Aid on Spreadsheets

Bilateral research cooperation Uganda 2015-2020 - 11 Swedish Universities through ISP

The contribution is a new phase in an ongoing program for support to strengthen research capacity and institution building, within the framework for Sweden's bilateral research cooperation with Uganda. The five year program, October 1, 2015 - June 30, 2020, has a goal to increase the production and use of scientifically based knowledge of international quality which shall contribute to Uganda's development. The program is built on a long-term support for developing Uganda's research capacity which commenced in year 2000. The new program has been appraised during 2013-2015. The program consists of 17 projects, in which the majority of the projects Swedish universities collaborate with Makerere University and four Ugandan regional partner universities. The largest share of the program budget consists of PhD training of University staff, either through local PhD training at Makerere University (Mak) or through the so called 'sandwich model' which Sida uses in bilateral research collaborations. The latter collaboration form is a format in which the Ugandan PhD students spend approximately 4-5 months at a Swedish University per year, taking Courses and have Swedish and Ugandan supervision. The degree is awarded at Mak, unless the student earns a so called 'double degree', which allows also a degree from the Swedish university. With the two forms of PhD training, local and sandwich, the collaboration is shifting from previous agreement periods, as in earlier phases all support was channelled in the sandwich mode. The fact that Mak now has students on local PhD training is an important step based on strengthened local research capacity - to a great extent due to the Swedish support. The role of the Swedish universities is also shifting. In the cases where the students are locally trained the Swedish partners collaborate through support to, for example, course and PhD program development, teaching and mentorship, and supervision. A new step is the so called sandwich post doctoral fellowships, where the same model as above have been elevated from student to research staff level. Sweden plays an important role both through supporting Young newly graduated researchers building their research area, and through twinning Swedish students to the post doctoral fellows. The program is planned to include support to 125 PhD students, 147 Master's students and 65 post-doctoral fellowships. The training includes all academic areas, natural sciences, health, social sciences and humanities, and is conducted in multidisciplinary teams. The step to entirely work in multidisciplinary research groups is also new for the planned phase and follows the Mak Strategic Plan.The research content coincides with Mak's research agenda, which is aligned with the country's national development plan. The selection of the projects in the program took place through competitive procedure (Open Call), in which a Sida selected international academic evaluation committee recommended projects for support. The decision was taken jointly by Sida and the Kampala embassy. Beyond the mentioned funding support is also channelled to institution building. This entails development of ICT, literature and e-Resources to libraries, laboratory Equipment, quality assurance of graduate training, integration of gender issues, university reform processes, and support to the development of university wide academic courses for PhD students (so called cross-cutting courses). Finally funding is allocated to program coordination, in Uganda and in Sweden. The agreement structure for the collaboration is governed by four agreements at the following levels: 1) a General Agreement between Sida and Uganda (the Ministry of Finance) which is an exchange of information with no funding allocated. No reporting takes place against this agreement. 2) a Specific Agreement between Sida and Makerere University (Mak). All funding for the collaboration are agreed upon in this documen

To increase the capacity of public universities to generate knowledge and promote research uptake for national and regional development.

Project ID

SE-0-SE-6-5118006002-UGA-43082

Activity status

2 - Implementation

Aid type

C01 - Project-type interventions

% to Uganda

100.00

Organisations

Funding

Sweden

Extending

Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency

Implementing

University, college or other teaching institution, research institute or think-tank

Accountable

MAKERERE UNIVERSITY

CRS code	%
Research/scientific institutions (43082)	100.0