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Addressing power imbalances in co-production

Nature Climate Change volume 10, pages 877–878 (2020)Cite this article

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Co-production is an increasingly popular approach to knowledge generation encouraged by donors and research funders. However, power dynamics between institutions in the Global North and South can, if not adequately managed, impede the effectiveness of co-production and pose risks for long-term sustainability.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported through two funding sources: the Future Climate for Africa programme, with financial support from the UK Government’s DFID and the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), grant refs. NE/M020010/1 (Kulima), NE/M020347/1 (UCT) and NE/M020428/1 (CEH); and the Weather and Climate Information Services for Africa (WISER) programme, funded by the UK Department for International Development (project contract no. P104414). We thank D. Conway, E. Archer, D. Kniveton, C. Audia, S. Moosa, J. Araujo, A. McClure and C. Jack for comments on earlier drafts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kulima Integrated Development Solutions (Pty) Ltd., Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

    Katharine Vincent

  2. SouthSouthNorth, Cape Town, South Africa

    Suzanne Carter

  3. Climate System Analysis Group, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Anna Steynor & Katinka Lund Wågsæther

  4. UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, UK

    Emma Visman

  5. Department of Geography, King’s College London, London, UK

    Emma Visman

Authors
  1. Katharine Vincent
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  2. Suzanne Carter
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  3. Anna Steynor
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  4. Emma Visman
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  5. Katinka Lund Wågsæther
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Contributions

All authors conceived the work jointly; K.V. drafted the initial text with inputs from S.C., A.S. and E.V.; K.L.W. provided critical comments.

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Correspondence to Katharine Vincent.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Vincent, K., Carter, S., Steynor, A. et al. Addressing power imbalances in co-production. Nat. Clim. Chang. 10, 877–878 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-00910-w

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