Where are we now? The past and the future of Swedish development research collaboration

Conveners: David Nilsson and Sverker Sörlin, Division of the History of Science, Technology and Environment, KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Contact: david.nilsson@abe.kth.se

Swedish research aid was established in the early 1970s and has all along had a strong focus on capacity building. The growth of modern scientific institutions in many developing countries has been much faster than even very optimistic estimates in the latter decades of the 20th century. Billions of people now live in countries that one or two generations ago were considered fundamentally lacking, but today expand very rapidly their research capacity, e.g. India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brazil, Mexico. According to UNESCO, the first half of the 21st century will see new universities and a growth of the number of students that will by far outpace any period in the past. Much of this development is predicted to occur in former aid recipient countries.

World development is now understood as much a challenge for the richest nations, which must change drastically if global and sustainable development goals should be met. This is a mutual interest of North and South, rich and poor. How does this alter the scene for development research in the post-2015 world?  It now becomes interesting to ask questions about the long-term direction of Swedish research aid and the thinking behind it at different moments in time. What rationale has guided Swedish research aid? How has decision-makers positioned research aid in the broader global policy and research agenda? And how should we today look at development research in the context of global transformation towards sustainability?

An open, critical, and explorative discussion in the borderland of knowledge production and global development is at the heart of this panel. We invite short paper presentations on Swedish development research in the past and future to inform a moderated round-table conversation. We welcome researchers, practitioners, development policy-makers and anyone who is curious about what development research could look like in 2030 and beyond.

22 Aug., 16:00–17:30, Nordenskiöld Lecture Hall

• Research Aid Revisited: Understanding Swedish research aid in the current state of world development through a historically grounded analysis. Sverker Sörlin and David Nilsson, KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
• Aiding science? Past and present discourses of Swedish research aid policy. Veronica Brodén Gyberg, Linköping University.
• International agricultural research - the past, present and future of Sweden’s engagement in the CGIAR. Johanna Lindahl, International Livestock Research Institute, Kenya / Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Mats Lannerstad, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya.
• The donor-recipient relationship: national ownership and extensive donor presence. Måns Fellesson, Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs/ Linköping University.

Abstracts

Research Aid Revisited: Understanding Swedish research aid in the current state of world development through a historically grounded analysis. Sverker Sörlin and David Nilsson, KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

In this paper, which builds on an ongoing study for the Expert Group for Aid Studies (EBA), we take a fresh look at Swedish development research on a longer time scale. Swedish development research has, by and large, followed the same model since the 1970s. With a focus on building research capacity in the South, this model reflected the larger narrative of how Sweden promoted emancipation of poor countries. Historical records however show that SAREC was formed as an independent agency to bypass aid priorities set by recipient governments. The Swedish government also ignored international calls for re-directing national research priorities towards developing countries by confining development research into one of many sub-themes of aid. The SAREC model was largely shaped by the then prevailing ideologies and by the Cold War political landscape, a landscape gone since decades. Today humanity faces challenges – climate, biodioversity, migration etc - that require cooperation between rich and poorer countries at an entirely different scale. In this emerging global landscape of shared problems, Swedish development research risks becoming an atavism. We argue that Sweden’s development research needs re-thinking against the entire research agenda, against an updated understanding of geopolitical changes and the emerging global challenges, and against our historical experience.

Aiding science? Past and present discourses of Swedish research aid policy. Veronica Brodén Gyberg, Linköping University.

The purpose of research aid is to contribute to development in different ways through the use of research. Sarec (the Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing Countries) was one of the pioneers within state research aid, and existed between 1975 and 2008. One of the central questions asked in my dissertation on Sarec’s policy history is how the view of the relationship between research and development has changed over time. One of the conclusions is that there are two main policy discourses that can be traced throughout the entire period studied. They share the starting point that modern science can contribute to development and that national research capacity is an important component in this. The localist discourse represents a more multifaceted view of how research can contribute to development, and what that development consist of. It is more explicitly anti-colonialist and to a greater degree prioritizes the local context as basis for decisions regarding support. The universalist discourse places less emphasis on where knowledge is produced since it can be used anywhere, as long as the right structures and priorities are in place. This historical perspective will be complemented with reflections on current developments in Swedish science aid policy, focusing on the issue of how science aid can contribute to the sustainable development goals and transitions to sustainability (work in progress).

International agricultural research - the past, present and future of Sweden’s engagement in the CGIAR. Johanna Lindahl, International Livestock Research Institute, Kenya / Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Mats Lannerstad, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya.

In addition to providing food, agriculture is of immense importance for the livelihoods of millions of smallholders in the developing regions of the world. However, food production is often hampered by different constraints and challenges, and many farmers are still lacking both education and resources to respond to current, and future, food demands. More food, and different foods, must be produced for a growing population, for an increasingly more urban population, and for a population that increasingly demands more animal-source foods. In a context of global environmental change, including climate changes, research into how to make agriculture sustainable and productive is more important than ever. Agricultural research was early identified as a cornerstone for development in developing countries. The foundation of the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in 1971 was the start of the largest existing multidisciplinary global initiative promoting agricultural development. Already nine years after the start, the initial four partner institutes had expanded to 13, and after a peak with 16 centers, current CGIAR constitute 15 institutes and 15 cross-cutting Research Programs (CRPs). The Swedish development agenda early included support for agricultural research, particularly through the CGIAR. Apart from being a financial donor, Sweden is also represented through board members of CGIAR institutes and CRPs, with scientists employed at various CGIAR centers and through projects where Swedish research institutes are partnering. Here we present the role of CGIAR in agricultural research over the past four decades, and reflect on the role of the Swedish contribution.

The donor-recipient relationship: national ownership and extensive donor presence. Måns Fellesson, Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs/ Linköping University.

Swedish development aid has supported research capacity building in low-income countries for more than forty years. The training of PhD graduates has since the start constituted a core component, conducted within the frame of so-called sandwich programs between Swedish institutions and institutions in the receiving country. These relationships are often long-term and could be understood as a donor – recipient relation, based on the idea of gradual transfer of research capacity to the latter. But what are the premises of these relationships and how do they evolve over time? How can we understand the development of research capacity in low-income countries and the long-term Swedish aid contribution from these relationships? What roles do Swedish universities have in the aid to research? What are the premises for participation and collaboration? Against this background, the proposed paper will present an empirically based contribution to a much needed discussion on premises of mobility, collaboration and scientific production in North-South donor funded research collaborations. The paper is built on existing primary data covering Mozambique, Tanzania and Ethiopia, which contains information on approximately 350 PhD graduates (1990 – 2014), trained within the frame of the Swedish development aid to research capacity building.