Next Generation: A special issue of the Canadian Journal of Development Studies coming out from a collaboration between Cooperation Canada and CASID

We are pleased to announce the publication of a special issue of the Canadian Journal of Development Studies, entitled Next Generation of Knowledge Partnerships for Global Development, dedicated to a collaboration between Cooperation Canada and the Canadian Association for the Study of International Development (CASID). The Next-generation models for Canadian collaboration in international development project (2017-2020, henceforth NextGen) was funded through the IDRC Foundations for Innovation program.

This special issue, co-edited by Andréanne Martel, Fraser Reilly-King, and Bipasha Baruah, grew out of the NextGen initiative. It documents NextGen findings and taps into different models and experiences of collaboration between practitioners and scholars in the global development sector in Canada and abroad. An introduction to the issue was also published last year.

 

Report: Organizational and human resource capacity for addressing gender equality: Civil society engagement with the Feminist International Assistance Policy

Through a survey of 45 Canadian civil society organizations (CSOs) and key informant interviews, this study examined how CSO’s have made progress towards addressing gender equality as a result of the development and launch of the Feminist International Assistance Policy in 2017. The survey examined operational investments that affected financial, technical and human resources in project implementation processes. Supported by CASID-CCIC Next Generation Program, l’Association québécoise des organismes de coopération internationale (AQOCI), MITACS and the University of Ottawa, this report provides recommendations for CSOs and Global Affairs Canada.

Read the report here.

The Next Generation Final Evaluation Summary is out!

With the approaching closure of the Next Generation Program, the time has come to read and reflect on the multitude of achievements the program has brought to our sector. The program inspired the policy, practice and investments decisions of civil society organizations, academic institutions, networks, funders and governments. The Next Generation Program also provided recommendations that emphasized effective partnerships, inclusion of young people, new technologies, monitoring, evaluation and learning and more importantly sustainable collaboration fueled by an enabling environment for collaboration between academics and practitioners. The Next Generation Program’s success is due to the ability of CASID and CCIC to reimagine existing activities through a collaborative lens – amplifying the importance of academic-civil society collaboration at the core of the Next Generation Program.

 

Click here to read this much anticipated evaluation!

 

NextGen’s Guide for Research Partnership Agreements

NextGen’s Guide for Research Partnership Agreements

When embarking on a collaborative research project, reaching a shared understanding of project priorities, approaches, goals and motivations at the outset of the partnership can help ensure that the all partners’ needs and expectations are clear. 

 

The Next Generation program developed a new bilingual guide for fair and equitable research partnership.   

While examining experiences of research partnerships between academics and civil society organization (CSO) practitioners in the Canadian context, the Next Generation research has uncovered challenging aspects of cross-sectoral research collaboration including tensions and misunderstandings in research partnerships between practitioners and academics. These tensions can be minimized if key issues are discussed at the outset of partnerships. The program supported the compilation of lessons and approaches to establishing a fair, mutually beneficial research processes. When embarking on a collaborative research project, reaching a shared understanding of project priorities, approaches, goals and motivations at the outset of the partnership can help ensure that the all partners’ needs and expectations are clear. 

 

Why this guide?
  • More formal partnership agreements between partners can help build lasting partnerships based on realistic expectations around commitments, roles and responsibilities.  
  • A partnership agreement also aims to ensure less powerful and less resourced partners receive fair and equitable benefits and decision-making power within a partnership arrangement. 
  • A research partnership agreement is a useful reference tool that delineates expectations around a common research goal. 
  • This guide for equitable research partnership could inform your MOU. MOUs formalize research collaborations and can include a clearly defined research protocol that outlines time commitments for practitioners and protects the independence of academic researchers. Moreover, MOUs can outline/include institutional support of the research collaboration beyond the relationship between individual researchers and practitioners, thereby contributing towards the project’s sustainability.  

Using a co-construction approach, this guide was tested through participatory workshops with potential users. Stakeholders from universities, CSOs, funding agencies and community-based research networks in Canada provided inputs.  

 

How to use this guide 

This guide provides a checklist of considerations and questions designed to assist researchers and practitioners in developing a partnership agreement. The guide also allows you to add comments and notes as you go through the guide with your partners.   

