THE SUPPORT AND LIAISON OFFICE

REPORTS AND PUBLICATIONS

HRP Ghana

BRP the Philippines

CONTACT

The Support and Liaison Office  
for the Demand Driven Research Programmes 

The S&LO supports the secretariat and management board of both programmes members amongst others in the field of communication, planning and logistics, and provides information to Dutch researchers and research institutions about the partnership programs, their missions, scope, methodology, strategy and activities, and to the Southern participants of the programs about Dutch research programs, researchers and research institutions.

Background

The demand-driven, collaborative research programmes were initiated by RAWOO (the Dutch Council for Research and Development co-operation), as requested by the Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation, with the aim to develop innovative North-South research partnerships with the following key characteristics: 
* Developing countries draw up their own national research agenda following priorities in the selected policy area. In the Philippines this is bio-diversity, in Ghana health-care.
* Dutch research capacity is mobilised on the basis of concrete needs identified in the respective countries.
* Research activities are accompanied by support activities in the area of human resource development, networking, and institutional development.
* Active involvement of all key partners in the programme management.

Links were established with several countries, resulting in two partnership programmes, the Health Research Programme (HRP) in Ghana and the Biodiversity Research Programme (BRP) in the Philippines.

The S&LO 

The initiative by ETC to set up a Support and Liaison Office for the Demand Driven Research Programmes (S&LO) was approved by DGIS in June 2001 for a period of three years, from 1 June 2001 until 31 May 2004. S&LO started its activities in July 2001, and in agreement with RAWOO took over responsibilities of RAWOO in September 2001.

The specific objectives of S&LO are:
* An adequate provision of information about the programmes, the research approach as well as the achieved results to Dutch researchers, and to a broader public in the Netherlands involved in research for development co-operation;
* An effective functioning of the Joint Programme Committees (JPC) and the management and co-ordination units (National Support Secretariat; NSS) of each of the research programmes;
* Good access to information on relevant knowledge and experiences in the Netherlands for the Southern participants in the partnership programmes.

A relatively small unit has started initially, based in ETC, in a truly support position towards the programs, their management units and the Joint Programme Committees (JPC's). 

In other words: Responsibility for program implementation completely stays with the programs and their JPC's. 

The agreement with DGIS foresees in the following activities for S&LO:
a) Support the members of the JPC's, in particular the Dutch members, with their work, amongst others in the field of communication, planning and logistics;
b) The organisation of meetings of JPC's in the Netherlands;
c) Provision of information to Dutch researchers and research institutions about the partnership programmes, their missions, scope, methodology, strategy and activities, and to the Southern participants of the programmes about Dutch research programmes, researchers and research institutions;
d) Support to participants of the partnership programmes in creating and sustaining contacts and networks with Dutch researchers and research institutions;
e) Support to the management units (NSS) in the programme countries, if and when requested, in implementing their tasks.

Staff

The Support & Liaison Office has 2 staff members: 
* A (part-time) co-ordinator: René van Veenhuizen
* A (part-time) programme assistant: Joanna Wilbers, both to be contacted at: slo@etcnl.nl

The Support & Liaison Office within ETC

Within ETC the S&L Office will not operate in a vacuum but will be able to closely co-operate with other units with similar tasks. In this way it can take advantage of relevant in-house experiences and expertise. 

ETC Foundation is established in Leusden, The Netherlands, and is an independent, private organisation, with the overall goal to actively promote sustainable development world-wide. Since the 19-eighties ETC has been a pioneer in developing and promoting so-called participatory research- and extension strategies and methods, particularly in the field of sustainable land-use and environment. Internationally this approach has become known and has gained recognition by the name Participatory Technology Development. The last few years the focus of part of ETC's activities in this field has been on facilitating and supporting demand-driven, participative research- and extension programmes in developing countries and to do so, a number of specific units were set up such ILEIA, COMPAS and RUAF. On request of the Global Forum for Agricultural Research another new unit is in the build up stage to support regional partnership research programmes promoting local innovation (PROLINNOVA).

The support and facilitation of internationally operating participatory research- and extension programs and the information and communication needed around these, plays a major role within ETC programmes such as ILEIA (sustainable agriculture), RUAF (urban agriculture and forestry), EASE (rural energy and poverty alleviation), and COMPAS (culture, cosmovision and sustainable development). As mentioned before, the Global Forum for Agricultural Research has recently asked ETC to set up a facilitating unit to support the new PROLINNOVA programme. This programme will focus on stimulating regional co-operation amongst researchers, NGOs, and the local population for doing participatory action research. In other words, the Support & Liaison Office will operate closely linked to existing units within ETC that support information- and communication networks with a similar scope and focus.

ETC has an extensive network in the Netherlands in the field of ARD research, both on the relevant content areas and on demand-driven research in general. In a number of programmes ETC works closely with universities such as the University of Amsterdam (EASE program), the Free University in Amsterdam (joint action research programme in Africa on indigenous soil and water conservation) and the Agricultural University in Wageningen (WUR). ETC is an active member of the Dutch, the European and the Global Forum for Agricultural Research and Development.

At the same time ETC is well-known and respected by research offering and research demanding organisations and NGOs in the South, including those in the programme countries the Philippines and Ghana. In recent history there has been collaboration with SEARCA, the organisation in the Philippines responsible for the management of one of the programmes, especially via the ILEIA programme and the recently organised National Workshop on Sustainable Rice Production.

For more information see: www.etcint.org

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