Sponsors & Donors
Health Research, Low and middle income countries, governance and policies, national priorities, key institutions, civil society, ethics committee
There are three major reasons for contributing information to and participating in HRWeb as a research donor, funder or sponsor.
- The first is that externally funded research may constitute a large – if not majority – portion of science & technology funding in low and middle income countries, and an even higher proportion of health research funding. This takes away much of the capacity for governance of research funding from national authorities. By providing substantive research funding information, ministries are at least given the information needed to understand this important sector of a developing economy – and, in time – to exercise effective governance and management.
- Secondly, it helps other research donors and sponsors to see listings of funding priorities in the country concerned – to prevent duplication, to spot and fill gaps in priority funding needs, and to allow for complementary action.
- Lastly, HRWeb is a 'one-stop research system' site – hoping to provide all information needed by researchers, their institutions, NGOs, media and many more. Listing calls for proposals in countries to which these calls are applicable is an important way to be seen – especially by those in countries and institutions with poor internet access. Using HRWeb, only one trip to the internet needs to be made – instead of visiting all the sites of all donors at various times in the year.
Research sponsors, funders and donors have privileged access to the 'research sponsor and donor' part of HRWeb's 'Finances for research for health' pages. They can upload their own institutional information and keep current calls for applications or funding opportunities on the pages of countries to which these are applicable. No-one else can change this, even though any HRWeb user can comment on any of the information provided through the discussion functions.
The ability of donors and research sponsors to upload and change their own information is activated once an agreement is reached with HRWeb.
We are looking at technological solutions to 'stream' information on grants and projects from respective funders' databases to HRWeb – so that it becomes part of national information systems as well. If you would like to help us with this, please let us know – you can make a major contribution towards national research self-reliance in low and middle income countries.
If you would like to work with us on this issue, please contact:
If you wish to apply for a registration agreement, please contact:
Looking a bit into the future, we hope to establish a 'protected space' for research donors, funders and sponsors at the level of each country. It will be accessible only to this group – and the purpose is to facilitate debate on joint funding, harmonisation, complementary actions, system support and so on. Should you wish to be informed as soon as this facility is activated, RSS this page.