Private or nongovernmental research corporations are fully private, for-profit or nonprofit entities. These organizations have full powers and more independence from political processes, though they might still receive considerable financial support from government. The Crown Research Institutes in New Zealand (private, for-profit) and some research foundations such as FUNDAGRO in Ecuador (private, nonprofit) are examples.
In practice, newly created autonomous or semiautonomous research organizations have generally found themselves still reliant on public funding and substantially under the control of the ministry of agriculture. Autonomy has not solved all problems, but it has generally proven preferable to managing research programs within a government bureaucracy (box 2.10). Whatever their legal base (public or private), national or subnational organizations will likely remain the backbone of national research systems and continue to rely on public funding (Eicher 1999). Long-term development of these organizations must be planned in the context of the overall national research system, and with a view to the roles that the research organization will play in that larger system. Box 2.10 Uruguay: effective reform During the 1980s, it became apparent that the Uruguayan Agricultural Research Center under the Ministry or Agriculture was constrained by civil service regulations and poor linkages to farmers. As a result, in 1989, the National Agricultural Research Institute was created as a publicly owned legal entity but with full powers to set its own business rules along private sector lines. The institute is governed by a Board of Directors, with two members from government and two from farmer organizations. Farmers contribute about 40 percent of its budget through a levy (0.4 percent) on the sale of agricultural products. The government is obliged by law to provide a matching contribution. Total research funding has increased, and the institute has developed a good reputation for its research. One key to success was strong links to clients through decentralized research stations with regional advisory councils of farmers. Commodity working groups, roundtable consultations, and a technology diffusion unit further strengthen relations with clients. Source: Allegri 2002Â |
Benefits
Major reasons for creating legally independent NAROs include administrative flexibility and increased stakeholder involvement. Administrative flexibility enables NAROs to obtain competent management, maintain a creative environment, and have dependable operating budgets. Good research depends on respected leaders and highly qualified scientists, who are motivated to perform through a flexible recruitment and promotion system, the ability to reward outstanding performance and dismiss unproductive scientists, and a collegial, nonhierarchical, and nonbureaucratic institutional environment. Increased political status of an autonomous organization can give the director the same political status as the most senior government official in the sector, can increase the influence of the research establishment in national policy debates, and can be an asset in negotiating agreements with local or international organizations. Â   Â 
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