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Abstract
Introduction
Experience of the United Nations University in capacity-building
The Joint AAU/UNU Regional Food and Nutrition Project for Africa
Training courses
Discussion and conclusions
References
Abraham Besrat
The author is the Principal Academic Officer of the United Nations University in Tokyo.
The contribution of the United Nations University over the past two decades to institutional capacity-building for research and high-level training in the area of food and nutrition for developing countries stands out prominently among international and bilateral agencies. More than 600 researchers and young scientists, accounting for about 44% of all UNU fellowships awarded, have received postgraduate training in this area. Nearly 70% of the fellowships were hosted at UNU-associated institutions located in industrialized and developing countries. Reflecting UNU’s interest in promoting cooperation in the South-South context, a little over one-half of the fellowships awarded for postgraduate research and training have been implemented in developing-country institutions. Training provided in developing countries offers the fellows the opportunity to work on problems that are comparable to those in their home countries and also bolster the standing of the training institution as an important regional centre. The UNU effort in capacity-building has been relatively successful in Latin America and Asia, where key regional and national institutions have been involved in the UNU fellowship programme. The results in Africa have been less successful, because the lack of independent university nutrition programmes has made it necessary to depend too much on government research institutions.
There is no surer way of making a significant and lasting impact on the food and nutrition situation in a country than to help that country develop its endogenous capacity for problem-solving research, train competent personnel to manage nutrition and primary health projects, and formulate effective food and nutrition policy. Building capacity for research and training in developing countries requires a strong national or regional commitment, which is needed to mobilize support to build career structures, incentives and funding for carrying out research, and high-level training in a sustainable way. Developing countries that have made commitments in their development strategies to build institutional capacities in the area of food and nutrition have made significant progress in the fight against hunger and malnutrition. Countries such as Costa Rica, Chile, Cuba, and Thailand, to mention only a few, have made significant improvements in the health and nutrition status of their populations in a relatively short span of time. The remarkable transition of Costa Rica’s health and nutrition status from that of a typical developing country to that rivalling the status of industrialized countries was achieved in a single decade in the 1970s [1]. The country case studies presented during the Workshop give valuable information on the experiences of various countries in institutional capacity-building. While each country clearly adopts a strategy that best suits its particular situation, it goes without saying that government support is the sine qua non for any capacity-building strategy to be implemented in an effective manner.
External assistance can play an important supportive role in capacity-building under conditions where clear priority is given to the fight against hunger and malnutrition. The development of the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP) was made possible because of the commitment made in 1946 by the representatives of the ministries of health of the six countries of the region to have a regional institute with the mandate to determine the nutritional problems of the region, to find practical solutions to these problems through research, and to assist the countries in the application of these solutions through advisory services, education, and training [2]. Three important provisions helped the development of INCAP in the initial years. These were the formation of a Directing Council made up of the Ministers of Health or their representatives; a provision that INCAP would be administered by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO); and a long-term budgetary commitment from the member countries along with three-year external financial assistance from the Kellogg Foundation. Over the years, INCAP developed into an important regional and international research and training institution and became the first UNU-associated institution in 1976.
The successful development of other food and nutrition institutions, such as the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) and the National Institute of Nutrition in India, the Institute of Nutrition of Mahidol University (INMU) in Thailand, the Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INTA) in Chile, the Nutrition Centre of the Philippines (NCP), and the Nutrition Research and Development Center (NRDC) in Indonesia, to name only a few, was made possible through enlightened leadership, institutional commitment, and financial support from both inside and outside the countries concerned.
