Since 2013, the Swedish Research Council has funded research that is important for the fight against poverty and for sustainable development in low income countries. The funding has also gone to collaborations and knowledge exchanges between researchers in Sweden and researchers in both low and lower middle income countries.
On 22 June 2023, the Government decided that the Swedish Research Council shall no longer fund grants in development research. Researchers with ongoing projects will continue being funded until the grant period ends.
Examples of research that we fund
Both Ghana and Sweden have a major and rich history of mining for gold, copper, and iron ore. Gold mining in Ghana consists of both large-scale and small-scale mining. The small-scale mining is largely unregulated, with very limited technical knowledge, where mercury is usually used to extract the gold.
The gold mining is done in the poorest communities in Ghana. Results of studies of water and land quality shows serious contamination with arsenic, mercury, cadmium, lead, and cyanide, and the major rivers that receive water from areas with small-scale mining have impaired water quality.
We are collaborating with researchers from a university in Ghana and with Ghana’s Atomic Energy Commission. Our project can be seen as a sort of pilot study – together we will be producing an application for a joint major research study of how the health and environmental situation can be improved in areas with small-scale mines in Ghana. We want to deliver new technology and education to the miners. The ambition is to in this way develop more profitable and sustainable methods for mining, including recycling of waste and reuse. This will contribute to the sustainable development goals.
Small-scale mining and the environmental and health effects it entails are common in several African countries and in South America. For this reason, successful results from this project can also be implemented in other countries.
Project leader: Lena Alakangas, Professor of Applied Geochemistry, Luleå University of Technology
Project name: Development of a joint research program between Ghana and Sweden for Reducing Environmental and Health Impacts of Small-Scale Mining
Read about the project in the Swecris database
External link.
Cocoa growing supports more than two million households in West Africa. At the same time, climate changes are a growing challenge, where drought affects both harvests and income sources.
The capacity to cope with growth is limited by the availability of financial and physical resources. In Liberia, Ghana, and Côte d’Ivoire, cocoa is perceived to be a “male” crop. Women are often marginalised from the decision-making for and income from farming. The situation with drought and limited resources is therefore even worse for women.
In our project, we will be assessing the role of gender in relation to climate resilience of households that are dependent on cocoa-growing. The project includes natural and social scientists with previous experience of studies in West Africa and of studies that have shown links between gender equality and climate resilience.
We strive to contribute to women’s and girls’ economic rights and empowerment by quantifying current inequality between the genders and complex interactions with other livelihood conditions, including financial assets. It is our hope that the results can improve the livelihoods of cocoa-dependent households in West Africa and around the world.
Our project is of the utmost relevance for low income households in the countryside, which are among the least prepared to handle climate changes.
Project leader: Francisco Aguilar, Professor of Forest Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences SLU
Project name: Gender equality and climate resilience of West African cacao-dependent households
Read about the project in the Swecris database External link.
In 2020, commercial surrogate motherhood became prohibited in India. The starting point of our project is the consequences of this change in the law.
From having been a global centre for commercial surrogacy arrangements, the egg industry has instead become ever more important in India. The country has transformed into a centre where eggs are removed and embryos created, to be transferred into surrogate mothers who are then transported to countries without legislation. There, the women spend their time as pregnant and give birth to the children.
We will be investingating what happens when pregnancy, egg cells, and breastmilk become goods on a global market. With focus on India and Uganda, we will be exploring new concepts and flows in this reproduction industry. We will focus in particular on surrogate mothers, egg donors, and breastmilk donors – the women that provide the industry with germ cells and processes.
The study wants to contribute to the understanding of the rapidly expanding global market in bodies and bodily processes, in particular of how women’s reproductive capacity becomes a profit-generating resource. By investigating how the changed regulations in India give rise to new exploitative economies, we can contribute knowledge about the mechanisms that drive the spread of technologies in a globalised world, not least in relation to inequalities betwen rich and poor countries.
