Expert assessment

In accordance with the national charter for scientific and technical expert assessment adopted by the IRD, the expert assessment activity carried out by our Institute encompasses three types of assessment :

Collective assessment is multidisciplinary and of broad thematic scope, and is associated with public policy issues. On initiative from national or international institutions (ministries, development agencies, funding bodies for development, NGOs, foundations, etc.) that wish to have recent data taken from research and useful for their decision-making process, collective assessment draws up a statement of knowledge based on a critical analysis of international scientific literature. The experts are chosen from the scientific community by IRD in partnership with the other stakeholders in the assessment. This group of experts represents the North and the South equally and respects gender equality. It is scheduled to last around a year, and is managed directly by the “Assessments” mission.

Institutional assessment or consulting is aimed at providing a client, in response to a question asked, with an interpretation, opinion or recommendation justified as objectively as possible and devised from available knowledge and demonstrations accompanied by a scientific approach. It triggers the liability of the IRD. Institutional assessment requires independence, neutrality and impartiality. It is not connected to the interests of the backer. Consulting, on the other hand, is characterised by the fact that it is done in the interests of the backer. The experts belong to a unit within the IRD. The “Assessments” mission provides support to the MRU for its participation. The contract is administered by the regional delegation to which the unit reports. The fees received are paid to the MRU minus any miscellaneous expenditure. 

Private consulting is realised by a researcher from the IRD in their own name. It forms part of the IRD’s policy of openness. It can be performed for up to 20% of the working time that is supposed to be devoted to research. Authorisation is granted for a renewable period of one year. This is a purely intellectual service for the backer and therefore may not be a technical or a research assignment. It is realised separately from the research collaborations carried out within the unit and must not compete with the other contracts being realised in the research unit. The “Assessments” mission will check that the agent has received proper authorisation from his unit and verify that there are no conflicts of interest. It acts as liaison between the researcher and the competent departments with regard to authorisation for multiple duties.