NN41, December 2008
The New Politics of Partnership: Peril or Promise?
Perspectives on Partnerships in DFID?s Education Research Consortia
By David Levesque, DFID, London
Email: D-Levesque@dfid.gov.ukKeywords
Partnership, DFID, RPCs, Education Research Consortia
Summary
DFID is funding three education research consortia, looking, separately, at access, quality and education outcomes. It was a contract requirement that each consortia work with partners from a number of developing counties. This article raises some partnership issues connected to these consortia.
Partnership, what a wonderfully elastic concept, with expected strands of equality and shared ownership and threads of equal access to money, power and recognition! In practice of course there are all kinds of development partnerships. I have previously used examples of a cricket team, a marriage and two people climbing a mountain on a rope to illustrate relationships between DFID and country partners.
It is all very well saying the other partner is in the driving seat but who holds the map, who puts the petrol in the car, and who pays the driver (are they just the chauffeur?)?
DFID is funding three education research consortia looking at access, quality and education outcomes. It was a contract requirement that each consortium work with partners from a number of developing counties with the aim of capacity building.
This set a framework for the type of partnerships. How far does a contractual capacity building relationship allow for shared ownership and strong research partnerships? To win an international competitive bidding process there was a perception that it was necessary to select the strongest partners rather than ones who may benefit most from capacity development.
Time spent on building capacity can detract from the need to produce high quality internationally recognised research. The quality of the research data collection and reports can vary considerably between countries and institutions, leading to debates on standards and publishing. Issues arise over who controls the money, who undertakes quality assurance and who owns the intellectual property rights.
Research partnerships have flourished under the consortia but relationships between the partners and their understanding of roles and responsibilities has varied amongst countries, institutions and consortia. Evidence suggests that normative frameworks of ?best partnership practice? may not be the best way to proceed. Effective research partnerships tend to evolve over time and are based largely on commitment and relationships between individuals.
Full contents of NORRAG NEWS 41.
Download the full issue of NORRAG NEWS 41 in pdf.