UTAFITI (New Series) Vol. 2 Nos. 1 & 2, 1995
                          Capacity Building in Research
                                      M.S.D. Bagachwa*
        Abstract
        This paper examines the importance, and some of the critical mechanics and
        means for buil~,      over the long-term, a critical mass of professional indigenous
        researchers, policy analysts and economic managers who are able' to better
        manage the development process in their respective developing countries. The
        paper also emphasizes the need to make better use of the existing indigenous
        capacities and iustitutious. Although coverage is broader, particular emphasis is
        placed on Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where the magnitode of the problem of low
        absorptive capacity has been quite telling. The paper starts by setting up the
        problem and defining the concept of capacity building. In this section, it also
        examines a number of factors that have frustrated capacity building efforts in
        SSA. Section two reviews some selected past and existing capacity building
        initiatives, and presents lessons drawn from these experiences. The last section
        discusses the implications of capacity building for the recently initiated research
        programmes funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Royal Netherlands
        Government in a number of Southern countries, including Tanzania.
1. Background to the Problem
1.1 The Problem
It is increasingly recognized that sound policies are necessary, but often not a
sufficient condition for economic development. To be effective, such policies
must be sustainable. Policy sustainability presupposes, among other things, a
strong sense of indigenous participation and ownership. Development also
depends on the capacity of the society to analyze, adapt, initiate and manage
change. Indeed, one of the major causes of the economic crisis facing SSA
has been the lack of capacity in government. and institutions to respond
quickly and decisively to a rapidly changing political and economic
environment (World Bank, 1989; 1991).
     Although for quite a period governments in developing countries and the
donor community have been working on capacity building in diverse ways, a
vital gap-that         of weak:. indigenous absorptive capacity-is                     not being
* Economic Research Bureau, University ofDar es Salaam.


  2       M.S.D.BagBchwB
  adequately filled. Paradoxically, even where some limited capacity has been
  built, this has not been effectively utilised. In SSA this has remained so
  despite the respectable quantitative achievements in education and training
  during the past three decades. For example, African universities have grown
  from 6 in 1960 to over 100 today. The proportion of the indigenous teaching
  staff in SSA universities rose form 64% in 1978 to 84% in 1987. At the
 primary level, gross enrollment ratio rose from 36% in 1960 to 75% in 1983
 (World Bank, 1988). Graduate output in the region also rose impressively
 from 200 in 1960 to 83,000 in 1987 (Saint, 1992).
 1.2 Defining the Concepts
 In the literature, the concepts of 'capacity building' and 'institutions' have
 been used differently in various contexts. In this paper, capacity building is
 conceived broailly along the lines suggested by the World Bank (1989:54) as
constituting three distinct elements:
         (a) Human development, especially the provision of bas~ health.
              education, nutrition and technical skills.
         (b) The restructuring of many public and private institutions to create a
              context in which skilled workers can function effectively.
         (c) Political leadership that understands that institutions are fragile
              entities. painstakingly built up, easily destroyed, and therefore
              need sustained nurturing.
Following this broad conception of capacity building, it is possible to
dissaggragate an institution's capacity (e.g., a firm, sector or a country) into
four totally interlocking disembodiment forms.
      1. Object-embodied form or 'technuware': tools, capital go<Xls, land,
          intermediate goods, products, crops, physical equipment, machinery,
          physical processes, etc.
      2. People embodied form or 'humanware': understanding, capacity for
          systematic application of knowledge, know-how, human capability,
         human labour, specialized ideas, skills, problem-solving capacity, etc.
      3. Document-embodied form or 'inforware': knowledge about physical
         relationShips, science and/or other forms of organized knowledge,


