Irish-African partnership and research capacity building for development - potential to learn from research for the education and lifelong learning sector

Oct 15, 2026

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The Irish-African Partnership for Research Capacity Building (IAP) is a research consortium bringing together nine universities in Ireland and four African universities to build research capacity for poverty reduction. Supported by a three-year Irish Aid grant, the article reviews IAP achievements and argues that the foresight approach used to set health and education research priorities can inform development research and strengthen adult education. It links research capacity building to policy and practice implications.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

The right to education and adult education

Research’s role in development of adult education

What is the Irish-African research partnership?

Project aims and partnership structure

Capacity building components

Rationale and implications for policy and practice

Irish-African partnership and research capacity building for development: potential to learn from research for the education and lifelong learning sector rob mark, university of strathclyde and mary goretti nakabugo, university of kwazulu-natal, south africa Abstract The Irish-African Partnership for Research Capacity Building (IAP) is a research consortium involving all of the nine universities on the island of Ireland together with four African universities, with the overall aim of building research capacity for poverty reduction. The project was supported by a three-year grant from Irish Aid. This article examines the achievements of IAP and argues that the ‘foresight’approach and methodology used to generate the health and education research priorities can make a useful contribution not only to development research, but also to adult education. Introduction The right to education is an internationally recognised right noted in Article 26 of the 1950 Universal Declaration of Human Rights to Articles 13 and 14 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. More than thirty years ago, member states of UNESCO affirmed the importance of adult education both as a right and as a means of enabling people to claim their other rights. Meeting in Nairobi in 1976, the Development of Adult Education UNESCO General Conference set out a vision for adult education by noting: ‘the access of adults to education, in the context of lifelong education, is a fundamental aspect of the right to education and facilitates the exercise of the right to participate in political, cultural, artistic and scientific life.’ Recommendation of the development of Adult Education UNESCO General Conference, 19th Session, November 1976, Nairobi. While the particular role which adult education and lifelong learning can play in promoting development is widely recognised, there has been less emphasis on the role of research in the development of adult education – and to determine what kind of contribution it can make towards the development of policy and practice. What is the Irish-African research partnership? The Irish-African Partnership for Research Capacity Building (IAP) is a research consortium involving all of the nine universities on the island of Ireland together with four African universities, with the overall aim of building research capacity for poverty reduction1. Research capacity building involves developing institutional-level capacity for research in the service of development in this context. For example, assisting partner institutions in Africa to create and strengthen their research management and support functions is one way of building research capacity. It also promotes a concerted contribution to international development among the universities on the island of Ireland. The IAP is supported by a three-year grant from Irish Aid within the context of the Programme of Strategic Cooperation between Irish Aid and Higher Education and Research Institutes, 2007-2010. Its underlying rationale was to collaboratively strengthen research capacity in the service of the global development imperative of poverty reduction (and associated challenges such as livelihood security, environmental protection and disaster risk reduction), in particular in Sub-Saharan Africa. Within this broad ethos, the project strives to achieve three overarching aims: 1. To build capacity in development research in nine partner Irish universities. 2. To build capacity in health, education, gender and ICT research within four partner African universities. 3. In the longer term, to develop an Irish-African network of excellence in 1 The Irish universities are: University College Cork (UCC); University College Dublin (UCD); National University of Ireland–Galway (NUIG); National University of Ireland–Maynooth (NUIM); Trinity College, Dublin (TCD); Dublin City University (DCU); the University of Limerick (UL); Queen’s Univers

FAQs

What is the Irish-African Partnership for Research Capacity Building (IAP)?

IAP is a research consortium involving nine universities on the island of Ireland and four African universities, aiming to build research capacity for poverty reduction.

How was IAP supported and what time period did it cover?

IAP was supported by a three-year grant from Irish Aid within the Programme of Strategic Cooperation between Irish Aid and higher education and research institutes for 2007–2010.

What were the three overarching aims of the project?

The aims were to build development research capacity in nine Irish universities, build health, education, gender, and ICT research capacity in four African universities, and develop an Irish-African network of excellence in development research over the longer term.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Đào