Economists have long assumed that the main component of a country’s productive wealth is physical wealth (productive assets). However, according to a recent World Bank study of 192 countries, physical wealth on average accounts for only 16% of the total wealth. More important is natural capital, which accounts for 20%. By far the most important parameter of productive wealth is human capital, which accounts for 64% [3]. The dominance of human capital is particularly apparent in high-income countries, accounting for as much as 80% of the productive wealth in such countries as Germany, Japan, and Switzerland. In sub-Saharan Africa, on the average, 50% of the wealth is derived from natural resources. There is strong evidence from East Asia that heavy investment in human development and institutional capacity-building has been a springboard for sustained economic growth, and indeed for the impressive gains made in improving the health and nutrition status of their populations, as measured by the human development index, which is based on three indicators: longevity, as measured by life expectancy at birth; educational attainment, as measured by a combination of adult literacy (two-thirds weight) and combined primary, secondary, and tertiary enrollment ratios (one-third weight); and standard of living, as measured by real gross domestic product per capita [4].
The objective of any capacity-building effort is to develop human potential to meet the standard of living of society. As such, human resource development entails the development of individual, group, and institutional capabilities for self-sustained learning, generation of technology, or the implementation of development activities. Capacity-building involves at least two components: individual competence, and institutional infrastructure that supports research and high-level training. Competence includes not only acquiring skills, but also a systematic and scientific approach to problem-solving by strengthening the ability to independently identify and define research tasks and their relationship to problems and development activities. Institutional infrastructure building includes upgrading career structures, salaries, and scientific information systems; providing equipment and supplies for research; and developing operational links with organizations and institutions inside and outside the country [5].
It follows from the above considerations that the UNU training and fellowship programme is intended to strengthen the capacities of academic institutions in developing countries, assist the career development of scholars and scientists, particularly young researchers, and promote an understanding of complex problems in their global context and thereby help develop analytical skills and the ability to conduct and direct research. A broader goal of the UNU programme is to help alleviate the intellectual isolation of scholars and scientists in developing countries and to strengthen their research capabilities in the priority programme areas of the UNU through their participation in research networks. The UNU’s capacity-building strategy is to build up and strengthen a limited number of key institutions in developing countries. The desired result of the strengthening effort is to enable the institutions to carry out high-quality research and train a new generation of scholars and scientists.
A Working Group on Strengthening Developing-Country Institutions Concerned with Food and Nutrition, convened in 1984 jointly by the UNU and the United Nations Administrative Committee on Coordination/Subcommittee on Nutrition (ACC/SCN), stressed the serious lack of institutions in most developing countries to meet the regional and national needs for training, research, and advisory services in food and nutrition [6]. The Working Group strongly urged that international and bilateral organizations, foundations, and other donors give a high priority to the promotion of a variety of specified activities, including the training of food and nutrition professionals, nutrition research by developing-country professionals, and the development of local managerial competence. The Working Group particularly recommended that special priority be given to develop the capacity of institutions that have the potential to become centres of excellence for research and postgraduate training. In spite of the recommendations made by the UNU-ACC/SCN Working Group in 1984, the results of a two-year study undertaken by the Commission on Health Research for Development published in 1990 showed that only a few small donors - mainly foundations - gave priority to capacity-building [5]. The Commission was particularly disappointed by the low priority accorded to capacity-building by many bilateral aid agencies and development banks, which seem to be satisfied to use the research capacity built by others but do not direct a share of their own investments towards capacity-building in developing countries. There are, of course, notable exceptions to this generalized statement, as will be shown later in this paper.
TABLE 1. Number (percentage) of UNU fellowships by field of study
|
Field |
1976-82 |
1983-87 |
1988-95 |
Total |
|
Food and nutrition |
221(67) |
277(44) |
109(22) |
607(44) |
|
Energy |
37(11) |
128(25) |
124(25) |
289(21) |
|
Environmental and natural resources |
74(22) |
60(12) |
84(17) |
218(16) |
|
Science and technology |
- |
25(5) |
166(33) |
191(14) |
|
Economic and social development |
- |
77(15) |
13(3) |
90(6) |
Recognizing that training needs are vast and its resources are very limited, the UNU has tried to achieve a multiplier effect in its training efforts. Thus, it has tried to maximize the impact of its input by training the trainers, research leaders, and policy decision makers. All fellowships are given for studies at the postgraduate level. Although UNU fellowships are not awarded for the express purpose of working towards higher degrees, a considerable number of fellows have been successful in earning higher degrees by getting supplementary support or by using the fellowship as a component of a degree programme that combines studies in the home country and abroad (the so-called sandwich programme). The UNU has developed a rigorous process of selection of trainees and their home institutions in order to get a reasonable degree of assurance that its investment in elevating the competence of the individual will contribute to institutional capacity-building. The selection process normally involves a careful evaluation of the candidate’s institution through a site visit to the institution and an interview with the candidate by a representative of the UNU. In this way, the needs of the institution and the individuals can be clearly identified and a commitment by the candidates to return after training and by the institution to accept them can be ascertained directly. This selection process has undoubtedly contributed to the very high rate of return of UNU fellows to their home institutions.