                                           Capacity Building In Research           3
          principles of physical and social phenomena, Research and
          development (R&D), technical information, specifications, standards,
          computer software, etc.
      4. Institution-embodied form       or 'orgaware': organizational work
          assignment, day-to-day management operations, social arrangements,
          means for using and controlling factors of production, organization of
          products, processes, tools anti devices for use by people, inter- and
          intra-firm networking, linkage with meso-institutions, etc.
The three crucial aspects that make up the concept of capacity building are
therefore: human skills; effective institutions; and effective policy leadership.
Human skills are necessary for identifying and measuring the likely impact of
various development options., often under conditions of uncertainty and
competing interests; for assessing trade-offs; for advising policy makers and
managers on the feasibility of the various options within a given socio-
economic context; and for recommending and charting out a specific course of
action that is compatible with the economic and socio-political realities of a
specific country. The translation of these functions ••.into practical and
persuasive policy advice requires not only technical competence but also a
correct perception of the existing practical and bureaucratic systems, a
creative and .imaginative ability, effective communication skills, and a strong
will to convince.
    The role of institutions in fostering capacity building, and hence
facilitating growth, is rather tricky. 'Institutions' may be interpreted at least in
two ways. First, institutions can be the 'rules of the game' which for
economists, provide the context-such as markets-in which actors make
decisions. Alternatively, institutions can be? organizations, typically as systems
of non-market relations (Van Arkadie, 1989). Institutions as rules of the game
consists of a set of rules, compliance procedures, or ethical behavior norms of
a society or organization that facilitate coordination among people, and help to
constrain the excessive behaviour of individuals (Rutlan and Hayami, 1984;
Feeny, 1988). Under this conceptualization, interest has centered on the
changes in these rules, and how they have affected society. Such broad
conceptions of institutions seem to be more of an academic exercise, and of
less operational interest to issues of applied research and capacity building.
    Perhaps of more interest, as far as capacity building and policy making are
concerned, is the interpretation of institutions in a narrow sense as
organizations, i.e., government departments, public and private enterprises,


 4       M.S.D. BagBchwB
 research and training centres, banks, hospitals, and the like. In this case,
 capacity building would be seen as measures intended to change or strengthen
 instimtions to perform better according to chosen criteria of effectiveness. But
 even then a number of conceptual problems remain. Firstly, institutions may
 in their actual operation serve purposes quite different from those intended by
 their creators. Moreover, their roles may change in response to a changing
 environment (Van Arkadie, 1989: 157). It may therefore be difficult to state
 definitely which inStitutions seem essential to promote capacity building since
 observed failure or success of an institution may reveal little about its
potential performance elsewhere. Nevertheless, it is possible to throw light on
 what constitutes a good or bad institution within a given economic and socio-
political context.
     Finally, SSA, like most regions that have achieved development success,
also requires a politically enabling environment if the gains of capacity
building are to be realized. Good governance, recognition of the roles played
by various sectors and participants (e.g., private sector, women, etc.) in
economic development; and the provision of appropriate incentives to retain
trained capacity, are key considerations of capacity building.
1.3 Causes for Low Absorptive Capacity
The SSA experience suggests four main root causes for the low absorptive
cal'acities on the continent: deficiency in appropriate skills; ineffective
institutions; an unfavourable policy environment and incentive structures; and
lack of a research culture.
    During the early years of independence, the lack of capacity was primarily
attributed to the absolute lack of trained personnel, and training institutions.
The colonial education policy discriminated against the training of indigenous
societies, and neglected investment in training institutions. For example, in
the 19608, the University of East Africa which served the three countries of
Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, turned out a total of only 99 graduates for a
combined population of 23 million (implying one graduate per 232,323
persons). In 1960 there were only six universities in the whole SSA region.
Zaire is reported to have reached independence without a single national
engineer, lawyer or doctor. Likewise, Zambia-with all its copper wealth-
had only too university graduates and a thousand secondary school graduates.
For SSA as a whole, only 3 % of students received a secondary school
education (World Bank, 1991). In Tanzania, at independence (1961), only


                                          Capacity Building In Research          5
 25% of the children were in school (Maliyamkono and Bagachwa, 1990). As
 a consequence only less than a quarter of the professional civil service posts in
 SSA were held by Africans during the early sixties.
     In the first two decades after independence, SSA made impressive gains in
school emollments, literacy, public health and life expectancy-all          being
crucial prerequisites for capacity building. Since the late 1970s, however,
there have been reversals in these areas. Sonie of the policies pursued by SSA
governments exarcebated the situation. Many gover:qments acc9rded the state
a lead role in directly productive activities, as well as in the provision of
services. This led to excessive government intervention, rigid bureaucracy,
over-centralized government, and over-expansion of the public sector. By the
mid-1980s, public employment accounted for over 50% of non-agricultural
employment .in Africa, in contrast to 36% in Asia, and only 27% in Latin
America (World Bank, 1989). In Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria and Tanzania,
there were over 300 public enterprises accounting for more than 10 % of each
country's GDP (World Bank, 1994a; World Bank, 1989). In Tanzania, public
organizations (parastatals) increased from about 43 in 1966 to 380 by 1979,
and to about 450 by the mid-1980s. The returns in these public enterprises
were generally low, and in many cases negative. The expansion of the public
sector-pursued      alongside a rapid push for Africanization and with weak:
capacity of public institutions-forced      some expatriate staff to flee the
continent, .stretching the remaining limited indigenous technical and
managerial capacity to a breaking point.
    At the same time, some African governments attempted to actively curb
private sector initiative, and suppressed the emergency of independent
institutions such as cooperatives and grassroots organizations. Furthermore, in
most SSA countries the political situation has never been: conducive to the
growth or sustenance of independent institutional capacity. Most SSA
countries have been crisis-ridden, both economically and politically. In most
African countries, the post-independence          years have witnesses the
establishment of one-party states, military coups followed by military
dictatorships, constant suppression of the rights of expression, and various
forms of political persecution. These undemocratic structures have been a
major source of civil wars, seccessionary revolts, and border conflicts. The
political system has tended to be secretive, mistrustful, and intolerant of
dissenting views. As a consequence, there has been a suppression of
6pposition parties, trade unions, vocal professional associations, informed
groups of intellectuals, and opinion-makers. In the circumstances, the


