Research Partnerships with Developing Countries
A Programme funded by Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

The Programme Research Partnerships with Developing Countries, was first launched in 1999 together by the SNSF and the SDC. It supports high quality research projects, regarding problems relevant to disadvantaged countries, encourages relations between researchers in Switzerland and the South and contributes to strengthen the scientific potential of the countries in the South.

The first call of the current period 2008 – 2011 was very successful with 80 eligible proposals sent to the SNSF. The selection was made based upon the scientific quality and the relevance for development in order to respond to the programme goals.

The thematic range of the 13 successful projects is wide and reaches from “Tuberculosis Epidemiology” over “Collective Identities in Sustainable Tourism Development Strategies” to “Fluoride Removal Options for Drinking Water”. The projects are distributed over Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania. 16 different partners are involved in the projects and more than 45 scientists from the are South supported. The projects started in spring 2009 and will last three years.

A second call was launched in September 2009 for the current four year period (projects see below).

Projects, which were accepted in the first call (2008) and started begining of 2009:

• Interactions of lead intoxication and iron deficiency in Morocco: lead source apportionment using stable isotopes and the effects of iron fortification with and without NaEDTA on lead burden, iron status and cognition in children

• Life Cycle Human Exposure and Risk Assessment of Pesticide Application on Agricultural Products in Colombia

• Lake Kivu - Learning from the past for managing its future

• Aetiology, prevention and control of anaemia in sub-Saharan Africa

• Tuberculosis epidemiology in Papua New Guinea and drug resistance monitoring using molecular markers

• Evaluation of Activated Carbon Amendment for Reclamation of a DDT-Contaminated Site in Pakistan

• The challenge of marginality and collective identities in sustainable tourism development strategies: Two case studies in African mountains

• Improving quality of health care for Tanzanian children: Assessing the use of electronic decision support to promote evidence-based medicine and rational use of drugs

• Optimization and acceptance of fluoride removal options for drinking water in rural Ehiopia

• Improving equity in access through adherence to HIV care and treatment

• Agronomic Biofortification to Fight Human Zn Deficiency in Arid Regions

• Production of activated clays for low-cost building materials in developing countries

• Landless Pastoralists – A Transhumant System Under Siege in the Hindu-kush-Himalayan Mountains: livelihood options for marginalised populations

Projects, which were accepted in the second call (2009), and started end of 2010:

• The Influence of Entrepreneurial Leadership and Social Capital on Resource Assembly and Firm Performance in Small- and Medium-Sized Firms in East Africa

• Democratic Transitions in West Africa: Political Elites, Civil Society and Institutions

• Traditional knowledge in Nepal: Proactive implementation strategy on Access and Benefit Sharing under special consideration of stakeholder participation and capabilities

• RE-ACT (social REpresentations of community multimedia centers and ACTions for improvement)

• A randomized, double-blind, multi-centre clinical trial of two dose regimens of polyvalent Anti Snake Venom Serum (ASVS) for the treatment of snake bite envenoming in Nepal

• Understanding habitats, housing and social changes in post-disaster traditional and relocated rural settlements in India

• Role of human infection in domestic transmission of dermal leishmaniasis and drug resistance

• Nutrient Use and Dynamics in Conservation Agriculture Including Legumes in the Midwest of the Malagasy Highlands

• Development of iron-catalyzed low-cost solar process for drinking water disinfection in rural areas from Colombia

• Cassava for food security and sustainability in Colombia: Biotechnological application of mycorrhizal fungi

• Biodiversity and Livelihood development in Land-use gradients in an Era of Climate Change

• Epidemiology and molecular monitoring of HIV drug resistance in Tanzania

• Building Indonesia's Research Capacity for Orangutan Conservation Biology
  
  

Projects of the second phase of the Programme (2005-2008)