Since 1976, when the first UNU fellow started training, nearly 1,400 persons have undergone training, with an average duration of 10 months. As can be seen from table 1, a little more than 600 persons, accounting for 44% of all UNU fellowships awarded, underwent training in the area of food and nutrition. The share of fellowships in this area was about two-thirds during the initial years of the University (1976-1982), when there were only three programme areas: World Hunger, Natural Resources, and Human and Social Development. In the subsequent periods, the share of the fellowships awarded in the area of food and nutrition remained at nearly 50% during the period of the UNU Medium-Term Perspective (MTP I) from 1983 to 1987, and decreased to 22% during the period from 1988 to 1995. The decrease was due to the expansion of UNU activities to nine programme areas during MTP I and the consequent demand for fellowships in the other areas.
Another contributing factor to the decrease of the share of fellowships in food and nutrition was the severe budgetary constraint that was precipitated by the steep appreciation of the Japanese yen against the US dollar that took place in mid-1986. Although the entire fellowship programme was affected by the budget cut caused by the sharp appreciation of the yen, the effect on fellowships in the area of food and nutrition was especially severe, because a large number of approved fellowships had to be cancelled.
In targeting its capacity-building activities, the UNU has in the past selected a small number of institutions, initially on a geographic or regional basis, to become its associated institutions for the implementation of its capacity-building initiatives and research activities in selected subject areas. By 1986, the UNU had concluded association agreements with a total of 42 institutions. Of these, 17 were in the area of food and nutrition. As can be seen from table 2, UNU-associated institutions have been designated from both the industrialized and the developing countries, and a little over one-half of the fellowships were hosted in developing-country institutions. Nearly 70% of the fellowships were implemented at UNU-associated institutions.
In the experience of the UNU, training and institution-building in a South-South context is advantageous for strengthening endogenous capacity and expertise in developing countries. Training provided in this way offers the fellows the opportunity to work on problems that are comparable to those in their home countries. Such South-South cooperation also has other advantages: the training institution gets a larger number of students for its programmes, with the attendant additional resource input, and bolsters its standing as a regional training centre. Figure 1 shows that the largest number of fellowships were implemented in institutions in Asia, accounting for nearly 41% of the fellowships. Most of these were hosted at CFTRI in India, NCP in the Philippines, the National Food Research Institute (NFRI) in Japan, INMU in Thailand, and NRDC in Indonesia. About 35% of the UNU fellows received their training at institutions in North America and Europe, whereas the training of about one-fifth of the fellows was hosted in institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean, with INCAP, INMU, and the University of the West Indies - all UNU-associated institutions - receiving the majority of the fellows. Reflecting the weakness of African institutions in the area of food and nutrition, only 1.5% of the fellowships were implemented at two UNU-associated institutions in Africa, the Department of Nutrition and Food Science of the University of Ghana and the Applied Nutrition Unit of the University of Nairobi.