   6      M.S.D. 8agachwa
  opportunity for open discussion based on objective policy research has been
  lacking. Censorship tended to confine local analysts to relatively
  uncontroversial issues, thereby reducing the demand for critical policy
  analysis and advice, thus leading to the neglect of research and training
  institutions. In some cases, this frustrating political environment has led to the
  exodus of African professionals from the SSAregion (ESAURP, 1987).
  Although most of these negative trends were reversed during the 1980s as
  several SSA countries yielded to pressure for democratic reforms, the legacy
  of a weak institutional base remains.
      Smce the late 1970s, the major constraints to capacity building have been
  the stagnation in enrollments; erosion of quality in education and health
  services; and the deterioration in physical infrastructure. The quality and
 coverage of primary education has been falling. Illiteracy rates seem to be
 rising, and enr911mentshave fallen from an average annual rate of growth of
 8.9% during the 1970s, to 4.2% during the early eighties. Secondary schools
 are grossly inadequate. In Tanzania, for example, secondary school education
 is available to a tiny 4% of the population (World Bank, 1994b). Higher
 education has been particularly hard hit between declining budgets and the
 rapidly expanding student body.
      Indirect evidence on the decline in educational quality is reflected in the
 shortage of supplies of key educational inputs such as books, and other
 learning materials; decline in teachers' teaching time; and deteriorating and
 inadequate physical educational facilities (Fine, 1990; ESAURP, 1987). For
 instance, the average number of books accessible by one university ~dent
has declined from 49 in 1979 to 7 in 1988. As a consequence, Africa's fIrst
 class universities of the 1960s, like Makerere University of Uganda, the
 University of Ghana at Legon, the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, and the
 University of Oar es Salaam in Tanzania, have now fallen into a severe state
of disrepair (World Bank, 1991). Due to lack of investment in research,
research output has lagged behind the training accomplishments of African
universities. The African Academy of Sciences estimates that African
countries spend as little as 0.1 percent of GDP on Research and Development
(R&D), while developed countries spent twenty times as much (Saint, 1992).
     The absence of research funds has frustrated efforts by research
institutions to initiate and articulate a home-grown, coherent and focused
research agenda. This has led to the emphasis on demand-led consultancy
which reflects short-term donor policy concerns, rather than analytical
research concems which in turn are more reflective of institutional priorities
(REPOA, 1995). The problem has been compounded by poor pay scales and


                                            Capacity  Building in Research      7
remuneration structure, erosion of real wages, and lack of merit pay systems
which relate payments to performance and not status. Out of the 27 SSA
countries for which some data are available, only one (Seychelles) is reported
to.have experienced modest increased in real wages in the early to mid-1980s.
Declines in real wages have been steepest in Sierra Leone, Somalia,
Tanzania, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Zambia and Madagascar,
where, for instances, the average rate has dropped by 10% or more every
year between 1980-86 (Vandemoortele, 1991).
    The SSA's economic crisis of the 1980s, coupled with. the explosive
population growth which greatly increased the demand for educational and
health services, has complicated the problem. Economic decline and structural
adjustment programmes (SAPs) have necessitated significant cutbacks in
Africa's public spending which dropped from US$ 10bn in 1980 to US$ 8.9bn
in 1983. Cuts have been made in all areas including maintenance, equipment
supplies, training and staff development. For SSA as a whole, expenditure on
education as a share of GDP declined from 3.6% between 1981-86 to 3%
between 1987-90 (World Bank, 1994a). There is also evidence suggesting that
the decline in. real wages has been accompanied by a strong compression in
the wage structure. Higher income earners (mainly the skilled professionals)
appear to have suffered more from falling purchasing power than low income
earners, leading to a narrowing in occupational wage differentials. In Ghana,
the real wage of a principal secretary dropped by 88% between 1977-85;
while that of a messenger fell by 52 %. In Tanzania, the ratio of the top
bracket civil service average real wage to the minimum wage declined from
17:7 in 1980 to 8:5 in 1990 (Bagachwa and Naho, 1994). It thus became
difficult to retain or attract highly trained personnel.
     Paradoxically, even the little capacity that exists appears not to have been
effectively utilized. A study which surveyed the capacity of the 18 major
universities in Eastern and Southern Africa reported that there has been some
misallocation and underutilization of trained personnel. About one-quarter of
the respondents had been placed in jobs for which they had not been prepared
by their training, aI!d therefore did not know exactly what they were supposed
to do in their position (ESAURP, 1987).
     Another obstacle to capacity building in SSA has been the absence of a
research culture. This is reflected in the insignificant amount spent on R&D
activities (being less than 0.5% of GDP), but also on the mistrust
governments have for researchers who are normally seen a trouble-shooters or
spies.


