In May 2019, IDS became the UK Anchor Institution for the China International Development Research Network funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and supported by the Ministry for Commerce, China. The three-year project is enabling researchers to strengthen connections, securing opportunities for knowledge exchange, mutual learning that is contributing to providing the evidence needed to inform Chinese policy towards the UN Global Goals.
China is a global force with transformative impact in global development due to its strategic importance, role in global south and a commitment to development. There is a pressing need for nations to build up the capacity to better understand and better participate in global development. This creates need for stronger links between researchers in the UK and China that encourage knowledge sharing and collaboration on a range of development research projects. In particular, to generate the evidence needed to inform China’s international development policy that will contribute towards the UN Global Goals. To address this challenge, the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), including the IDS Centre for Rising Powers and Global Development, was appointed the UK Anchor Institution for the China International Development Research Network (CIDRN), funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and supported by the Ministry for Commerce, China.
A networked approach
The project has had immediate impact in terms of opening new connections between UK and Chinese development researchers and institutions. This is because CIDRN and IDS brings together Chinese and British research centres, institutes and university departments interested in China’s role in international development and creates significant new opportunities to collaborate, share knowledge and for mutual learning. This includes UK development researchers being able to learn and apply insights from China’s development experience including from global initiatives such as the AIIB and the Belt and Road.
Generating evidence to influence policy
Since the project began there have been a number of significant outcomes including development of knowledge, evidence and policy recommendations on China’s international development engagement. These were published in partnership with UK and other research institutions and disseminated to external audiences including development policy makers from Ministry of Commerce China (MOFCOM), China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) and the Centre for International Knowledge on Development (CIKD), an independent institution affiliated with the Development Research Centre of the State Council, P.R. China (DRC).
UK academics were invited to peer review China and development cooperation in the context of Covid and join partner sessions including the advisory panel contributing to the Centre for Global Development policy paper.
As UK Anchor Institution, IDS and other UK researchers have been able to contribute to high level UK – China government discussions. This included joining a high level summit on the Belt and Road in Beijing; presenting to the UK-China development forum; and most importantly, coordinating a series of visits by Chinese officials to IDS and other UK institutes.
In November 2019, IDS hosted a visit of the Chinese State Taxation Administration which included presentations from the IDS-led International Centre for Tax and Development on gender and international tax followed by an opportunity for discussion and networking. This important session was followed in December 2019 by a visit from the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) with the aim of building understand of the UK foreign aid programme legislation and management of aid programmes. This led to IDS facilitating a roundtable discussion including presentations on a range of topics from UK aid legislation to the importance of the Global Goals.
Promoting research collaboration
The connections formed between IDS and CIDRN has resulted in considerable new research on a range of critical development topics that have been able to be completed by leveraging Chinese research capacity. This has included the following research topics:
- Aid for trade and bilateral export upgrading
- How (and when) does technological innovation improve governance effectiveness? Global consistent experience for developing and transforming countries
- Chinese experts in foreign aid (1949 – 2019)
- The process, mechanism, and pattern of the Internationalisation of Chinese NGOs under the Belt and Road Initiative
- China’s role in global agricultural governance, including how China works with UN agencies in agricultural sector
- Does ‘ownership’ matter for the effectiveness of South-South cooperation? A comparative analysis of China’s agricultural technology demonstration centres in Africa
- Evolution of international development aid and China’s role in the new aid architecture
- Realising the potential of development finance institutions
- China’s infrastructure investment in the Belt and Road Initiative countries and its economic, social and environmental impact
- China-Pakistan economic corridor: Financial sustainability and implications for Pakistan’s overall debt sustainability
- China-Europe-Africa trilateral cooperation: new trends, opportunities and potential areas
- China’s agricultural investment in Laos
Encouraging mutual learning
The project has included a range of activities developed to open dialogue, encourage knowledge sharing and mutual learning as a result. This includes in July 2020, IDS delivering a ten-day Global Development Policy and Perspective professional development course group for 27 young researchers and development professionals from UK and Chinese organisations. The intensive online course was developed specifically based on insight from IDS experience as UK Anchor Institution and CIDRN to encourage development cooperation and develop future leadership for development.
It proved highly valuable with participants expressing their interest in maintaining actively engaged in mutual learning. Feedback included that ‘the course has surpassed my expectations in every ramification: organisation, quality of presentations and breadth of materials, the level of interaction and discourse amongst participants and also the potential for further collaborations’. Students also commented that ‘it was a great opportunity to engage with the field of development with all the debates, definitions, and linkages to other disciplines. It was well organised and absolutely worth the time’.
With the objective of promoting mutual learning, IDS facilitated a dedicated seminar series with four sessions that each addressed a critical global challenge and designed as an opportunity for informal dialogue to encourage knowledge sharing. Themes such as Chinese perspectives and African perspectives on green energy transition prompted significant attendance including from NGOs and government organisations globally but especially those based in the UK, Africa and China.
The seminars had direct impact in opening and forging new relationships. One example included seminar speaker, Vianney Mutyaba, Manager of Pricing at the Electricity Regulatory Authority in Uganda. Vianney is responsible for reviewing investment proposals to inform decision making in renewable energy and, having participated in the IDS–CIDRN seminar, was asked to join the UK-China Development Forum.
Similarly, Josephina Oji, Climate and Nature Lead for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, after the webinar on ‘China-Africa cooperation on green energy transition: Potentials and barriers: African perspectives’ reached out to IDS for ongoing research into diaspora, youth and diversity.
A platform for growth
IDS will be UK Anchor Institution to the CIDRN from May 2019 until April 2022. The ambition is to continue to build on the success seen to date in strengthening connections and securing opportunities for development researchers in the UK, China and globally. In this way, further collaboration will promote knowledge exchange and mutual learning that will contribute to providing the evidence needed to inform Chinese policy towards the UN Global Goals, strengthening the UK’s role as a global actor.
