach should:
a) Give primary priority to research themes of global or regional importance and relevance, to be able to link up with international research and publi-cations and be relevant for regional academic partners.
b) Give secondary priority to research on more particular local development challenges, in order to enhance relevance for public policy makers, the pri-vate sector and as a basis for public engagement.
c) Give emphasis to multi- or interdisciplinary research groups and research, in order to best relate to global and national challenges as expressed in the
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2030 Sustainable Development Goals. This should include a greater en-gagement with social sciences.
Recommendation 8: Expand the alternative research funding base by supporting capacity to develop research proposals and secure research funds.
The BRC programme partner universities have been highly dependent on Sida and other donor funding, to the extent that very few partner universities or research groups are sustainable without such external support. To strengthen the basis for good, relevant and sustainable research activities, a revised Sida model and BRC pro-gramme should develop a broader funding base as part of ongoing propro-grammes.
a) A higher share of Sida’s funding should be allocated to national competi-tive research funds, supported by a combination of national governments, donors and international foundations.
b) Sida funding for university-based research funds should be kept for smaller programmes and projects – with priority given to PhD-graduates and younger researchers as a learning process for project development.
c) BRC programme related research groups should be expected to seek alter-native funding sources (national, regional, international research councils) as part of research programme development.
d) Swedish partner universities should be expected and encouraged to in-clude researchers from the Global South more systematically in applica-tions for international research funding.
Recommendation 9: Support and encourage research as a collective enterprise in order to improve research environments.
The BRC programmes have largely focussed on individual researcher capacity de-velopment and publications. Less attention has been given to the role of research groups and the nature of collective and collaborative action in generating benefits for the individual, for the group and for the universities as institutions. While these are in effect outcomes of stages 1 to 3 outlined in the above ToC, a new Sida model and BRC programme should further encourage collective and collaborative action by fa-cilitating and funding linkages between research groups and networks. An adjusted programme should:
a) Give stronger emphasis to, and fund research, in research units, research centres and research groups constituted by a combination of entrepreneur-ial research leaders, senior researchers, recent PhD graduates and PhD stu-dents in order to create space to focus on research.
b) Support secondments to international and regional research organisations (including multi-disciplinary think tanks), participation at conferences and other initiatives that will strengthen the research groups and their net-works.
c) Identify and involve Swedish partner universities, emphasising research leadership qualifications, access to global and regional research networks and experience in research cooperation with the Global South.
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Recommendation 10: Have a stronger focus on doing research of relevance for society, and its dissemination and uptake in academia and the public and private sector.
While the BRC programmes have been relatively effective in contributing to insti-tutional development and individual capacity development, the impact on more and better research, knowledge frontiers, science-based policy-making and improved products and services has been more limited. Stronger, focused and well-funded re-search teams and networks will contribute to reach these goals and should be sup-ported in ways that further facilitate research quality and relevance, such as:
a) Support to interdisciplinary and applied research centres or projects at the partner universities to better relate to the complexity of central research challenges.
b) Developing alternative modes of targeted research communication (me-dia, internet, briefs etc.) in order to reach key decision-makers in the pub-lic and private sector.
c) Emphasising research communication for public engagement by taking ac-tive part in public communication channels and arenas.
Recommendation 11: Fund larger, longer-term and multidisciplinary research projects in order to contribute to research as practise.
One possible BRC programme intervention to facilitate/support all the stages of the TOC in a practical way is to fund long-term (2-4 years), large and multidiscipli-nary research programmes possibly built around the Sida notion of ‘Reality Checks’.
Each programme would start by defining geographical area(s) of focus (e.g. one rural and one urban formation). The programme would then select one or two broad themes of inquiry (e.g. climate change, poverty and inequality, physical infrastructure, educa-tion, health etc.). The theme(s) would at the outset be approached from different dis-ciplines and research groups, but in close cooperation and coordination with each other and with components of interdisciplinary research. Outputs would be a combi-nation of single, interdisciplinary peer-reviewed publications, multidisciplinary ap-plied reports for public and private sector stakeholders, and public engagement with the local population under study as well as the general public. The programmes should be adaptable and flexible, with continued involvement depending on perfor-mance in relation to agreed perforperfor-mance indicators. In addition to Sida, funding should also be sought from other sources for components of the programme.