The World Bank has been helping to create and support regional economic research centers in the developing world for more than a decade. This involvement has leveraged increasing support from governments and private foundations that is enabling further expansion of these regional activities. Now the Bank has initiated a program to link these networks internationally—the new Global Development Network.
The problems facing developing and transition economies are far greater than those facing industrial countries—yet the financial, institutional, and human resources to solve them are far more limited. Determining how best to use limited resources to address daunting problems requires extensive experience, expert analytic skills, and comprehensive knowledge of local circumstances, systems, and resources. Training local researchers and creating an institutional environment that supports independent policy research can help developing countries formulate solutions to local problems that are informed by experience elsewhere, tested analytically and empirically, and tailored to their needs.
The World Bank has long supported efforts to increase the capacity of economists in the developing world to perform research, analyze policy, and provide advice on development issues. To take advantage of synergies and make the best use of limited capacity-building resources, the Bank has helped link developing countries through regional research networks. These networks allow policy researchers in one country to benefit from lessons learned in others. They create a community of researchers who critique and encourage one another's work, help train one another's students, and share data and new methods.
The creation of regional networks emerged from the notion that countries within a region often share some problems and that these can be addressed most cost- effectively on a regional rather than a national level. These problems differ from region to region:
While specific capacity-building needs differ markedly across regions, all capacity-building programs face many of the same challenges. They need to make research relevant to policy, to balance their activities between improving the quality of research and training new researchers, and to allocate research funds transparently. They need effective, independent governing bodies, rigorous peer review processes, members who participate in the network and in running it, and researchers integrated into the international community of policy research. And they need to ensure that research findings are disseminated broadly and have an effect on policy.
The Global Development Network aims to strengthen the capacity of developing country research institutions to perform policy-relevant research, to help them to establish themselves as effective spokespersons on behalf of civil society, and to support their efforts to introduce the results of research into the policy debate.
A key aspect of the Global Development Network is the sharing of knowledge—about development, about research methods and techniques, and about the implications of research for policy. Communication is thus critical. Much of this communication will take place electronically, through electronic mail and the World Wide Web. Other mechanisms—creating incentives for cooperation, developing interlocking research themes, establishing mentoring programs—can also help networks in different parts of the world share what they know.
In regions where networks do not exist, the Global Development Network is working with local organizations to create them. In regions where networks are already in place, the Global Development Network is working with regional organizations to extend their reach. Eight regional institutions or networks are now participating in the Global Development Network (box 6).
Box 6
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The Bank is providing financial, administrative, and intellectual support to the Global Development Network. To ensure that research funds are allocated objectively, proposals for funding are reviewed by professionals from both inside and outside a region. In the past some governments and private foundations were reluctant to finance research because of doubts about the quality and value of the work being done. By putting in place a rigorous and competitive grant allocation process, the Global Development Network hopes to assure donors that their grants will be well spent. Bank support of the network will thus be catalytic, helping to attract other sources of funding that eventually will support the Global Development Network. While the Bank has played an important role in initiating the network, management and governance of the network will be handled by the regional networks and other international organizations, such as the International Economic Association.
The Global Development Network will be officially launched December 6-8, 1999, in Bonn. About 400 people are expected to attend the launch meeting—about half of them from developing countries. The meeting will establish the network's governance structure and secure funding commitments from donors. It will also showcase the work of think tanks and research institutions in developing countries, share experiences and best practices for managing research institutions, and provide a forum for developing countries to participate in debates on global issues. Perhaps most important, the conference will allow face-to-face networking, helping to build a global community of development research institutions.
To determine what activities and services the Global Development Network should support, the Bank will survey more than a thousand research institutions throughout the developing world to find out which services they consider most valuable. Services being considered include:
Results of the survey will be presented and discussed at the launch meeting in Bonn.
Information about the Global Development Network initially will be available from: The Global Development Network, World Bank, 1818 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20433. It will also be available on the Web at www.gdnet.org. In addition, researchers may subscribe without charge to the Global Development Network newsletter at the above address, or to the email version by completing the subscription form on the network's Website or sending an email to info@gdnet.org. Whether subscribing to the paper or email version, please include your full name, position or title, the name and address of your organization, and your country of residence.
All funding of research through the Global Development Network is now being handled by the regional networks. Researchers interested in receiving funding should thus contact their regional network directly. Opportunities to apply for funding through the regional networks will be announced through the Global Development Network. Information about funding through other sources, including the World Bank and bilateral donors, will also be provided.