Our partnership approach
For more than 30 years, IDRC has actively developed and nurtured funding partnerships. Together with our partners, we’re giving researchers, organizations, and policymakers the tools and resources they need to develop capacity and innovate.
Partnership arrangements at IDRC can take three forms:
- co-funding, where one or more donors fund all or part of a project or program that is managed by IDRC
- parallel funding, where resources allocated to a project initiated or co-initiated by IDRC go directly to the research recipient institutions or networks
- knowledge sharing, where the focus is on exchange of information through individual or institutional activities that do not involve financial commitments
Our vision
IDRC is a leader in strategic and innovative partnering in research for development. Four key objectives guide these efforts:
- To increase IDRC resources available to research for development through donor partnerships
- To enhance IDRC’s engagement with key international organizations interested in research for development
- To strengthen the capacity of research organizations and networks to form partnerships and mobilize resources
- To learn and contribute to good practice in the field of partnering for development
Principles and values
IDRC’s principles and guidelines ensure that we:
- collaborate in ways that are consistent or complementary to our current priorities and programming
- invest our own financial resources as a genuine partner and not as an executing agency for another donor
- build relationships based on a shared vision, open communication, mutual respect, and joint ownership
- recognize the contributions, obligations, and accountability of each partner
- assess potential risks associated with project implementation and collaboration
Partnering with IDRC
Our unique approach to delivering research funding sets us apart from other donors in the field of development research. IDRC enjoys key strengths and advantages, such as:
- Research excellence: We invest in initiatives that are ahead of the curve, respond to local needs, and are scientifically sound.
- Field presence: We maintain six regional offices located in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and sub-Saharan Africa.
- Staff expertise: Our staff is a source of knowledge on a wide range of development issues.
- Developing-country research partners: We have collaborated with thousands of researchers and research networks around the world.
- Flexibility: Our systems and programming encourage timely responses to emerging challenges and opportunities.
- Accountability: Our solid management performance is confirmed by more than 25 years of audits.
- Monitoring and evaluation: Rigorous performance management underlies our culture, programming, and reporting.
How to partner with IDRC
Our approach to partnership involves building, managing, and maintaining strong relationships with donor partners. Although each partnership is distinct and follows its own unique development pathway, we’ve learned that donor partnerships typically evolve through a series of stages.
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Building developing world partnership expertise
Through our Resource Mobilization for Research project, we’re helping developing-country organizations develop the skills and knowledge they need to secure the necessary resources and support, and become financially sustainable over the long term. We offer workshops, mini-grants, one-on-one advisory services, and train the trainer sessions.