   8     M.S.D.B8g8chw8
       The ultimate upshot of all these unfavourable developments has been the
  further weakening of the already constrained indigenous capacity. Capacity
  erosion has taken four forms. Firstly, some of the Africans trained abroad
  have tended to remain there. Conservative estimates place the number of
  Africans who were trained in Europe and who remained there at around
  70,000 (World' Bank, 1989). Secondly, some top African professionals have
  emigrated to other countries outside the region. Over 10,000 trained Nigerians
  are reported to be working in the United States (World Bank, 1989). Thirdly,
  some of those who have opted to remain in their respective countries have
  either decided to leave public service and join the growing number of new
 entrepreneurs in the private and informal sectors, or they have tended to
 devote less time to their official capacities and focused more on other
 informal sources of income. Lastly, among the academics and researchers at
 inStitutions of higher learning, the tendency has been to shift from institutional
 academic research work to (mostly donor-driven) consultancy and/or
 research.
 2. Lessons From Previous and Existing Capacity Building Efforts
 2.1 Lessons From Past Donor Efforts
 As mentioned earlier, for more than three decades governments in SSA and
 the donor community have been working on capacity building in diverse
ways. These have included overseas training, technical assistance (TA), and
specifically tailored programmes. External aid to African education has not
been negligible. In the early 1980s it was estimated to be about $1.6bn, nearly
$4 on per capita basis. This increased to about $7 per capita in 1987. Over
97% of this educational aid was provided on concessionary terms. About one-
quarter of the total aid was in the form of scholarships for African students to
study abroad, while a significant portion (44%) was in the form of technical
assistance.
      Admittedly, foreign technical assistance and expatriates will continue to
fill policy analysis and management gaps in developing countries. But given
the high cost of TA to both the recipient countries and donors, there wiU be
no certainty for their continuity in the longer term. In 1988 for example, the
cost of maintaining 100 TA personnel who worked in Tanzania was about
twice the budget of the entire civil service (Jolly, 1989).
     Furthermore, the effectiveness of TA in building human and institutional
capacities in developing countries is increasingly being questioned. It has


                                          Capacity Buildingin R8S8arch           9
become increasingly evident that TA programmes have not been able to build
enough local skills and develop lasting indigenous capacities. TA programmes
have also failed to transfer appropriate technologies from the North to the
South, and are ad hoc and uncoordinated in their approach. The most ~ited
reasons (see, for example, Forss et ai, (1988); Bagachwa et al, (1985); World
Bank (1987; 1991:12-13) for the ineffectiveness and unsustainability of
technical assistance are as follows:
     • fA is often perceived as supply (donor) driven or imposed as a price
       for financial assistance rather than a response to local demands .
     • Projects are overdesigned, reflecting an imperfect understanding of
       local institutional and cultural environment. There is often little attempt
       to ensure local input and adoption .
     • TA is uSually uncoordinated and sometimes duplicative, resulting in
       waste of resources and an overstretched capacity of aid recipients .
     • The skills transfer objective built in some of the T A programmes has
       not been realized partly beca~e some TA personnel lack capacity or
       are uninterested in performing the training function, or simply because
       the counterpart system does not work (due, for example, to poor
       incentives and huge differences in remuneration) .
     • In a number of cases, TA has had a negative impact on indigenous
       institutional development either by creating oversized vertical
       organizations that are not sustainable without foreign assistance, or by
       undermining the capacity of core ministries by setting up their own
       project management units .
    • Overseas training has also been ineffective. First, the low pay
       structures in African countries have often led to talented Africans
       remaining abroad. Secondly, initiatives have not been made to ensure
       that the overseas universities or institutions selected for fellowships
       have programs relevant to the needs of SSA participants. The
       knowledge gained is sometimes inappropriate to the practical problems
       they face as practitioners .
     • Finally TA has tended to be short-term, based on project by project
       approach, which make it difficult to coordinate programmes and to
       achieve economies of scale.


