This presentation was made at the kick off meeting for the SURe research programme on 15 September 2017 in Cape Town by Suzanne Kiwanuka and Sarah Cummings.

1. An unusual suspect: the private sector
in knowledge brokering in international
development
Barbara Regeer, Suzanne Kiwanuka and Sarah
Cummings
Athena Institute, VU University & Makerere University
Netherlands/Uganda

2. Why the private sector?
• Most research focuses on policy, research and
practice
• Increasingly important actor in development:
scalability, new fields and people
• Discourses on development: PPP and the SDGs
• Not much research = neglected player
• Homogenous versus heterogenous
• Values and theory of change
• Relevant to Dutch knowledge platforms and in
Uganda

3. Conceptual lens of social capital
• Resources potentially accessible through the
networks
• Powerful concept for the analysis of knowledge
creation and exchange (Nahapiet and Ghoshal
1998)
• Partnership with the private sector is ‘a
relationship, not a contract’ (OECD)
• Structural, cognitive and relational
• Bridging, bonding and linking

4. What are the research questions?
1. What is the current and potential role of the private
sector in knowledge brokering and research uptake in
international development in Netherlands/Europe and
Uganda/Africa?
2. What are the challenges and what lessons from private
sector can be used to improve knowledge brokering for
development practice, policy and research?
3. To what extent is the concept of social capital able to
facilitate new insights on knowledge brokering with the
private sector?

5. Research activities
• A scoping review
• In-depth interviews (15) - with members of knowledge platforms in
Netherlands and Uganda- current experiences, visions on the potential
role, barriers and challenges.
• Online survey and consultation with knowledge brokers to validate the
classification of private parties and potential roles, to assess current roles
of private sector
Areas of focus water, food & agriculture, social inclusion, reproductive
health, security) private sector players.
• Validation workshops- results from both the empirical study and the
literature review will be discussed with key players to identify lessons and
new learning questions.

6. Operational definitions
Private sector- profit driven segment of a
national economy owned, controlled and
managed by private individuals or enterprises
rather than the government.
Knowledge brokering- set of activities and
processes used to facilitate the exchange of
knowledge (demand, supply, generation and
use)

7. Preliminary typology- private sector
Knowledge brokering
PUSH
INTERACTIVE
PUSH
PULL
INTERACTIVE
PULL
Focus on profit
Social entrepreneurship / CSR
Small scale enterprises
Medium size
enterprises
Large, multinationals

8. How will the work be done?
• Two research hubs- Uganda and the Netherlands.
• Dutch hub will examine five Dutch knowledge platforms
and European-wide knowledge brokering platforms, such in
the European Commission’s Capacity4Dev.
• Ugandan hub will focus on national and African knowledge
brokering initiatives, drawing lessons from the Private
Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) and other private sector
players
• Same methodology for comparison

9. Main outcomes and beneficiaries
1. Provide insights on successful modalities for
knowledge brokering collaboration with the private
sector- manuscript/brief/blogs
2. Develop advice on how policy makers and research
funders can best create a policy framework which
facilitates knowledge brokering activities –
Manual/Brief/blog
3. For research, describe the empirical linkages between
the private sector and other knowledge brokering
actors through the lens of social capital.-
Manuscript/blog

10. Challenges so far…
• Difficult to define – we currently focusing on
the corporate sector
• Not much literature – great opportunity
• Literature + definition = challenge with search
strategy terms for the review