How to build equitable partnerships with HE in Africa

A recent study on equity, mutual benefits and sustainability in higher education partnerships across Sub-Saharan Africa offers key insights into existing practices, challenges and opportunities for fostering balanced and impactful collaborations between African higher education institutions and international partners.

Commissioned by the British Council in Nigeria, the study, ‘Mapping and Diagnostics for the Building Equitable Partnerships in Africa (BEPA) Higher Education project’, based its findings on research conducted between July and October 2024, which included 33 interviews and 145 survey responses from higher education stakeholders in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa.

Etom Ofem, the British Council’s regional insights lead (higher education), presented the findings of the BEPA project at a panel discussion in March at the Times Higher Education Africa Universities Summit in Kigali, Rwanda.

Barriers and drivers of equity

The United Kingdom Collaborative on Development Research defines equity in partnerships as collaborations “in which there is mutual participation, mutual trust and respect, mutual benefit, and equal value placed on each partner’s contribution at all stages of the research process”.

However, the study identified several barriers to equity in international partnerships, including power imbalances between Global North and African partners; the devaluation of African expertise and experience; capacity and resource constraints; the exclusion of African partners from decision-making and agenda-setting; and difficulties in meeting funders’ requirements to lead projects and manage finances.

Major drivers of equity in partnerships include: involving African organisations in agenda-setting; understanding each partner’s context; the fair allocation of roles and responsibilities; and openness and honesty during the partnership initiation phase.

Sustainability

Barriers to sustainability in partnerships include limited planning for project continuation; challenges in securing follow-on funding; difficulties in institutionalising knowledge and activities; and waning partner interest after the initial phase of the project.

Major drivers of sustainable partnerships include integrating sustainability into the partnership’s life cycle. Other drivers include: agreeing, from the outset, when and how a partnership should end; assessing benefits for all partners; learning from challenges to make continuous improvements; and measuring the impact of a partnership.

Ofem also shared recommendations from the study for higher education institutions in the Global North and Africa, as well as funders and development partners, which can be accessed in the full report.

Malek Kochlef, the director general of international cooperation, Tunisia, who attended the session, emphasised the importance of using symmetrical language when speaking about partnerships and reminded participants of the need to develop shared principles and values through the systematic and strategic building of intercultural competence in the partnerships.

Seven C’s of collaboration and cooperation

Dr Akanimo Odon, the head of African strategic partnerships at Lancaster University, UK, focused on several practical aspects of making partnerships sustainable and shared his guiding ‘Seven Cs of collaboration and cooperation’ as follows:

• Champions: While institutional co-operations are great, it takes individual cooperation to sustain them. Find the champions who will drive the partnership.

• Communication: Establish a protocol of when, who, where, and how conversations will happen. Odon maintains ongoing informal communication with his partners via WhatsApp.

• Capacities: Every partner has unique strengths and weaknesses. Assess, discuss, and align them for an optimal fit.

• Compromise: Agree on your wants, needs, and mutual interests, and negotiate for clarity from the start.

• Creation: Evidence that the partnership is not a ‘forced marriage’ formed solely to access funding – innovate and create new ways of working together.

• Cordiality: If you don’t like each other, at least be civil for the sake of the partnership, which should become a ‘partnership friendship’.

• Continuity: Don’t just think about the ‘now’ when the ‘then’ could be better. Staying for the long haul always wins.

Odon emphasised the importance of being creative and finding ways to keep the project going even when funding has finished. His suggestions included organising a series of webinars when initial funding runs out.

Stay in touch with partners

Dr Duncan Ochieng, a senior lecturer in the department of finance and accounting at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, specialises in entrepreneurial finance, innovation ecosystems and sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa. He shared insights from his experience with the Innovation for African Universities (IAU) project.

The IAU project, according to its website, has been designed “to support the development of Africa-UK higher education partnerships and build institutional capacity for higher education engagement in entrepreneurship ecosystems in selected African cities”. It has subsequently become a community of practice.

Ochieng also discussed the Global Entrepreneurial Talent Management (GETM4) project, now in its fourth cycle, which includes 17 universities from nine countries across four continents.

He highlighted the importance of involving students and creating a sense of ownership. He emphasised that project members should travel on secondments or exchange programmes to different institutions, not just project principal investigators.

Ochieng noted that, in time-bound projects, delivery is essential for accountability to funders and for building trust for future endeavours. Ongoing communication with global partners and using social media such as LinkedIn is an important and accessible way to keep in touch with global partners and disseminate project impacts and activities.

He also emphasised the importance of understanding culture, noting that sometimes e-mails may be written in a way that some cultures view as unethical or uncalled for, due to a lack of cultural sensitivity.

Project outcomes should be responsibly translated between the Global North and the Global South, which is a key work package in the GETM4 project.

The IAU project was funded by the British Council, and the GETM projects are European Union Horizon-funded under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant.

Embedding equity as an intentional act

Meekness Lunga-Ayidu, in her contribution at the gathering, expanded on the IAU programme, which applied principles of equity and mutual respect through a co-creation approach to partnership development. The IAU involved 35 partnerships and 400 individuals in Sub-Saharan Africa and the UK, encompassing North-South, South-South, and university-industry partnerships.

As the British Council’s regional director of higher education, Sub-Saharan Africa, Lunga-Ayidu emphasised that problems to be solved were identified locally, and the British Council played a facilitative role. The impact report was co-written by all partners.

Lunga-Ayidu also highlighted the importance of intentionally embedding equity as a principle and ensuring accountability mechanisms are in place to monitor partnership development. Listening to feedback from a project’s phase one and adjusting for the next phase, by allocating greater financial control to Global South partners, was a key demonstration of mutual respect.

Building trust and navigating challenges

Orla Quinlan, the director of global engagement, Rhodes University, South Africa, highlighted the importance of the preliminary stage of relationship-building before entering into formal agreements. This is a crucial phase for building trust and demonstrating openness and curiosity about diverse cultural practices.

She stressed that understanding the diverse national and institutional contexts in which partners operate is essential to managing expectations.

She also emphasised that capacity-building should be a mutually respectful process, as it is not one-way. Limited institutional capacity should not be mistaken for a lack of skills or talent – many individuals in African settings are multilingual, highly qualified and exceptionally skilled but operate within resource-constrained environments.

Lesson-learning during project implementation and flexibility to adapt accordingly are also critical.

Despite the full commitment from individuals, delays in visas, degree recognition and institutional responses are inevitable. Transparent, honest, and frequent communication among all partners minimises frustration and ensures alignment throughout challenges.

Toolkits available

Participants suggested using toolkits developed by various organisations to support good practices in partnership-building. The BEPA report, itself, also provides practical guidance to establish equitable partnerships.

This article was submitted by Orla Quinlan, the director of global engagement, Rhodes University, South Africa, and Meekness Lunga-Ayidu, British Council’s regional director of higher education, Sub-Saharan Africa.