   10     M.S.D. Bagachwa
  It would be misleading however, to conclude that all past capacity building
  efforts have been a total failure. Certainly there has been some success
  stories. During the sixties and seventies, Ford and Rockeffeller Foundations
  contributed heavily to building Capacity in Africa. They assisted in the
  financing of training, conducting of research, and establishment of teaching
  department and research institutions. For example, Rockefeller Foundation
  invested $7.1m in institution building grants to the unive.rsities of Makerere,
 Nairobi and Dar es Salaam between 1961-73. African institutions which
 remain today as important centres of research-for example the Institute of
 Development Studies at Nairobi, and the Economics Research Bureau at Dar
 es Salaam-were first launched by grants from Rockeffeller's University of
 Development Program. Although these efforts have been much reduced
 recently, many trained persons now occupy impOrtant posts, and more of the
 institutional legacy remains.
      According to a review by the World Bank, four major elements were
 crucial to the success of the Rockeffeller programme:
      (a) Focus and concentration on five selected African universities
           (Makerere, Uganda; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Nairobi, Kenya;
           Ibadan, Nigeria; and the National University of Zaire), and as such
           resources were focused and not spread thinly.
      (b) Emphasis on long-term indigenous staff development.
      (c) Appointment of short-term visiting professors and researchers from
           abroad to strengthen local teaching and research skills.
      (d) Support for research which was grounded in the recipient countries'
           real world problems (World Bank, 1991).
     From the foregoing, four important lessons from past donor efforts to
build capacity can be drawn. Firstly, capacity building efforts must have a
long-term horizon if they are to succeed. Secondly, TA can only serve as a
stop-gap measure which cannot provide a lasting solution to the problem of
low absorptive capacity. There, is therefore, no substitute for SSA having its
own indigenous capacity. Thirdly, there is a need of strengthening African
ownership of, and participation in, and the design and implementation of
~apacity building programs. African researchers and governments should
mdeed play a lead role in the initiation, design and implementation of the
programs bearing in mind the nationally determined priorities and


                                          Capacity Building in Research         11
circumstances. In order to play this role effectively, African governments
must provide a policy environment that is conducive to the creation of
competent local policy analytic and management capacities, and conscious
efforts should be taken to strengthen local institutions that provide these
capacities. Lastly, success will also depend on the programs' ability to
achieve cost savings, higher quality results, greater impact, and sustainability.
2.2 Lessons from Recent Initiatives
Despite some disappointing experiences, bilateral and multilateral donors, as
well as private foundations and national governments, continue to explore
ways of building capacity more effectively. Some recent initiatives have
attempted to address deficiencies in past programmes so as to draw lessons
from the insights derived from the experience of best practices. Such capacity
building initiatives are many, but four of these deserve special mention.
    The UNDP, for example, has initiated a Special Action Program for
Administration      and Management        (SAPAM) which funds Structural
Adjustment Advisory Teams to assist governments in preparing adjustment
programs. It also provides funds for the establishment of a specialized
development management program which will assist in addressing economic
management probleril's that arise from the implementation of SAPs.
    Another significant initiative and a potentially successful capacity building
research network is the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC).
The AERC was established in 1988, and was initially supported by the
International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the World Bank, the
Ford and Rockefeller Foundations, and the US Agency for International
Development (USAID). Its primary objective is to fund research proposals on
African economic issues by Africans working in Africa. The AERC is
emerging as one of the most effective capacity building programmes in SSA.
Its success is mainly attributed to the following factors:
     (a) A focus on        a international   trade   and balance    of payments
          managements.
     (b) A flexible approach that allows programs to be tailored to the needs
          and capacities of individual groups of researchers               which
          accommodates different institutional and national circumstances
          within a regionally defmed research agenda.


