TRSU 7002 – Seminar 4

Kamal Ziaul Islam March 30, 2021

Academic-NGO Collaboration in International Development Research: a reflection on the issues

Introduction - There is a renewed curiosity in

research collaboration between academics and
NGOs in international development.
International development is increasingly framed
by an evidence-based logic. This paper is
described to stimulate reflection and debate and
represents the views of those involved in the
project. This paper is presented as part of a
project implemented by the University of
Bradford and World Vision UK, and the
International NGO Training and Research Centre
(INTRAC).
Methodology: The authors organized several
workshops and exploratory case studies, (Source: Aniekwe et. al. 2012)
and literature reviews.

Typologies of Collaborative Research and Partnership

Type of model Collaboration
Expert-consultant Academic is considered as the expert whose role it is to
Expert-trainer recognize and develop NGO capacity gaps.

Joint learning Collaborators are associates and co-producers. Focused on

long-term benefit and sustainability rather than short-term
interest
Best practice An academic researcher finds and records best practices that
could be communicated and reproduced by other similar
organizations or NGOs.
Theory-development An academic introduce a research project that is exclusively
focused on contributing to theory building

Collaborative research in practice: Case Studies

The authors draw on a small number of cases studies of academic – NGO research
collaborations. The case studies include research on security, poverty, violence, small arms,
and democracy, HIV/AIDS, Right Based Approach (RBA), farming, health, and household
economic improvement. For instance, in case study, the research objective of Kulima
programme was to improve sustainable agricultural system for smallholder farmers. In this
research program Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF), Centre of African Studies,
University of Edinburgh & additional partners were involved. Joint learning (co-production)
model was used in this research.
Recommendations: High-level discussions are essential within academic institutions and NGOs to
tackle problems such as: training needs along with skills gaps; access to information and
research for NGOs from academics and for academics from NGOs.
References
Aniekwe, C. C., R. Hayman, A. Mdee, J. Akuni, P. Lall, and D. Stevens, (2012). Academic-NGO
Collaboration in International Development Research: A Reflection on the Issues (Working Paper).
https://www.ssrn.com/abstract=2995689