ODA funding

What is ODA?

An activity or project is eligible as Official Development Assistance (ODA) when it satisfies The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) criteria:

• aim to promote the welfare and economic development of a country or countries on the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) list of ODA recipients
• designed to address a development need, and
• focus on developing country problems.

More ODA Guidance.

DAC list of ODA recipients and how to use it

All the countries on the DAC list are eligible for ODA funding. The DAC list is reviewed every three years. Countries that have exceeded the high-income threshold (Upper Middle Income Countries and Territories) for three consecutive years at the time of the review are removed (please look at the list for the income thresholds).

When thinking about which country to work with, you should consider your current links and the research you are planning to undertake. This will give you the best chance of preparing a research proposal that meets the 'research excellence' criterion.

You should also avoid countries that are about to come out of the list as, once this happens, they will no longer be eligible. Countries which are possibly graduating are noted at the bottom of the DAC list:

• Current DAC list countries
• Historical DAC country lists

DAC list of ODA-eligible international organisations

This list contains such organisations to which core (unearmarked) contributions can be reported as ODA in whole or in part. The full list of these organisations, including multilateral agencies, international non-governmental organisations (INGOs), networks, and public-private partnerships (PPPs), can be found through this link: 

DAC list of ODA-eligible International organisations

Further considerations

• University Research Ethics - when working with developing countries there are additional considerations with regards to Ethics. This ethics guidelines document gives additional guidance.
• UoR guidance on preventing harm in research and innovation activities - should be read in conjunction with other relevant policies and codes of practice.
• Support for researchers conducting research in developing countries - details of the support the University can provide for researchers working in developing countries.
• Due diligence - for projects with international partners it is likely that some due diligence checks will be required as part of the submission process.  The checks are in 2 phases, firstly reviewing the partner capacity to conduct the work and to work with the University, and the second phase on award to review the partners financial capacity and governance.

Opportunities

• Universities UK International Funding opportunities - this is a useful place to find a regularly updated depository of international research collaboration opportunities aimed at UK researchers.
• UKCDS - UK Collaborative on Development Sciences is a group of 14 UK government departments and research funders working in international development.