Research for development: the meaning of equity in funder-level partnerships

Equity in research partnerships has been a concern within international development research policy for many years. However, there has been increasing momentum around this topic (ESSENCE and UKCDR, 2022), with calls to address the underlying issues that create imbalances between partners. Alongside academic work, there is increasing attention on this issue within the research policy space, evidenced by a growing number of initiatives, guidance documents, and reports.

Discussion about equitable partnerships often focuses on the divide between High-Income Countries (HICs) and Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). The HIC-funder-LMIC- recipient model is still predominant, bringing both benefits and challenges. On the one hand, HIC-funder-LMIC-recipient partnerships can significantly contribute to achieving development impact. On the other hand, the inherent unfairness and asymmetry in these partnerships is a significant concern.

This study focused on one aspect of equity in research partnerships: funder-level partnerships. There is a paucity of information about equity at the funder level within current debates. UKCDR intends this report to further understanding on a finding from UKCDR and ESSENCE’s Four Approaches to Supporting Equitable Research Partnerships, which identifies equity within funder-level partnerships as one area that could catalyse changes within the research partnership ecosystem.

This study consulted with research funding organisations based in both HICs and LMICs and found important underlying differences in how equity was understood and experienced in partnerships. While HIC-based funders saw equity as a priority for supporting development agendas within LMICs, their focus leaned toward equity at the research level rather than within funder-level partnerships. For HIC-based funders, equity was a priority for supporting international development agendas within LMICs, however they tended to be more interested in equity at the research level.

Through analysis of semi-structured interviews with 23 representatives of funders in HICs and LMICS, we found that for LMIC-based funders, equity within funder-level relationships was not an explicit concern, rather partnerships were shaped by the challenges of inter- institutional collaboration in an unequal world. For LMIC-based funders, challenges with partnership building were not framed as being about equity but seen as part of the process of building collaborations.

This suggests equity is a systemic challenge requiring changes to all areas of the global research system. However, there are actions that can be taken to improve how research funders engage with each other to support a re-balancing of the global research system and drive change. This report distils and maps insights and areas for action onto UKCDR and ESSENCE’s Four Approaches to Supporting Equitable Research Partnerships. The four approaches are: (1) Support the research partnership ecosystem; (2) Strengthen research relationships and research systems; (3) Budget for partnership building; and (4) Implement processes and procedures that sustain partnerships.

Although implementing equity at the funder level can be a part of addressing equity in the overall global research ecosystem, it is not the primary equity challenge for most research funders, especially those in LMICs. This suggests that change cannot be addressed within individual funder-level partnerships but rather requires efforts across different parts of the research system.