Review of Sida”s programme for development research (U-Forsk)

Support to Swedish research of relevance to developing countries is mainly given through Sida's Council for Development research, Uforsk. The program's overall goal is to support research of high quality and relevance of Swedish development cooperation in line with Sweden's Policy for Global Development (PGD) and Strategy for Sida's support to research cooperation 2010-2014. More specifically, an open call is launched each year for research funding. The grants are available for research projects of relevance to developing countries with the aim to contribute to equitable and sustainable development. The call is open to researchers applying for grants through Swedish universities and other Swedish research institutions.

The purpose of the review was to provide Sida with a comprehensive analysis and assessment of Uforsk to help Sida obtain a deeper knowledge of the impact that Sida’s organisational change has affected the program as well as the measures that have been taken to maintain its quality (delegating the research health program to VR). The assessment of Uforsk was key to Sida’s further discussion about its current state and future management.

The review assessed the extent to which Uforsk has promoted Swedish research of relevance to developing countries according to the objectives in the Sida’s strategy for research cooperation 2010-2014 and the objectives of Uforsk prior to 2010. The review focused on the ability of Sida as a research funder to develop appropriate forms of assistance to meet its stated goals.

The review assessed the relevance, quality of processes (for calls, ion etc), efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability and impact of Uforsk in relation to Sida’s strategy for research cooperation 2010-2014 and gives recommendations on future directions to Sida. The time frame covered is from 2006 and onward.