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innovation and research strategy' that aims to (further) integrate knowledge manage-
ment and research into the Ministry's development policies and programmes (Ministry
of Foreign Affairs 2006). The formulation of this strategy was based on the recog-
nition that poverty reduction and the attainment of the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) require policy innovation and continuous learning. The other initiating
agency is the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), funding top
researchers at universities and institutes, with NWO-WOTRO as the executing divi-
sion. In 2006, this division was renamed as WOTRO Science for Global Development,
and it has since focussed on research for development.
In 2007, mutual interests came together in the field of Conflict and Natural
Resources, a priority area in the NWO Conflict & Security research programme, as
well as a priority theme in the Environment and Water Department of the MoFA-
DGIS. This department had elaborated a specific knowledge, innovation and research
strategy with the following stated objectives: “To promote innovation in policies and
programmes in the field of environment andwater that will contribute to poverty reduc-
tion and to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals; and to strengthen
institutional capacity to this end in developing countries'' (Ministry of Foreign Affairs
2006). The mid-term ambitions were to strengthen knowledge management within the
department and the involved embassies, to invest strategically in relevant research, to
utilise and direct the available knowledge and capacities towards innovation in policies
and programmes, and to assure high-quality implementation and impact. Under the
first DGIS policy objective, 'Enhanced security and stability by combating environ-
mental degradation and the destruction of ecosystems', 'Environment and Conflict'
was identified as a key area for knowledge management, research and innovation.
The close collaboration with the MoFA-DGIS offered NWO-WOTRO the oppor-
tunity to develop a new funding model for research relevant to development. WOTRO
had already explored pathways within NWO's standard frame by renewing its funding
schemes, such as the Integrated Programmes (call for proposals for integrated pro-
grammes 2006-2007) in which interdisciplinarity and stakeholder involvement were
introduced as new key features to enhance the relevance and use of research results. The
challenge consequently was to further emphasise development relevance, and explore
and enhance more transdisciplinary approaches, all the while assuring scientific rigour.
The programme, 'Conflict and Cooperation over Natural Resources in Develop-
ing Countries' (in short CoCooN), was developed through a stepwise process. The
first step was a workshop in which a range of both northern and southern researchers
and other stakeholders in this knowledge area participated. Priorities were defined
on the basis of a review of recent policy initiatives on the environment and conflict
nexus, as well as conceptual and theoretical debates in the academic literature (Frerks
2007). Best practices in conducting research for development were also collected. The
result was a new proposal for a knowledge, innovation and research strategy. In 2009,
NWO and the MoFA agreed on the principles of the new funding programme, as laid
down in the background document that was developed with inputs from a selected
group of workshop participants who served as a reference committee (Netherlands
Organisation for Scientific Research 2008). This formed the basis for a competitive
call for proposals, in which the aforementioned principles were translated into con-
crete requirements for submitted applications, and criteria for approval and selection
(Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research 2009).
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