Strengthening Innovation Systems in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Collaborative Approach

At Oxentia, we joined forces with Oxford Policy Management (OPM) to support a UK government department in its mission to strengthen research and innovation systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Our goal was to identify what works best in building local capacity and to offer practical recommendations for future programmes tackling sustainable development challenges.

Our Approach

We took a comprehensive look at both the successes and challenges of past and current initiatives. This included:

• Reviewing existing research and reports to understand the broader landscape.
• Engaging directly with stakeholders through focus groups and interviews, ensuring we captured insights from both internal teams and local partners.
• Benchmarking against similar programmes run by other international funders to learn from their experiences.

Through this process, we discovered that two of the biggest hurdles facing LMICs are fragmented donor efforts and a lack of integrated monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) systems. We also found that local governments often need more support to design effective science and technology strategies, and that research and innovation organisations require additional resources to deliver on these plans. Stakeholders agreed that addressing these challenges with tailored, context-specific capacity building—both at the system and institutional levels—can lead to more cohesive and effective innovation ecosystems.

Collaborative Workshops

To ensure our recommendations were grounded in real-world experience, we facilitated workshops with senior leaders from the FCDO and selected local partners. These sessions focused on designing a clear theory of change and identifying practical actions to overcome key barriers. Participants shared valuable lessons from previous projects and highlighted areas for improvement in ongoing programmes.

Impact

Our work resulted in a robust theory of change for the next phase of the programme, along with a detailed report summarising key findings from interviews, literature reviews, and benchmarking activities. This report has been shared with FCDO senior leadership to help shape the business case for future initiatives.