Written by Balghis Badri.

This paper draws from a workshop held specifically to discuss the characteristics of experiences in international research cooperation of different actors in Sudan. The author invited experts representing government research bodies, networks, NGOs, UN agencies, universities and INGOs.

The workshop objectives were to reflect on experiences of different types of research cooperation and to recommend principles for future ideal research cooperation. 

The focus of the paper will be in reference to the three main issues tackled at the conference “Research for Development in a Globalizing World”. These are namely: International Research Partnerships; Embedding Research for Society; and Capacity Building for Research. The reference will be to Sudan as a case study from which lessons could be drawn for developing pathways for future best practice in cooperation between countries of the South and North.

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Written by Balghis Badri.

This paper will first give a brief classification of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in Sudan. In the second section an introduction to the evolution of SWEPD’s activities will be given. Section three will analyze factors that led to minimum links between FBOs and SWEPD, while in the conclusion the way forward for possible links and engagement are outlined.

The information is based on the writer’s experience and knowledge of the Sudanese context as well as some interviews undertaken with key members of three of the networks, namely civil society, Nuba women and Southern women.

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Written by Sidiga Washi and Balghis Badri

The higher education sub-sector in Sudan witnessed phenomenal growth during the 1990s. Until 1989, there were 17 institutions: 4 public universities, 10 public specialized colleges and institutes (belonging to various ministries and specialized departments), two non-governmental universities and an Egyptian university. Today, the sub-sector is comprised of 77 institutions: 28 public universities, 44 private providers of higher education (3 universities, 35 colleges, 3 institutes and 3 academies), and 5 technical colleges established in 2003 (MOHE&SR, 2005).

This unprecedented expansion of the system could have provided those responsible with an excellent opportunity to establish a diversified and differentiated system offering fair access and quality education. None of this was to happen. It appears that the intensity of the political moment and the regime's eagerness to realize the political and ideological goals that motivated the so-called "higher education revolution" blinded it to the possibility of putting to the good use that window of opportunity. Arabic was imposed as a medium of instruction in all higher education institution since 1990 (Eltom, 2005).

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Written by Balghis Badri.

This paper is part of a wider research on the topic of reflecting on the Interim National Constitution of Sudan of 2005. The focus of the paper is to highlight the process of developing constitutions in Sudan since the pre-independence period in 1953. The paper accounts for the evolution of constitution making in Sudan as basically characterized by elitism, exclusionism and limited participation. These characteristics hampered the achievement of sustained peace and democracy to date.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the mistakes of the past in order to avoid repeating them, and to delineate participatory mechanisms needed in future for developing the permanent constitution and the main issues that it should address. The paper was updated in July 2011.

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Written by Awadalla M. Saeed and Amira Y. Badri.

This report was developed in the context of the African-European research and curriculum development project IMMIS – African Migration and Gender in Global Context: Implementing Migration Studies, funded by the ACP-EU Cooperation Programme in Higher Education EDULINK – a programme of the ACP Group of States, with the financial assistance of the European Union.

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