We hope that the knowledge from our study can be of concrete use in the urgent work of designing national and international regulations within the reproductive industry, and create preconditions for dignified working conditions for surrogate mothers and donors.
Project leader: Johanna Gondouin, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Culture and Society, Linköping University
Project name: Expanding Markets in Life: Exploring emerging ART practices in India and Uganda
Read about the project in the Swecris database External link.
In sub-Saharan Africa, cervical cancer is the most common cause of women dying from cancer. In countries with national screening programmes for cervical cancer, the number of cancer cases has decreased dramatically. Despite this, the global number of cases is expected to increase.
To enable more women to be offered gynecological cell sampling, innovative diagnostic solutions are needed that take into account local preconditions and limitations. Our research team has developed artificial intelligence (AI) in combination with mobile digital microscopy to find preliminary stages of cervical cancer. According to a pilot study we have conducted, cell sample analysis conducted using AI can achieve a diagnostic accuracy that is comparable to expert analysis.
Our method can be used to efficiently discover and treat preliminary stages of cervical cancer in women in low income countries, where there is a great shortage of pathologists and advanced laboratory equipment.
In this study – which will be done using a larger and broader patient group than the pilot study – we will validate the AI-based method in collaboration with a university hospital in Tanzania. With the help of a mobile microscope scanner, cell samples will be digitised and uploaded via the mobile network to the cloud-based AI, which is accessible round the clock. The AI assessment will be compared wih two pathologists’ independent estimates of the digital and physical samples.
Our hypothesis is that the method can be used to sift out the normal cell samples, and in this way free up time for local experts to examine the samples showing changes. This means that countries with limited resources will probably be able to offer screening services much more efficiently, reliably, and at considerably lower cost than today.
Project leader: Johan Lundin, Professor in Medical Technology at the Department of Global Health, Karolinska Institutet
Project name: Artificial intelligence and mobile microscopy for cervical cancer screening in resource-limited settings - a validation study
Read about the project in the Swecris database External link.
Zoonotic diseases pass infection between humans and animals, and cause major problems in developing countries, in particular for small-scale farmers, who are dependent on their animals for survival. Despite this, they are often forgotten when action programmes for better animal and public health are designed.
The diseases have major consequences for many areas. They do not just affect the health of those who become ill, but also their livelihoods. They lead to poverty, incorrect use of antibiotics in animals, and reduced gender equality, as it is often women and young persons who look after the animals. When more resources are needed for the infected animals to produce the desired amounts of milk and meat, emissions of greenhouse gases also increase.
Traditionally, the effects on health, finances, and the environment have been analysed separately. For this reason, the overall societal burden that the diseases cause has been underestimated.
The purpose of this research project is to generate data that show the overall societal effects of four zoonotic diseases: Rift Valley fever (RVF), brucellosis, Q fever, and leptospirosis. What consequences do the diseases have for different regions and animal husbandry systems, and for humans of different genders and ages? How does impaired health and poor animal husbandry procedures affect the cows’ milk and meat production, and how is this linked to the different diseases?
The project is limited to Kenya.
Reliable information about actual effects of zoonotic diseases facilitates for decision-makers to take action and provide guidance in how the initiatives are to be targeted. In the long term, the results from the project can lead to better health for both humans and animals, reduced poverty, better access to food, increased gender equality, and a reduction in the negative effects that farmed animals have on the environment and climate.
Project leader: Sara Lysholm, Researcher at the Deparment of Clinical Science, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Project name: Understanding the societal burden of neglected zoonotic diseases in Kenya: the case of Rift Valley fever, brucellosis, Q-fever and leptospirosis
Read about the project in the Swecris database External link.
Research review of the field
Every four years, we produce a research review for development resesarch. It provides a picture of the current position of Swedish research in the area, and looks forward 5–10 years.
It also includes recommendations for initiatives to promote research in Sweden.
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