Review of North-South and South-South cooperation and conditions necessary to sustain research capability in developing countries

Abstract

The paper extracted pertinent aspects of 21 years (1981-2001) of scientific cooperation among Zimbabwe's Blair Research Laboratory (BRL), the Biomedical Research and Training Institute (BRTI), and the Danish Bilharziasis Laboratory (DBL). DBL supported the building of research capacity at BRL through PhD-level training and short courses on research training organized by BRTI. The BRL-BRTI-DBL cooperation involved institutional support, scientific training, joint research programmes, and technology transfer, and forms a basis for the discussion of North-South and South-South collaboration in this paper. As the collaboration matured, DBL researchers began cooperating with their counterparts at BRL in internationally funded research programmes and partnerships based on mutual interests and responsibilities. Several research projects were formulated under co-principal investigators from the two institutions and later extended to other European and US institutions. An impressive outturn (18 PhDs) of postgraduate students undertaking field-based PhD work was accomplished from 1990 to 2001. As the socioeconomic situation in Zimbabwe deteriorated from 1999, significant attrition of senior scientists began to affect some of BRL's core functions in support of the Ministry of Health's programmes. In solidarity with BRL, DBL and BRTI jointly implemented a management-strengthening project to reduce deterioration of research productivity by retaining mid-level research managers. BRTI, able to respond rapidly to research needs in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), is not in competition with national research institutions and universities. An advisory committee of SADC stakeholders sets its priorities. The framework for South-South cooperation is research training to facilitate national scientists to attract resources from local and international funding agencies. It has established a National Institutes of Health-accredited ethical review board that provides ethical assurance for BRTI and non-BRTI-administered projects. Over the last eight years, BRTI has established regional and international legitimacy, and many funding agencies accept the role of the organization in 'Third Country Training for South-South Cooperation'. The article concludes by identifying essential conditions for sustaining research capability at BRL and similar institutions in developing countries. In rolling out a new ethos for research, great expectation is placed on the success of the New Partnership for Africa Development.