UKCDR draws on its portfolio of research enablers to respond to the FCDO’s evidence call for upcoming international development white paper.

 

The UK government will publish a white paper later in 2023 on international development. The paper will set out the UK’s approach to international development to 2030, building on the four priorities articulated in the 2022 International Development Strategy and the objectives set in the Integrated Review Refresh 2023. This paper will focus on how to address the linked challenges of development, nature, and climate in a rapidly changing global context. Read more about the white paper on the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) website.

 

In July 2023, FCDO invited submissions of evidence to develop the white paper. The UK Collaborative on Development Research (UKCDR) responded to this call.

 

Harnessing the power of UK-funded research is crucial for addressing the major development challenges of our time. As shown in our recent analysis, 75% of UK-funded international development research projects demonstrate more than one type of impact, while 89% lead to a change in policy and/or practice.

 

Nonetheless, we still need to bridge the gap between what is funded and how research is conducted. Our response therefore focused on international development research practices, highlighting several research enablers identified in our previous work. Our response called for:

 

Equity in research partnerships, in accordance with UKCDR and ESSENCE on Health Research’s guidance on this topic;

Agile approaches to international development research, with an emphasis on transdisciplinarity; and

Research capacity strengthening, in accordance with UKCDR’s ‘lessons learned’ analysis on this topic.