Mediating factors for building research capacity in low-income countries: implications for global health research partnerships

Global health research takes place within the North-South divide and is commonly led by Northern investigators who come from resource-rich research environment, while Southern partners join the partnership with a paucity of these skills and resources. The asymmetry within North-South research partnerships merits careful attention to optimize the research process and application of the research results. This study uses a validated research tool entitled “Is Research Working for You?” to facilitate a qualitative investigation surrounding the benefits and challenges to engage in the research process experienced by The AIDS Support Organization (TASO), a Ugandan HIV/AIDS organization. Qualitative results document TASO’s ambition to develop a Southern-initiated research agenda and the strategies they use to sustainably build institutional research capacity.