Message from Ambassador Urban Andersson

Our partnership with Makerere University through Mak-Sida has greatly helped in transforming the community through Research, Innovations and Knowledge Translation. Mak-Sida collaboration was introduced as part of the solution and indeed it is thriving which is good news for the Governments and people of Sweden and Uganda.

Research is one of the core activities of the university because this is where new knowledge can be produced and scientific knowledge is crucial for development of all
countries.

This brings research to be a mutual interest for both Sweden and Uganda and we look at our research collaboration with Uganda with much pride. Our fruitful scientific collaboration brings the relevance of research to forefront, as Uganda and Sweden have task in meeting global and local challenges, jointly and in our separate contexts.

Both countries regard research as a driver for innovation and economic development, an irrefutable reason for research being of relevance at universities. It is 15years and many significant research results have been achieved. Sweden is cognizant of many positive cooperation outcomes and strives forward in the country such as health, renewable energy, and pharmacology and food security

The increase in well-educated Ugandans and also institution strengthening at Makerere University, as well as the four regional universities part of the program are results we believe may bring transformation to Uganda.

This bilateral cooperation has also contributed to the transformation of Sweden. The research results emanating from collaborative research projects have allowed Sweden to increase its knowledge and understanding of areas not possible for us to research.

Examples are research in malaria and other tropical diseases, agriculture and eco systems, as well as in veterinary science. Your expertise and context insights allow our scientific frontiers to expand, a transformation we deeply appreciate. We are jointly proud of the cumulative effect of this on the overall body of science and knowledge.

The overall objective of the Swedish research collaboration strategy is to strengthen and develop scientific research relevant to fight poverty in developing countries.

In Uganda, research results have influenced the Government’s policy with regard to malaria, mother and infant care, cervical cancer management, and land issues. Other critical research results are a method to detect multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, and control of African swine fever-findings of great impact for poverty reduction. Every society needs a critical mass of independent researchers to identify, formulate and analyse the issues at stake in that particular context.

The Swedish strategy here is to support an autonomous research system, driven by Uganda’s priorities. The policy has been to support PhD candidates to pursue their education to finalisation, and strengthen research environments.