Globethics.net

February 10 2007

In this interview of Maureen O'Neil, Atanu Garai begins by asking about the mission, 'Empowerment through knowledge,' of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) specifically as the use of knowledge relates to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). O'
Neil's answer encompasses the 1970 mandate of the IDRC act to support developing country researchers. She speaks of the IDRC problem solving strategy of grounding the research in the local reality and involving the local community, which "is the essence of empowerment through knowledge... It is giving local researchers and communities the know-how to solve their own problems." She says that the projects frequently support the MDGs, though they are not the focus.


Garai asks for a comment about ICT project funding, which, he says is often not given mainstream funding in MDG-related projects. O'Neil answers:
"ICTs are not the answer for all development related interventions. But not examining how they might enhance the reach or outcomes of those activities is, in my opinion, an opportunity missed." She points to the fact that not all projects are enhanced by ICT usage, but describes examples of successes using ICT. She then turns to the future of ICT for development (ICT4D), listing access as a primary challenge, despite proliferation of mobile telephony. She predicts that the IDRC will use the strategy of scaling up applications that have proved successful. Her prediction of future trends, based on partner input, looks towards wireless networking, open source, "commons" approaches to knowledge generation and new and cheaper access devices.

On the question of foreign aid for development, O'Neil points to the need to focus objectives and connections. She cites successes of multi-channelled networks of organisations with knowledge and resource sharing capacities, using the example of linking organisations for training Asians for pandemic research in Asia, in which the effort is toward "assess[ing] what research skills need to be developed and what information and coordination gaps need to be bridged to control the spread of avian influenza and other emerging diseases. Not only will this initiative build local expertise, it will strengthen the ability of developing countries to contribute more substantively to solving global problems."

On strategies for the donors and developing countries to avoid creating dependency,
she suggests that strong research for evidence-based decision making supports quality - not quantity - aid efforts, especially those focused on local capacity building that attend to local expertise, rather than bring in foreign consutants. On the issues of terrorism and security, O'Neil favours precautions and strong local links, rather than hesitancy to enter or delays in serving areas in need. She addresses environmental sustainability as a donor priority with a sampling of IDRC prioritisation in their Urban Poverty and the Environment (UPE), Rural Poverty and the Environment (RPE), and Ecosystem Approaches to Human Health or Ecohealth initiatives with nine cities chosen as laboratory sites and a rural focus on governance and adaptive learning.


On the question of healthcare, O'Neil answers that governance is a key issue - how power is exercised, how decisions are made, how citizens, especially disadvantaged groups like women, have their say. "Work at this level is important because the levers controlling outcomes rest almost entirely with developing countries themselves. It’s all about mobilizing what we already know, what is already available and using it more effectively." On education, she urges the need to look beyond providing universal primary education to secondary education and beyond, particularly looking at the role of ICT in distance access to learning. As to the role of government and society in preventing atrocities against women, she responds: "I don’t think you can understate the need to enhance and fully protect women’s rights and entitlements," and encourages investigative research to inform states and spur their will in promoting human rights.

Finally, her message to practitioners working on the MDGs is to recognise their importance in reenergising and refocusing the work of stakeholder organisations, which can support "interconnections, mobilize knowledge and put the resources in the hands of those able to connect people, ideas, and institutions to really make a difference... over the long term."