As can be seen from figure 2, nearly 45% of the fellowships were awarded to persons from institutions in Asia. Twenty-seven percent were awarded to persons from African institutions and 26% to persons from institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean. Under very exceptional circumstances, a few fellowships were also awarded to individuals from industrialized countries during the initial years of the University. All in all, institutions in some 70 countries benefited from UNU fellowships. However, it is rather difficult to determine with any degree of certainty the impact UNU fellowships had on the strengthening of institutional capacities. An attempt to get feedback information from former UNU fellows to assess the impact of the programme was not successful, because too few of the fellows responded to the questionnaire. However, judging from the significant number of former UNU fellows who hold important positions in government policy-making agencies, research organizations, large projects, and research and training institutions, it is quite evident that the fellowship training has had a positive impact on institutional capacity-building under circumstances where there exists national or regional commitment to improve the food and nutrition situation of the populations concerned.
As indicated earlier, an important element of the UNU’s strategy for institutional capacity-building is to concentrate its efforts on a few key institutions so as to enable them to build up a critical level of expert manpower. However, this strategy is quite difficult to implement in practice, in view of the demands that come from many institutions, and it is not always easy to determine the institutions with the potential to become centres of excellence. Table 3 lists the institutions with five or more UNU fellowship awardees. It should be noted that 10 of these institutions are located in Asia, including the Institute of Nutrition and Food Science of Dhaka University, INMU, and CFTRI, which are UNU-associated institutions. In the Latin American and Caribbean region, only four institutions, including INTA and INCAP, are in this category. It is interesting to note that none of the seven African institutions in this category is a UNU-associated institution. Most of these institutions are government research institutes that were established primarily with external assistance and were for the most part initially staffed by expatriate scientists who left the institutions when external financial support was either terminated or substantially reduced. In most cases, the development of endogenous expert manpower was not actively pursued or encouraged.
TABLE 2. Main training venues for UNU fellowships in food and nutrition
|
Institution |
No. regular |
No. special |
Total No. |
% |
|
|
Developing countries |
293 |
19 |
312 |
51 |
|
|
|
* Central Food Technological Research Institute
(CFTRI), India |
66 |
15 |
81 |
|
|
|
* Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama
(INCAP), Guatemala |
71 |
2 |
73 |
|
|
|
* Nutrition Center of the Philippines (NCP),
Philippines |
64 |
1 |
65 |
|
|
|
* Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INTA),
Chile |
24 |
0 |
24 |
|
|
|
Nutrition Research and Development Centre (NRDC),
Indonesia |
22 |
0 |
22 |
|
|
|
* Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University (INMU),
Thailand |
11 |
1 |
12 |
|
|
|
* University of the West Indies, Jamaica |
9 |
0 |
9 |
|
|
|
* Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of
Ghana |
5 |
0 |
5 |
|
|
|
* University of Nairobi, Kenya |
4 |
0 |
4 |
|
|
|
Others |
17 |
0 |
17 |
|
|
Industrialized countries |
259 |
13 |
272 |
45 |
|
|
|
* International Food and Nutrition Program (IFNP),
USA |
41 |
12 |
53 |
|
|
|
* National Food Research Institute (NFRI), Japan |
40 |
0 |
40 |
|
|
|
* London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM),
UK |
24 |
0 |
24 |
|
|
|
Cornell University, USA |
17 |
0 |
17 |
|
|
|
International Nutrition Institute (NINI),
Netherlands |
12 |
0 |
12 |
|
|
|
* Agricultural University of Wageningen, Netherlands |
8 |
0 |
8 |
|
|
|
* Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de
Alimentos (IATA), Spain |
7 |
0 |
7 |
|
|
|
University of California, Los Angeles, USA |
8 |
0 |
8 |
|
|
|
Overseas Development Natural Resources Institute, UK |
7 |
1 |
8 |
|
|
|
Johns Hopkins University, USA |
6 |
0 |
6 |
|
|
|
Tufts University, USA |
6 |
0 |
6 |
|
|
|
University of Reading, UK |
5 |
0 |
5 |
|
|
|
Others |
78 |
0 |
78 |
|
|
Combined locations |
0 |
23 |
23 |
4 |
|
* UNU-associated institutions.