We hope this guide will be the starting point of many fruitful collaborations!   

 

Download the guide here

Press Release: The NextGen Database – Helping you Connect with Experts Working in International Development and Humanitarian Assistance

From left to right: Kate Grantham (Vice-president CASID), Liam Swiss (President and CEO, CASID), Andréanne Martel (Program Officer Next Generation Collaboration for Development, CCIC), Shannon Kindornay (Director, Research, Policy and Practice, CCIC), Laura Avalos (Program Assistant, Next Generation Collaboration for Development, CCIC)

Ottawa, ON (SEPT 26, 2019).  The Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC) and the Canadian Association for the Study of International Development (CASID) launched the revamped NextGen database yesterday at Occo Kitchen in Ottawa, as part of the final event of the Next Generation – Collaboration for Development program. The NextGen Database contains more than 600 Canadian researchers and development experts working in international development and humanitarian assistance and can be used by media, students, policy makers, and the general public.  The database is accessible here.

The first iteration of the database was released in 2017 and since then, the Next Gen team partnered with Sustainable Development Solutions Network Canada to link research in Canada to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable development.  Areas of research on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were mapped and this helped identify researchers in Canada from civil society organizations (CSOs), universities, think-tanks and research institutes who contribute to the implementation of the SDGs in Canada and at the international level.

The Next Generation – Collaboration for Development program is a partnership between the Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC) and the Canadian Association for the Study of International Development (CASID). On September 25 and 26, the NextGen Program held its final Symposium and concluded a three-year research initiative that aimed to position Canada as a leader in innovative, multi-stakeholder international development and humanitarian research, practice and policy development. The program encouraged better collaborations between civil society and academia and strengthened the Canadian ecosystem of research and knowledge sharing.

“The NextGen database is an invaluable tool that will showcase the work done by Canadian researchers to attain the Sustainable Development Goals. We encourage all researchers to sign up and create a profile in the database.”

Liam Swiss

President, Canadian Association for the Study of International Development (CASID)

“This tool provides access to an impressive community of experts working in international development and humanitarian issues.  We hope that it will be used widely as a resource by different audiences, including the media, practitioners, policy makers and students.”

Nicolas Moyer

CEO, Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC)

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About the Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC): 
The Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC) is Canada’s national association representing international development and humanitarian organizations. Together with our member organizations, CCIC seeks to end global poverty and to promote social justice and human dignity for all. CCIC is committed to making this goal a public priority and to encouraging the actions necessary to make a poverty-free world a reality.

About the Canadian Association for the Study of International Development (CASID):
The Canadian Association for the Study of International Development (CASID) is a national, bilingual, interdisciplinary and pluralistic association devoted to the promotion of new knowledge in the broad field of international development. CASID is a membership-based organization.

 

Media Contact:
Thida Ith, Media and Communications Officer
[email protected]
Phone: (613) 241-7007 ext. 343
Cell phone: (437) 779-0883

For more information about the NextGen database:
Andréanne Martel, Program Officer
[email protected]

 

 

Find out more about the NextGen Symposium

NextGen Symposium

 

The NextGen Symposium is organized jointly by the  Canadian Association for the Study of International Development (CASID)   and the  Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC) as part of the Next Generation program: Collaboration for Development.

This final event of the Next Generation for Development Program will be an opportunity to share learnings from the program and to work on a new research agenda. By opening the space for shared principles, guidelines, and tools on the second day, the Symposium looks to strengthen the ecosystem of research and knowledge-sharing across the range of Canadian development actors in academic and non-academic circles.

Day 1 Objectives

 

  • Unpack the Canadian political economy of new knowledge partnerships;
  • Examine incentives for universities and grant makers to support non-academic research outputs;
  • Learn from transnational experiences of research collaborations and policy contexts;
  • Identify avenues to build from successful scholar-practitioner models of collaboration in research approaches, methodologies, analysis and dissemination.
 

Day 2 Objectives

 

  • Learn from examples of research collaborations and their key outcomes;
  • Learn about and demo tools for effective partnership;
  • Delineate shared principles and guidelines for effective policies and practices in research collaborations;
  • Identify new research areas and next steps for the NextGen Program (by invitation).