  12     M.S.D. 8agachwa
      (c) A team approach to research, with researchers          cooperating  in
          workshops, training and publications.
      (d) A review procedure for research proposals featuring peer group
          discussion and assessment by informed resource persons from within
          and outside the region.
      (e) Period'ic meetings of the network (at least twice a year) to ensure
          interaction among the teams and to allow African researchers to
          remain in contact with colleagues across Africa and overseas, thus
          helping them to stay at the frontier of their profession continuously
          deepening their professional knowledge.
     (f) A program management structure that stresses local determination of
          the research agenda, while still retaining accountability to the
          sponsoring members.
    Another noteworthy initiative is the UNDP/EDI/ILO Program (UNEDIL).
 This is supported by a consortium of donor agencies including UNDP, EDI,
 ILO, USAID, CIDA, SIDA, Commonwealth Secretariat, and the Government
 of Netherlands. The purpose of the UNEDIL is to build capacity for self-
reliance among 16 of Africa's leading regional and national management
training institutions (MDIs) through a process of collective action. The MDls
themselves take the lead in determining the priorities and the agenda for
action; designing the programs and modalities, and implementing the action
plans.
    In all these programmes, the underlying assumption-and perhaps the
programmes' strongest attribute-is the belief in the importance of building
indigenous competence that is already there by bringing together the strongest
resource persons, and strengthening the strongest institutions so that in turn
they can multiply the benefits and take leadership in capacity building.
    The early 1990s has also seen the birth of two other potentially important
capacity building initiatives: the African Capacity Building Initiative (ACBI)
and the Netherlands supported" Research Programmet; for Development
(DGIS-RPD). The major objective of the ACBI, which is sponsored by the
African Development Bank (ADB), the UNDP, and the World Bank, is to
build over the long-term African capacity in policy analysis and economic
management, and to ensure more effective utilization of the already trained
African analysts and managers. Other objectives include the establishment of
mechanisms for coordinating various capacity building efforts that would lead


                                         Capacity Building in Research        13
to greater efficiency and effectiveness of on-going donor efforts; and the
rehabilitation or strengthening of institutions-including consulting firms and
other professional associations-that are involved in economic policy analysis
and economic management.
    At the moment the DGIS-funded research program covers three countries
in SSA (Mali, Tanzania and Uganda), and six other .countries. outside Africa
including Bangladesh, Bolivia, India, Nicaragua, and Vietnam. Both the
ACBI and the DGIS Research Programmes for Development share four
important characteristics which have potential in enhancing the effectiveness
of these programs. Firstly, they assume a long-term horizon. Secondly, they
are demand-based, driven by the needs and priorities of recipient institutions
in recipient countries. Thirdly, they emphasize the need to promote research
directed at development issues, and which could be genuinely utilized by the
relevant policy makers within and outside the recipient countries. Lastly, they
recognize the need for a strong African involvement in the planning and
formulation of capacity building strategies.
    It is too early to comment on the potential effectiveness of these
programmes, but at least they represent an improvement over the past donor
efforts to build capacity, and therefore need all the encouragement possible.
2.3 Some Lessons from Asia and Latin America
A review of capacity building experience for policy analysis and economic
management in Asia and Latin America shows that some two decades ago the
many problems familiar to SSA were prevalent as well. In Latin America and
some Asian countries like Indonesia, political instability and weak
bureaucracies were dominant during the 1950s and 196Os. University
educational standards in these countries were also considered to be extremely
low. For example, Indonesia had hardly any university graduate at the time of
independence in 1948. South Korea had only six Western trained PhDs in
economics in 1969. In fact, some of the African universities were quite ahead
of institutions in Asia and Latin America in the sixties. As in SSA, demand
for policy analysis was low, and competent and independent policy research
centres were rare in Asia and Latin America.
    Through time, indigenous institutions in Asia have acquired capabilities
which have enabled them to play an important distinguished role in policy
 formulation, and thus complementing the inhouse capabilities of their
respective governments. Good examples of such institution are the College of
Public Administration of the University of Philippines; the Korean


