Policymakers’ Reflections: Major Challenges and Future Goals Jesper W. Simonsen, Executive director NFU Conference 2014 – Tromsø Presenting the NORGLOBAL II Programme On Whose Terms?

Outline  The Role of The Research Council of Norway  Development Research in Norway  The NorGlobal II Programme  On Whose Terms?  An interesting illustration

The Roles of The Research Council of Norway Adviser Adviser to government, institutions etc. to government, institutions etc. research policy, themes, structure research policy, themes, structure Financing for added value Financing for added value programmes, projects, centres, scholarships, infrastructure programmes, projects, centres, scholarships, infrastructure basic research, thematic programmes, support private RTD basic research, thematic programmes, support private RTD Meeting places Meeting places Internationalization Internationalization

The Council distributes about 30 % of public expenditures on R&D in Norway Public funding of R&D in Norway 50% Industry Institutes Other Ministries Higher education sector Ministry of Education and Research The Research Council

Funding from all the ministries (2014) Trade, industry and fisheries Petroleum and energy Agriculture Environment Education and research Administration Health Totalt 8048 mill. kr. (inkl. adm) Foreign affairs Education and research Cross-sectoral

Why development research? Knowledge, competence and capacity in Norway  to design the Norwegian development assistance to get maximum positive impact (and to avoid damages)  to design the global initiatives and foreign policy to get maximum positive impact (and to avoid damages)  to design other policies optimally taking the principle of coherence into account.  In other words: To use the tax-payers money efficiently  (Drawing on the best knowledge production globally) Capacity building in the South as a part of the development cooperation. A knowledgeable Norwegian population.

Development research in Norway  Historically  not poorly funded  a small share to long term competence building  a small share allocated through national competitions  HE-institutions committed  Ministry of research committed  Research Council funding  increasing  periods of consolidation and of fragmentation  2014: Globvac + NorGlobal + country spec. + open arenas

NORGLOBAL  Poverty and Peace (PovPeace)  CGIAR-fellowship  Women and gender in development  Globalisation of the environmental- energy and climate research (Globmek)  Research on Economic Growth, Poverty Reduction, Reproductive Health and Population Dynamics (Econpop)  Western Balkan Countries development research  Tax havens, capital flows and development (TaxCapDev)  Humanitarian policy (HUMPOL)  Effect of aid  Democracy and Governance in Malawi  (NORGLOBAL/INDNOR)

NORGLOBAL-2 time line Winter 2013/14Summarizing experiences Dialogue (research community) Program development group Summer 2014Consultation MFA/NORAD (strategy processes) Sept. 2014The CEEN Report October 2014Divisional board: Programme committee – Program plan basis Winter 2014/15First call (hopefully) April 2015Program plan Sept. 2015First projects running

NORGLOBAL-2 recommendations (1) Programme combining long perspectives and topical priorities  Long perspectives on building strong research groups/sector on prioritized long term thematic areas within the field through  a variety of instruments: Traditional projects, scholarships, mobility grants, centres, infrastructure, international co- financing, incentives for international funding  based on a concrete analysis of the needs in the specific area.  Flexibility for profiling more topical priorities without jeopardizing the long term building of solid foundation for research of high quality.

NORGLOBAL-2 recommendations (2)  One consolidated programme with solid funding for 8-10 years  Knowledge and competence to understand and meet the global development challenges, focussing on reduction of extreme poverty  Broad thematic areas – researcher initiated projects (+ innovation projects?)  Support research in cooperation with countries in the South and the best research groups in the North.  Meeting place for researchers, policy makers and other users

On Whose Terms?  Who should make the priorities?  Whose perspectives are most useful to formulate and analyse the problem?  Useful for whom?  Who should be involved to make the studies successful – given their objectives?  In terms of knowledge  In terms of change  What rights have people to be involved when they are studied?  What are the roles of the policymakers, of the academic institutions and of the scientist?

What kind of research? High quality Low quality Low relevance High relevance ValuableInteresting WasteDamaging

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