Capacity for Forestry Research in the Southern African Development Community

G.S. Kowero and M.J. Spilsbury

[Chapter 1]
Introduction

[Chapter 2]
Previous Forestry Capacity-related Work in the SADC Region

[Chapter 3]
Methodology

Survey of Methodologies

Study Methodology

Limitations of Study Methodology

[Chapter 4]
Results and Discussion

Research Resources

Research Environment

[Chapter 5]
Conclusions and Recommendations

Conclusions

Recommendations

References

Annex 1. Methodology and Indicators of Research Capacity

Annex 2. Forestry Research Manpower in the SADC Region

Annex 3. Values for Research Indicators by Institutes

Annex 4. Institutes by Research Capacity Indicators

Annex 5. Overview of Physical Resources by Institute

Annex 6. Institutions Visited and those which Mailed Information

List of Figures

Figure 1. Distribution of forestry-related researchers in the SADC region

Figure 2. Distribution, by country, of researchers with M.Sc. or Ph.D. and more than years 4 experience

Figure 3. Researchers, by institution, with M.Sc. or Ph.D. and at least 4 years experience

Figure 4. Number of research staff by institute and budget per researcher

List of Tables

Table 1. Some positive and negative aspects of regional approaches

Table 2. Distribution of research operational expenses in some institutions (%)

Table 3. Research support facilities in sample institutions

Table 4. Research interactions and their perceived value

Table 5. Interactions with educational institutions and users of research results

Table 6. Salary and non-salary incentives

Table 7. Use of formal and informal evaluations

Acknowledgements

This study was undertaken in ten of the twelve countries comprising the Southern African Development Community (SADC), with visits made to eight of them. Twenty-eight institutions were visited and two mailed data. The authors wish to thank the institutions and the many scientists who by generously supplying the data for this work and participating in a workshop which discussed the study findings re-affirmed its relevance to the region.

The Division of Forest Science and Technology (FORESTEK) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) of South Africa has been the CIFOR collaborator in this work. Together with CIFOR, FORESTEK developed a concept for this study in 1994, which was later developed by the authors into a research project. FORESTEK also participated in many other ways including the organisation of a workshop in which the results of this study were discussed. The authors would like to thank FORESTEK for these and many other contributions, which confirmed that collaborative research in the region is both workable and effective.