Research Capacity Building in Nicaragua: from Partnership with Sweden to Ownership and Social Accountability

This paper analyses the Nicaragua-Sweden partnership to build research capacity in Nicaragua with support from SAREC (the research division of the Swedish International Development Agency). It looks at the history of this twenty-years old partnership and identifies the main outcomes and impacts, based on extensive quantitative and qualitative data collection from various sources. The main intention was to contribute to the direction of the future co-operation between Nicaragua and Sweden both at a local level and at the donor’s (SAREC) level. The paper, however, attempts to go further beyond a case study by proposing and developing a general argument. This is that modalities of support to research capacity building in the South need to move from old assumptions concerning knowledge production, utilisation and the nature of development. In order to develop such argument, the paper unveils and discusses the assumptions underlying SAREC’s modality of support to Nicaragua and points out their limitations. It finishes by suggesting new assumptions to be taken into account when designing modalities of support to research capacity building, as follows: i) the notion of innovation as a non-linear process involving different stakeholders and forms of knowledge; ii) the need for social relevance and accountability; iii) the idea of self-determination and local ownership.