The African Regional Food and Nutrition Project was initiated in 1988 as a collaborative activity between the UNU and the Association of African Universities (AAU) with financial support from the European Union. The project was aimed at strengthening national capacity in food and nutrition research in seven countries of Africa (Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mauritius, Nigeria, Senegal, and Zaire), with particular focus on three lead research institutes carrying out research in food science and technology. These were the Federal Institute of Industrial Research (FIIRO) in Oshodi, Nigeria, the Institute de Technologie Alimentaire (ITA) in Dakar, Senegal, and the Food Research Institute (FRI) in Accra, Ghana. Until 1994, when the first phase of the project ended, these government research institutes carried out training activities and developed networks of researchers on the subjects of root and tuber processing, weaning foods, and balanced protein-energy foods, respectively. The Department of Nutrition and Food Science (DNFS) of the University of Ghana, which became a UNU-associated institution in 1979, played an important supportive role in the activities of the network concerned with research and training in the development of balanced protein energy foods from locally grown food crops.
TABLE 3. Institutions with five or more fellowship awardees
|
Institution |
No. of fellowships |
|
* Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INTA),
University of Chile, Chile |
11 |
|
Institut de Technologie Alimentaire, Senegal |
10 |
|
Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre (TFNC), Tanzania |
10 |
|
* Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University (INMU),
Thailand |
10 |
|
* Institute of Nutrition and Food Science, University of
Dhaka, Bangladesh |
8 |
|
Institute of Food Science and Technology, Bangladesh |
8 |
|
Instituto Nacional de Alimentación y Nutrición,
Bolivia |
8 |
|
* Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama
(INCAP), Guatemala |
8 |
|
Federal Institute of Industrial Research in Oshodi (FIIRO),
Nigeria |
8 |
|
Centro de Estudios Sobre Nutrición Infantil,
Argentina |
7 |
|
International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research,
Bangladesh |
6 |
|
Food Research Institute, Ghana |
6 |
|
Food and Nutrition Research Institute, Philippines |
6 |
|
Institute of Food Research and Product Development (IFRPD),
Kasetsart University, Thailand |
6 |
|
Institute of Nutrition, Egypt |
5 |
|
Ethiopian Nutrition Institute, Ethiopia |
5 |
|
* Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI),
India |
5 |
|
Food Technology Development Centre, Indonesia |
5 |
|
Centre for Food Research, Nepal |
5 |
|
Department of Human Nutrition, University of Ibadan,
Nigeria |
5 |
|
Nutrition Division, Ministry of Policy Planning and
Implementation, Sri Lanka |
5 |
* UNU-associated institutions.
FIG. 1. UNU Fellows in Food and Nutrition: Distribution by training venue
FIG. 2. UNU Fellows in Food and Nutrition: Distribution by region of origin
The main activities centred on training workshops held at FIIRO, ITA, and DNFS. These were followed by shorter seminars at which the networks were established. The project provided laboratory equipment and supplies to the participating institutions in order to strengthen their capacities to carry out research and training in their respective areas of concentration. A service for accessing abstracts of published journal articles using a CD-ROM database was made available to professionals in nutrition, food science, and related areas throughout the African continent from the AAU Headquarters in Accra, Ghana. This service was widely advertised in the project newsletter, which was started in 1989. A small research grant scheme providing up to US$10,000 per project was initiated in 1991. A total of 15 research projects were approved to receive grants based on the outcome of a peer review process and recommendation of a committee set up for this purpose. The joint AAU-UNU project was terminated in 1994 after an external evaluation was made. The general conclusion of the evaluation was that the project had a positive outcome, but that its impact would have been more pronounced if departments of universities were targeted for strengthening rather than government research institutes.
