THE Norwegian Embassy yesterday inked a NOK 15 million (about 5bn/-) as a grant agreement to provide core support to Research on Poverty Alleviation (REPOA).
The support of REPOA’s core activities will be in three years beginning this year and is based on its strategic plan of 2020 to 2024, according to the Norwegian Ambassador to Tanzania Ms Elisabeth Jacobsen.
“Norway’s support to REPOA is centered towards promoting institutional capacity, enabling independent research agenda setting and also strengthening its ability to stay relevant,” she said.
“It is important for us, the development partners to contribute to strengthening independent think tanks that are credible and with potential to contribute to targeted policy relevant research,” Ms Jacobsen added.
REPOA is one such institution which has in the span of 25 years of existence already been ranked as the top think tank in Tanzania and 11th in the Sub Saharan Africa among over 90 think tanks doing similar work, she commended.
The envoy said that enhancing key stakeholders including the media’s access to knowledge based and applied research will strengthen their ability to foster informationbased public debate.
“We see REPOA as an important platform and source of information for outreach, linking different stakeholders and engaging them in public debate,” she noted.
She also stated that the linkage between REPOA’s research themes outlined in the Strategic Plan 2020-24 with sustainable Development Goals (SDG) like inclusive development, gender and human rights and governance, accountability and citizen’s engagement; makes REPOA’s work.
The Norway ambassador argued that the changing context of the global political, economic and climatic conditions makes research and scientific evidence ever more critical for effective policies and strategies.
“Your research is not only relevant and of use to the government of Tanzania and local actors, but to other global stakeholders,” she insisted.
The Executive Director of REPOA, Dr Donald Mmari said that the signing ceremony marks another significant milestone in the partnership with the embassy that commenced in 2000; just five years after REPOA commenced its operations.
“This grant will provide the institution with the autonomy and resources to carry out its strategic research along with the related activities for promoting evidence-informed policy dialogue and development, and targeted capacity building for researchers and research users,” said Mr Mmari.
The strategic plan and its accompanying research programme were informed by various factors occupying concerns of policy makers across the globe which are likely to have profound economic and social impacts, he explained.
These include demographic transition, jobless growth, rapid technological evolution, growing inequalities, scarcity and competition for development financing, shifting geopolitical powers in trade governance, rapid urbanisation and climate change, listed Dr Mmari.
These kinds of collaborative research programmes enable REPOA to strengthen institutional capacity, leveraging from the access to world class researchers availed through universities across the world and institutions; which has accumulated both in-house knowledge and network of associates.
The Royal Norwegian Embassy joins other current core funding partners including embassies of Denmark, Sweden, and Ireland.
“Together we can effectively complement efforts of the government and other development agencies by acting as an intermediary for knowledge generation and exchange, which will serve to ensure that we achieve our national desires and ambitions for economic transformation, regional and global commitments like African Union Agenda 2063 and SDGs,” he said.
