Towards Better Joint Work: Reflections on Partnership Effectiveness

Abstract

This chapter reflects on the issue of the "health" of cooperative projects, which it defines as the quality of the partnering relationships that underpin project-based networks. Recognising the recent proliferation of project-based networks in bi-regional research and innovation cooperation, and the challenges facing these networks, the authors propose practical applications drawing from their experiences as partners from Africa and Europe. These applications cover issues such as harmonising interests, acknowledging resources and addressing cultural specificities. They also argue that using evaluative approaches, such as partnership learning, is crucial for the partners' ability to handle success and failure.

Searching for Macro-Meso-Micro-Level Links in Studies of North-South Research Collaborations

“…A court ruling in Kenya against the discrimination of African researchers in promotion processes at the Western-managed Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) is only one manifestation of these asymmetries (Nordling 2015). While the epistemic and ethical injustices occurring in North-South collaborations are subject of many of the publications, two chapters in Africa-Europe Research and Innovation Cooperation focus on this dimension of relationships explicitly (Ralphs and Wagner 2018;Botti et al 2018). They argue that project members including funders need to pay much more focus on "partnering processes" (Ralphs and Wagner 2018: 124) across all disciplines to ensure more effective research collaborations.…”