The major part of the UNU’s effort in helping developing countries strengthen institutional capacities in the area of food and nutrition has concentrated on awarding fellowships for individually tailored research and training. The UNU has also been involved in organizing structured courses and has provided fellowships for participation in those courses. Between 1977 and 1986, NCP in the Philippines, which became a UNU-associated institution in 1976, organized nine advanced courses, lasting from three to six months, in food and nutrition planning for community development with the support of the UNU. Although the UNU’s support of this programme was discontinued in 1986 because of the major budgetary difficulty referred to earlier, NCP continued its international courses with financial support from other sources, such as the Government of the Netherlands, the Asian Development Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
In 1986 a four-month training and research workshop on tempe technology was organized at NRDC in Bogor, Indonesia. Tempe is a popular Indonesian food produced by the fermentation of soya bean with mould (Rhizopus). The first workshop was attended by 10 young scientists from several countries in Africa and Asia. The main objective of the course was to train the participants in a well-developed traditional fermentation technology and to promote the adaptation of the technology to suit the prevailing conditions in the trainees’ respective countries. The training workshop was held for the second time at NRDC in 1990 with a grant the UNU received from the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) to cover the expenses for the training and to provide support for the follow-up research activities of the 12 fellows when they returned to their countries. The follow-up research support facilitated the effective transfer of the knowledge and techniques the fellows acquired from the training to their countries, and several of them successfully applied fungal solid-state fermentation to the grain legumes grown and consumed in their countries.
The UNU has always been keen to involve former fellows in its networks and project activities. However, such follow-up activities require outside financial support, since it is not possible for the UNU to provide budgetary allocation for this purpose. In 1993, the UNU-Kirin training programme was launched at the National Food Research Institute in Tsukuba, Japan, with the financial support of the Kirin Brewery Company, to cover the training of five fellows per year and to provide funds for the fellows’ research projects to be carried out in their countries after the training. An average grant of US$10,000 is provided to each fellow through a contract with the fellow’s home institution.
The UNU Food and Nutrition Programme has also carried out short-term training courses that enabled young scientists to participate in UNU research activities and projects. Several one-week training workshops on the application of rapid assessment procedures (RAP) for evaluating the effectiveness of health and nutrition projects were held in several countries with the support of UNICEF. The RAP methodology, which uses anthropological qualitative survey tools, was developed by the UNU with the support of UNICEF and WHO. Another course, which is concerned with the production and use of food composition data, was organized at the Wageningen Agricultural University in the Netherlands under the UNU/INFOODS project, with the cooperation of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS). A similar three-week course was organized at INTA in Chile.
Although this paper has mainly focused on the UNU experience in capacity-building, it is important to note that the UNU carried out a few of its activities in cooperation with other organizations, as indicated throughout the paper. Examples of such collaborative undertakings are the Joint AAU/UNU Regional Food and Nutrition Project for Africa financed by the European Union, the course on tempe fermentation technology supported by DANIDA, training courses on the application of RAP supported by UNICEF, and the course on the production and use of food composition data with FAO and IUNS. A few fellowships were implemented under cost-sharing arrangements in India involving the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, in Korea in cooperation with the Korean Food Research Institute, and in the United Kingdom with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The experience of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada has shown that an emphasis on projects alone may leave crucial gaps in capacity-building. This has prompted IDRC to provide institutional support for developing research and training capacity to complement projects funded by it. The Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing Countries (SAREC) promotes endogenous research that is particularly relevant to the problems of development. SAREC devotes a significant portion of its budget to supporting national and regional research activities, primarily in agriculture and health. The International Foundation for Science in Sweden provides small research grants to young researchers in developing countries. Courses in maternal health and child nutrition, and in food analytical techniques, are organized under the umbrella of the International Courses in Food Science and Nutrition (ICFSN), with the support of the Government of the Netherlands. The Government of the Netherlands has also provided support for the Food and Nutrition Planning Programme of the University of the Philippines at Los Baños. The ICFSN, with the financial support of the Government of the Netherlands and the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), was instrumental in promoting cooperation among the food and nutrition institutions and agencies in the Eastern, Central, and Southern African regions, consisting of 14 countries. Courses on maternal and child nutrition were held at the University of Zimbabwe from 1987 to 1993 with the support of the Netherlands International Agricultural Centre, the Commonwealth Regional Health Community Secretariat in Australia, and SIDA. About 180 persons from the region attended the courses.
