GCRF-COMPASS: Capacity-building in Eastern Neighbourhood and Central Asia: research integration, impact governance and sustainable communities

Global trajectories of development embedded in core Western notions of 'good governance', economic progress and democracy promotion, are being increasingly challenged by the rise of smaller states, emergent new orders and their counter geopolitical configurations. In their perception, the western approach still remains essentially 'unilateral', predicated on the 'universalism' of western norms and their seeming 'exceptionalism' rooted in a historic success and post-colonial discourses of Europe (Nikolaidis 2015). Therefore it comes as no surprise that 'good governance' as a way to structure external relations, encounters defiance and resistance from a non-European outside, who feel that their way of being, belonging and believing is ignored, excluded and even 'threatened'. COMPASS advocates for a new conceptual and practical approach to 'good governance', which would place more emphasis on local 'peoplehood' by way of capacity-building, on 'othering' as a way to de-centre and prioritise the needs of local communities, and on connectivity with all-level stakeholders, to ensure lasting and legitimate transformative effect, and dialogue.

The project thus seeks to set up the 'hubs of excellence' at the leading HEIs in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The chosen countries are former Soviet Republics, who share the legacies of the past including unreformed and heavily bureaucratised public sector, autocratic governance, outdated and inequitable education. Furthermore, they remain relatively inaccessible to the international community, and suffer from economic hardship, ongoing ethnic conflicts and Russia's geopolitical pressure.

COMPASS does not only aim to address the societal challenges of facilitating sustainable governance, equitable education and resilient and conflict-free communities in the developing countries. It also sets to develop lasting research partnerships with hitherto closed regimes, seeking to bring about change by way of inter-disciplinary research integration in the UK and European research frameworks.

In particular, drawing fully on our long-established contacts with the scholars of the region we seek to achieve 3 specific objectives:
- promote internationally recognisable specialist excellence capacity for each partner
- develop research synergies and joint projects
- integrate and disseminate output activities to scholarly, policy and public communities, regionally and internationally

To do so, we will establish knowledge platforms in the chosen countries, selected on the basis of their inter-disciplinarity, high research potential, specialist subject niche and connectivity with all-level stakeholders. They include:
- Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, Centre of Excellence for European Studies, specialising in European Studies, regional security and energy diplomacy
- Belarusian State University, specialising in peace-building straddling History, Sociology, Economics and IR
- Tajikistan International Shahidi Foundation, specialising in Cultural Anthropology, Identity and Social Psychology
- Uzbek University of World Economy and Diplomacy, specialising in Eurasian economic relations and diplomacy practice

By conducting a wide range of research workshops, pilot projects, learning and training activities, policy forums, and public events, we would seek to positively impact on the welfare provisions in the developing countries. Looking prospectively, established strategic partnerships and research networks would also greatly enhance the UK academia and the work of the consortium with a long-standing interest in the eastern region and Central Asia. This will be achieved by providing direct and privileged access into hitherto closed autocratic regimes, and insightful research opportunities and synergies. Additionally, it would greatly contribute to the UK and EU policy sectors, offering first-hand evidence on regional security, economic, cultural and diplomatic cooperation.

The project targets three common development challenges in the selected countries, which focus on inclusive and equitable quality education; resilient and sustainable livelihoods; and reduction of conflict, inequality and poverty. While commonplace in all four countries, they have significant variations and would require a tailored approach to account for political, economic and cultural sensitivities of each given case.

We believe that promotion of specialist 'hubs of excellence' in HE which would identify and enhance strength but also address the underlying weaknesses of the system, would ensure sustainable benefits for the countries' economies and their welfare. In particular, we believe, that by:
- updating learning provision, upskilling staff, enhancing student knowledge and training PhDs would invariably address the need for more equitable education to serve relevant sectors of economy and governance structures. Unlocked education provision would also respond better to the market demand, which is currently mismatched against the supply of the HE sector (WB 2015).
- integrating the hubs into a wider research framework, and establishing networks of excellence across the region and internationally would stimulate the demand for new knowledge production and transfer, as well as for cooperation on conflict related issue transcending geopolitics and internal divisions.
- Executive education provision and training programmes would offer better connectivity between different sectors of economy, and stimulate demand for modernisation of public administration, and for creativity in the private sector, striving to link with international markets.
- Reaching out to schools, and a wider public would stimulate change in attitudes and patterned behaviour, and contribute to the rise of the responsible and engaged citizenry, to render resilience and sustainability of livelihoods across the region.

For this to occur and become a legacy for continuing transformation, we would pursue the following 'impact pathways':
- 'COMPASS meets academia': sharing and developing research and learning provisions (PhD Training and Executive summer schools, research and study workshops, student conventions); facilitating joint publications (working and policy papers, articles and monographs) and data gathering; developing research synergies to apply for specific pilot projects following PI's success and experience with H2020 Twinning, AHRC Development and ESRC research grants; forging links with learned societies (BASEES, UACES, BISA, British Academy, Jean Monnet network)
- 'COMPASS meets policy': establishing regular policy forums in developing countries, roundtables with policy communities at the FCO, Westminster and EU institutions; linking up with GLOBSEC, RIGA, CEPS, LSE Dahrendorf to have a wider policy exchange and reflection groups; accessing Ministries (following PI's example of working with MFA and UNECE in Belarus, and MFA and EUD in Azerbaijan; COI work with MFAs and Public Councils in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan) and respective policy groups (Gaidar Foundation, Valdai Club, Eurasian Silk road forums) to ensure as wider impact as possible.
- 'COMPASS meets people': organising study packages and school fairs to forge closer links with centres of excellence; and running citizen juries and BBC style question time involving local authorities, and other stakeholders
- 'COMPASS meets media': fully engaging with social media, as well as establishing a regular time slot with BBC Russian service '5th floor', and BBC GLOBAL; and reporting to other media outlets (SKY, ITV, France 24, Euronews, and national broadcasters)

This research and policy connectivity between different stakeholders at the national and international levels would contribute to developing lasting legacies and value-added engagement of the current project provisions, for the benefit of the wider society in the target countries, the UK and globally.