| About the Program |
"Doing Research" is a unique GDN program that develops a comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence the organization of social science research, its quality, quantity and social relevance in developing countries. The program is supporting seven multi-disciplinary research teams to investigate the research environment and research productivity, and to develop a framework of assessment in 11 developing countries around the world. The research program is generously supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Agence Française de Développement (AFD), French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
The program focuses on a broad set of objectives, which include:
- Identifying and developing objective measures (both qualitative and quantitative) of key elements of the research environment that have significant impact on the ability to train researchers in developing countries to undertake quality research and communicate it effectively to a broad range of stakeholders.
- Exposing important shortcomings and barriers to research to the relevant stakeholders including academia, policy-makers, civil society and donor organizations in order to bring into mainstream, issues related to the research environment, research support and funding and the demand for it as one of the key policy concerns in developing countries.
- Deriving a systematic framework to compare the research environment across countries and across time.
The program is being implemented in Cambodia, Cameroon & Ivory Coast, India and Bangladesh, Indonesia, Niger, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay, as well as South Africa.
The program has completed a competitive selection of grantees, as well as a peer review workshop in which severn teams were selected from 180 applications and brought together to interact with international experts to sharpen their focus on research and communication. The program is now entering its next phase, where a synthesis of lessons from country level studies will be used to provide a framework for expansion of the project to other countries.
[Read More: Program Concept Note]
| GDN Support in the Program |
GDN works closely with the successful applicants to provide them with the support needed (beyond funding) to define the scope of research, effective implementation of the research agenda and monitoring of the research outcomes throughout the grant period.
GDN has engaged a panel of advisors to support the selected research teams throughout the period of the research program. Each research team has been assigned an External Advisor, to provide hands-on guidance on the research design, implementation, analysis and effective research outcomes. GDN actively promotes professional networking amongst researchers in the program and believes in cross-fertilization of ideas and knowledge. In support of these ideals GDN organizes peer-review workshops, facilitates presentations of research findings at appropriate international fora and policy interface wherever applicable.