The Ethiopian Nutrition Institute (ENI), which has recently been incorporated as part of the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Institute (EHNI), was established in 1964 with the support of SIDA. Another African institute, the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre (TFNC), which started operation in 1973, also received considerable support from SIDA. As indicated in table 3, both EHNI, which is constituted under the Ministry of Health, and TFNC, which is a parastatal organization under the Ministry of Health, have received support from the UNU for their staff development. However, both institutions, particularly ENI, relied heavily on outside experts to take responsibility for the research activities, and little effort was made to build up endogenous expert manpower.
The South-East Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) established the regional Tropical Medicine and Public Health Project (TROPMED) in 1967 to improve the health situation in South-East Asia and to foster regional collaboration in postgraduate education and research. The project has established centres for nutrition in Jakarta, tropical medicine in Bangkok, public health in Manila, and entomology and parasitology in Kuala Lumpur. In 1993, the National Centre for Nutrition in Indonesia became the SEAMEO-TROPMED Regional Centre in Community Nutrition. The Centre, which receives support from the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), provides master’s and doctoral degrees in community nutrition. It is affiliated with the University of Indonesia.
A recent field study carried out in Ghana, Kenya, and the Indian State of Kerala under the auspices of the Dutch Advisory Council for Scientific Research in Development Problems indicated that human resource factors are not given high priority relative to other factors in improving the research system [7]. The study, which involved a total of 293 structured interviews of researchers, concluded that organizational factors, including the setting of workplans and priorities, are the single most important cluster of factors for improving the research system. Included in this are emoluments and other conditions of work. In general, the researchers regarded the administration, organization, and management of research to be a major problem. The respondents considered communication and networking of moderate importance.
The importance of governmental commitment to the fight against hunger and malnutrition and to the development of strong national or regional institutions to carry out research and training cannot be overemphasized. The examples of institutions - both regional and national - cited in this paper clearly demonstrate that external assistance will only be effective in institution-building where there is strong commitment from the concerned government(s). The UNU’s experience in institutional capacity-building amply supports this conclusion.
Over the past 20 years, the UNU has devoted a significant portion of its resources to strengthening the capacities of developing-country institutions to carry out research and high-level training. The UNU’s contribution in this area, which stands out prominently among international and bilateral agencies, achieved a multiplier effect by training the trainers, research leaders, and policy decision makers. Another purpose of the UNU’s effort is to foster cooperation among institutions, particularly those in developing countries. A little over one-half of UNU fellowships were implemented in developing-country institutions. The UNU makes a special effort to identify fellowship candidates through site visits and interviews to determine the high-quality potential of the candidates and ensure that the knowledge and techniques acquired by the fellows will be effectively utilized when they return to their institutions.
Support for infrastructural development and capacity-building can best achieve the desired result if this is provided over a relatively long time of 10 or 15 years. This was the basis for the successful institution-building programme of the Rockefeller Foundation at the University of the Philippines, Mahidol University in Bangkok, and the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia. It also was the basis for the effective support of INCAP in Guatemala by the Kellogg Foundation. The UNU’s experience shows that investments in capacity-building of government research institutions with only marginal support from the concerned governments may not have the desired impact. In general, the UNU’s effort in capacity-building has achieved a high degree of success in Latin America and Asia, where the UNU is associated with key regional or national institutions with strong commitment. In Africa south of the Sahara, the effort has not been as successful, because most of the fellowships have been awarded to staff members of government research institutes, which lacked the potential to become key institutions. The experience in Africa strongly suggests that a university setting is more appropriate for building capacity to carry out research and postgraduate training. In this regard, it is relevant to point out that the University of Zimbabwe has established the first faculty in food and nutrition in sub-Saharan Africa outside South Africa, and the UNU is endeavouring to provide fellowships for advanced training of its staff and hopes that it will soon begin to assume regional training responsibilities.
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