  14     M.S.D. Bagachwa
 Development Institute (KDI), the Instituto Nacional de Administracion
 Publica of Mexico, and the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh which has innovated
 a special effective lending. programme among the poor. Important factors
 contributing to the success of Asian and Latin American institutions have
 included:
      (a) A favorable environment that can attract and retain well-trained
          professionals.
      (b) Long-term twinning arrangements between indigenous governments
          in form of favorable macro-policy environment, provision of
          necessary infrastructure, strengthening of indigenous technological
          capabilities, and a strong commitment to place investment in human
          capital and institutions high on the agenda (Ernst and O'Connor,
          1989).
3. Conclusion: Implications of Capacity Building for DGIS-Funded
    Research Programmes
3.1 Research Programmes as Means for Building Capacity
Development depends on the capacity of a society to analyse, adapt, initiate
and manage change. Effective policy analysis and economic management are
therefore necessary for successful development. This implies however, that
for effective policy analysis to take place, capacities must be built. In
addition, there must be good quality and consistent data which is easily
accessible to the policy analysts. One way of building capacities and
generating such information is through research. To the extent that research is
capable for generating the required information, it helps to enhance capacity
and to provide the means for appropriate knowledge. Research is thus a
necessary condition for empowerment. In addition, research can contribute to
better understanding of the desirably of certain policies and their implication
and improved ways of solving problems (Netherlands Government, 1984).
    The recently launched DGIS-supported multi-year and multi-disciplinary
research programmes will not only serve as an instruments for development
cooperation, but will also play an important role in !>uilding capacities and
generating information required for policy analysis in recipient institutions and
countries. In this regard the preceding analysis provides some useful insights
that could be selectively used to enhance the effectiveness of the DGIS-funded
research programs, especially on issues related to the research focus, scope,
networking, stimulation of demand for capacity analysis, and targeting the
beneficiaries.


                                        Capacity Building in Research           15
3.2 Research Focus
While the need for building additional research capacity and/or strengthening
existing capacity is justifiable, such an initiative should be carefully worked
out. Resources, whether from donors or national governments, will always be
limited. As the cases of Eastern and Western African Technology Policy
Studies Networks have shown, if resources are spread thinly over a range of
research topics, the impact may not be of any quantitative significance
(Herbert-Copley, 1992). It might be instructive therefore to direct research
efforts and resources to a specified research area or limited number of
themes. These include realization of scale of economies through concentration
of efforts; greater possibility of evolving a common and workable research
methodology; generation of a critical mass of research results from which
broader and much firmer conclusions can be drawn; greater project visibility,
and lower unit costs in training and peer review.
     In order to ensure ownership and full participation of the recipient
institutions in the design and implementation of research programs, the
selection of the research area of focus should be entrusted with the recipient
institutions. When searching for the relevant theme, local institutions should
take into consideration the relevance of the theme both nationally and
globally, and its practical relevance within the national socio-political context.
Moreover, a broad-based consensus over the selected theme(s) should be
sought through a process of discussion and consultations among potential
researchers and users. Research workshops have provided such a mechanism.
3.3 Scope and Activity Coverage
When designing a research program it is important to realize that the term
 research activity is broad, and should not be confmed to simply the collection
 and subsequent analysis of data. A much broader conceptualization of
 research would include three interrelated activities: field research, training,
 and dissemination of research results.
     Support for actual field research may take two forms: small, and large
 grants. Generally, small grarits tend to attract junior researchers, are
 characterized by rapid turnover of participants, and hence tend to be an
 effective means of supporting research and building research capacity
 (Herbert-Copley,     1992). However, small grants are administratively
 expensive, and have little visibility or presence at the national or regional
 levels. They also tend to attract less of the more experienced researchers.


   16     M.S.D.88gachw8
   Large grants attract relatively senior researchers, are more visible, but tend to
  result in low turnover of participants. The actual amount of funds allocated
  between small and large grants will therefore depend on whether one intends
  to maximize capacity building or visibility, and the actual demand, i.e., the
  type and quality of researchers available.
      Training is an essential element in capacity and competence building, and
  should be accorded an important profile in DGIS research programs.
  Research skills can be built in several ways. These may include a range of
 training .activities such as short courses, guest lectures, annual meetings,
 short-term courses in research methodology, etc. Accessibility to literature
 has also to be considered as an important training aspect, and researchers
 should be encouraged to include the cost of literature in the research
 proposals.
      As detailed out in REPOA Secretariat and Brian Cooksey (1994),
 emphasis should not only be placed on capacity building, but also (and equally
 important), capacity utilization. Although there are many competent
 researchers, they do not all realize their full potential. Capacity can be built'
 through transfer of skills. Young researchers may be exposed to actual
 research conditions by being involved ,in a team headed by an experienCed
 researcher. Proposals can then be expected to contain the names of both
 senior and more junior researchers. However, the practice of exploiting junior
 members of staff by giving them substantial pieces of research to undertake on
 a very small budget is incompatible with good research.
     Institutional twinning or collaboration can also help build capacity. To
date, the typical relationship has been between universities counterparts. Such
relationships have often included a training component (post-graduate degrees
in the North), and the mobilisation of funds to undertake collaborative
research, usually with a Northern team-leader or partner. This kind of
collaboration has generally been more successful in generating quality
research and publications than the alternative of funding local researchers
through government channels. At the same time, there are examples of
institutional collaboration yielding rather mediocre results in relation to the
resources committed to the task. This under-performance also includes
institutions enjoying long-term support arrangements. Great care needs to be
exercised when identifying the partner institutions.
     Another form of capacity building would be for the programmes to
commission state of the art reviews to clarify further their research priorities.
Other supportive activities could include preparation of an inventory of


