Governance: a challenge for international collaborative research and development: Some recent experiences from Brazil

International partnership to carry out collaborative research and development programs has been implemented for a long time. However, with globalization, the economic, social, political and cultural diversity of interacting partners reached levels where this variety of collaborators often has shown some weaknesses in issues like governance. Strong and sound partnerships must be manageable in order to ensure the achievement of the set objectives. Embrapa, as a Brazilian public agricultural research and development institution that coordinates the Brazilian National Agricultural Research System (NARS), has acquired some experience in strengthening the inter-institutional relationship across continents. Recently, Embrapa was involved in a new research program focusing participatory and adaptive research to improve the production and marketability of small ruminants in arid areas of Latin America. The program is supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and coordinated by a CGIAR-Center - the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). The program was started at the end of 2003 with the participation of two countries, Brazil and Mexico. Brazil is being represented by Embrapa and Mexico by the National Research Institute for Forestry, Agriculture and Livestock (INIFAP). The program has a Steering Committee, where all involved institutions have a representative member, including the donor (IFAD) and research institutions (CGIAR/ICARDA, Embrapa for Brazil and INIFAP for Mexico). The so far obtained results show the viability of international collaborative research programs to improve fund raising and to optimize the use of available human resources.

This document consists of the proceedings of the 4th Internation Symposium-cum-Workshop Red Cientifica Alemania Lationamericana (RECALL) on International Scientific Cooperation in Higher Education: Participation, Partnership and Perspectives healt in Talca, Chile, Nov. 28 to Dec., 4, 2005.