Developing effective international research partnerships

Partnerships are widely recognised as an attractive alternative to working in a hierarchical or highly formalised contract mode. They are deemed by many to be 'a good thing' in their own right. However, developing and maintaining effective international partnerships is difficult. Substantial efforts can go into the 'process' of maintaining good quality communication and working in a 'partnership mode' rather than a contract mode. Individual partners must feel that they will achieve more by developing and maintaining a partnership than they could alone. If this is not the case, the effort necessary to maintain the partnership over time may erode good will. Partners also need mutual trust, a common vision and jointly agreed objectives (shared and individual). Unless partners provide complementary resources and skills and are willing to share power, benefits, risks and responsibilities then the partnership will struggle to survive.

These principles are true for all partnerships but international research partnerships have been found to be uniquely complex and difficult to maintain. The effort invested in the 'process' of good communication and partnership maintenance produces intangible outputs. These may or may not feed into improving the quality of research and policy engagement outputs. The quality and effectiveness of international research partnerships are assessed by reviewing their tangible outputs. High quality research outputs and policy briefs are expected. Balancing the sometimes competing objectives of maintaining good quality partnerships and delivering high quality tangible outputs can be a challenge.

Developing a 'Competency to Collaborate' Research Partnerships (powerpoint presentation 347kb), by Michael Warner (ODI), leads the reader through a set of exercises which will help them to assess the necessary ingredients for effective research partnerships.

North-South Research Partnerships: A Guidance Note on the Partnering Process (adobe pdf 78kb) by Shem Migot-Adholla and Michael Warner provides a set of general principles for effective international research partnerships.

Back to Activities index