Multidisciplinary and Intermediation Research (MIR)

Recognizing the importance of policy-focused multidisciplinary research in tackling the challenges faced by the developing countries, the Global Development Network has launched a new initiative to support Multidisciplinary and Intermediation Research (MIR). The MIR initiative seeks to bridge the gap between research and policy by emphasizing the multidisciplinary approach to complex development policy issues; and by promoting research capacity building, networking and intermediation between research and policy at the regional level. The MIR initiative will be implemented simultaneously in the CIS and South Asia, respectively, by the Economic education and Research Consortium (EERC) and the South Asia Network of Economic Research Institutes (SANEI).

For the MIR project, SANEI invited research proposals on a broad range of topics that had a multidisciplinary dimension, and were focused on development issues in the South Asian context. Twenty-one proposals were received. As per action plan (jointly outlined by EERC and SANEI), three proposals based on the selection criteria of policy relevance, multidisciplinarity, academic merit and assurances, were selected for funding under MIR. The contracts were awarded by SANEI.

SANEI-GDN organized a seminar on Multidisciplinary and Intermediation Research Initiative (MIR). This seminar was held on March 31, 2007 at Punjab University, Economics Department, New Campus, Lahore. Three studies from different South Asian researchers were presented at the Seminar. Dr. Pushpa Raj Rajkarnikar from Nepal presented his study on “Institutions Building for Controlling Corruption: A Case Study on the Effectiveness of Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) and National Vigilance Center (NIC) in Nepal”. Dr. A.K. Enamul Haque presented his study on “Impact of Arsenic Contamination in Ground Water on Poverty and Choice of Mitigation Technology for Rural Communities of Bangladesh” and Dr. K.S. James from India presented his research study on the topic “Demographic Transition and Economic Development in Kerala: The Role of Emigration.” The presenter also received comments from their respective reviewer to incorporate the comments in their final draft.

Projects Approved under the MIR

No.	Subject	Discipline	Institutes	Country	Name of the Principal Researcher(s)
1.	Institutions building for controlling corruption: a case study on the effectiveness of commission for the investigation of abuse of authority (CIAA) and National Vigilance Centre (NVC) in Nepal.	Multidisciplinary	Institute for Policy Research and Development (IPRAD).	Nepal	Dr. Dilli Raj Khanal
2.	Impact of Arsenic Contamination in ground water on poverty and choice of mitigation technology for rural communities of Bangladesh.	Economics	Economic Research Group (ERG).	Bangladesh	Dr.A. K.Enamul Haq.
					M. Zakir Hossain Khan
					Dr. Joyasree Roy
3.	Demographic Transition and Economic Development in Kerala: The Role of Emigration	Multidisciplinary	Centre for Development Studies (CDS).	India	Dr. S Irudaya Rajan. Dr. K S James