                                           Capacity Building in Research           17
individual researchers and institutions relevant to the research area;
commissioning a series of general and/or annotated bibliographies;
establishing a small documentation unit and a computer data base relevant to
the research area.
3.4 Networking
Research networks are increasingly becoming important forms             of cllpacity
building. Under conditions of widespread deterioration in               institutional
capacities and infrastructure, networks can be seen as a viable         strategy for
fostering research output. The advantage of organizing a research       progranune
as a network are that the network would help:
      (a) Serve as a surrogate institution for network members by providing
          them ~ith access to literature, peer review, quality control, and
          publications outlets. By so doing, it would facilitate collegiate
          interaction, and broaden members' local and international contacts,
          thereby acting as a knowledge broker. These are vital research
          infrastructures which an individual researcher's home institution
          should provide, but often fails to do so given the poor state of the
          research environment in a country;
     (b) Facilitate comparative research through integrated or team research
          efforts that are capable of generating data on a wider scale from a
          diverse set of circumstances. This makes it possible to address key
          issues that might be omitted or taken for granted in a single research
          effort. In so doing it helps to create a critical mass of research results
          from which broader and much tirmer conclusion can be drawn.
     (c) Enhance realization of scale of economies by undertaking several
          studies on a common or related research theme, resulting in lower
          unit costs especially in training and investment in literature.
          Collective efficiency is thus maximized.
     (d) Foster specialization by permitting some members to focus on one
          type of research activity and transferring the results to other studies,
          thereby avoiding duplication of research efforts.
     (e) Increase the chances of making methodological innovations by
          broadening the base of experience in both problems and experimental
          solutions.


   18     M.S.D. Bagachwa
       (f) Serve as a seed-bed for an exchange ofresearch ideas.
       (g) Facilitate transfer of knowledge and skills from senior to jlinior
           researchers, and from researchers of one discipline to those in other
           disciplines.
  3.5 Dissemination
  One of the most important determinants of sustainable capacity building in
  research is the domestic demand for research output. Indeed, it is important
 even at the design stage of a particular research project to identify who, the
 beneficiaries of the research output. If, for example, the research output is to
 be used in policy analysis, would there be demand for such an output? Would
 government's attitude be hostile to such research fmdings? The point to
 emphasize is that it is not always safe to simply assume that demand for
 independent research output automatically exists. Some governments may
 have lost faith in research-based policy analysis due to various reasons: poor
 quality, ignorance, ideological motivation, excessively theoretical, irrelevant
 to the country's economic and political environment, or simply because
 researchers have traditionally been anti-government. It should be emphasized,
 however, that demand for research output is not confmed to government
 departments, but may also stem from private sector institutions. Demand may
 even come form foreign institutions.
     In any case, deliberate efforts must be made to stimulate the latent demand
 for research output. Sponsoring regular conferences, workshops, and public
~including televised) debates will help sensitize and publicize the research
fmdings. These serve three other important functions: as a means of
exchanging knowledge, transference of skills, and disseminating research
results. A related important form of disseminating research results would be
through easily accessible forms of publications. It is crucial to involve, from
the outset, policy makers in the design and formulation of the research
programs, and in the management of the programs, for example, as members
of the steering committees, etc. They should also be encouraged to participate
in actual research.
3.5 Conclusion
In conclusion, effective policy analysis must be founded on technical
competence, and the availability of good quality and consistent data. Effective


                                       Capacity Building in Research        19
research programmes can help build these capacities. To be successful and
sustainable, research programmes require a long-term horizon. Success will
also depend on the existence of effective institutions and a committed system
of good governance which, among other things, places investment in human
capital and institutions high on the agenda. The effectiveness of research
programs in building capacity will also be facilitated by commitment of
donors to provide the vital resources without conditionalities that would
highjack the recipients' ownership of the programs. The recipients must
provide a lead in the design and determination of research priorities. They
must own the programs. In the meantime, expatriate advisors would continue
to provide stop-gap measures to alleviate capacity problems in SSA.
However, there is no substitute for SSA having its own indigenous capacity.
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