NARI-University Collaboration for Development Impact

The primary aim of current improvements in agriculture in Uganda, and indeed the whole of Eastern Africa region, is to ensure food and income security for improved livelihoods of the people. Unfortunately, key factors that have often been over-looked have limited this potential. One such factor is the lack of appropriate demand driven technologies, knowledge and skills from national, regional and international research and training institutions because of the limited linkages and synergies required for effective engagement of the research and training institutions in addressing developmental needs within the agricultural sector. While the desire for partnership exists between national research institutes and universities, policy and resource constraints has limited effective collaboration to sporadic and short-term events which often leave little impact on livelihoods of the poor in developing countries. The temporal and spatial scope of inter-institutional collaboration often fails to nurture the relevant ingredients for fostering sustainable partnerships for development. The status quo has persisted in spite of the global recognition of partnership as a premise for harnessing intellectual, physical and financial resources and creating synergies of actions for development. Equally important is the extension of partnership beyond intellectual boundaries, which has eluded the national agricultural research systems (NARS) including universities and public research institutes (PARIs) for a long time. Delinking research and training from the people who are (de facto) the markets for technologies, skills and knowledge, is the core problem that undermines the undisputable relevance of research and training in responding to the Millennium Development Goals on food security, poverty reduction, sustainable natural resource management and economic growth. The key challenge has been: how to forge effective innovation platforms complementary interests, resources, and opportunities in order to maximise the strengths and minimize real or perceived threats that tend to linger within and create artificial borders between otherwise compatible institutions. Sporadic media reports suggests that both nationalresearch institutes (NARIs) share challenges of relevance to emerging demands in the technologies, skills and knowledge markets; indicating the need to re-brand and identify with development processes under circumstances of declining material and financial resource base. Yet both NARIs and universities must exist if sustainable growth and prosperity of nations has to the guaranteed from generation to generation. Resource constraints and balance of complementarities dictate that partnership encampassing inclusive business models under the emerging development paradigms is the most viable option for re-branding and re-invigorating the corporate images of NARIs and universities in the national agricultural research systems.