Meetings, Seminars and Workshops are an important part of
RAPID's communication work. Click on the links below for more
information about particular recent and forthcoming events.
| Forthcoming events |
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International
Forum on the Social Science-Policy Nexus
RAPID, in conjunction with CIPPEC, Argentina, will be
holding a half day workshop on bridging research and policy
at the four-day forum being held in February 2006 in Argentina
and Uruguay by UNESCO's Management of Social Transformations
Programme. The forum will break new ground in connecting
social science research to policy and is an opportunity
for ODI to strengthen links to regional institutions and
practitioners as well as to share its work and efforts
to inform and inspire pro-poor policy processes around
the world.
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| Recent events |
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DFID-Trocaire-ODI
Workshop for Policy Entrepreneurs
This DFID-Trocaire-ODI workshop for Policy Entrepreneurs
was held in Nairobi, Kenya in October and November 2005
and focused on how CSOs can use evidence to promote pro-poor
policies. The workshop was designed for staff of DFID
and Trocaire partners in Kenya who wanted to know more
about how to influence policy and provided a forum for
participants to discuss the opportunities and challenges
for CSOs to inform policy; learn about the latest worldwide
research and practice in this area; share experiences
about ongoing activities and what works; and identify
gaps for future work. |
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Impact
and Insight: The Policy, Research and Practice Interface
This workshop series brings together researchers, practitioners
and policy makers who have been studying these issues
in both developed and developing countries to explore
the interactions between research and policy across a
range of fields and policy issues. The meetings cover
a number of different fields, aim to identify common lessons
and approaches to strengthen evidence-based policy, and
build a community of practice in this area, centred upon,
but not limited to the UK. First meeting in the series
was held on 17th October 2005. |
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Civil Society
Organizations: Promoting Pro-Poor Policy and Social Inclusion
- CEU SUN, Budapest July 2005
This one week course aimed to help CSOs make their engagement
with policy processes and policy actors more effective
and legitimate by cultivating improved understanding of
policy entrepreneurship and policy making at local, national
and international levels. The central objective was to
improve the quality, and utilization, of policy research
produced by experts in CSOs to help ensure that their
analysis is provided to policymakers at the time important
issues are under deliberation.
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CSOs,
Evidence and Policy Workshop with Mexican and Central
American Researchers, June 2005
A one-day workshop on the roles of CSOs, evidence and
policy was held with a group of Mexican and Central American
researchers in June 2005. The workshop was designed to
allow participants to present case studies, discuss their
own experiences in trying to influence policy as well
as to learn new strategies or techniques that might be
useful to them. |
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Knowledge
and Information Management for NGOs
A one-day training workshop held on 9th June 2005 for
BOND member organiations, aimed at providing tools and
techniques to use knowledge management tools in ongoing
work programmes. The workshop was geared around the information
management end of the KM spectrum and was a mixture of
practical tools and presentations.
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G8,
UK Aid Policies and Implications for Japan - ODI Japan
Visit Report
A team of four from ODI visited Tokyo during the week
of June 6 2005 as part of the JICA-funded work on UK-Japan
aid issues and the implications for Japan of the UK's
focus on African development in 2005. The trip was also
an opportunity to learn about Japan's development community,
particularly its views about East Asia's development experience
and how Japan's aid may have accelerated it.
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The Research / Practice
Interface for 2005: Actions for the Year and Beyond,
A Stakeholder Conference from the DSA and BOND in association
with NR International and ODI
A one day conference held on 3rd June 2005 to explore
the reality of the links between research and practice.
It aimed to identify problems at the interface between
the two and propose action points. It was an opportunity
both to develop ideas and action points as well as to
take part in strategic networking. RAPID held a workshop
session on Turning Insight into Impact: Approaches and
Tools.
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Euforic Annual Meeting
2005, Information Strategies and Policy Influence, London
On the threshold of the UK Presidency of the EU, the
G8 and the MDG Summit, this one day seminar organised
by EUFORIC and ODI, was held at the beginning of June
2005 to explore the importance and opportunities of
networking and Internet information for development
policy. What are the strategies to follow and mechanisms
to use for being really effective in influencing development
policy? Which information foraging strategies are used
by politicians, researchers or lobbyist? What could
the Internet information landscape look like in ten
years from now and how could development organisations
prepare themselves?
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SMEPOL Evidence-based
Policy Making Workshop, Egypt
This three day workshop for the SMEPOL Project was held
to expose project stakeholders to current theory and
practice of evidence-based policy making. The objectives
were to: re-enforce the need for evidence-based policy
reform decision making; introduce some of the latest
theories about evidence-based policy making; outline
some of the best international approaches and practice
to ensure sustainable evidence-based policy making;
provide practical tools; and help staff to develop strategies
to influence policy in the SME sector in Egypt.
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Process and
Partnership for Pro-Poor Policy Change Project Initiation
Workshops, February 2005, Kenya
Two project initiation workshops held to launch the
project as a whole, and to assemble preliminary information
for the SDP Case Study. The Methodology workshop aimed
to familiarise SDP evaluation team members with the
general approach and specific methods to be used. The
Policy Impact Workshop was designed to collect information
from project staff and other stakeholders about the
evolution of policy and practice in the dairy sector
in Kenya and the project itself, and to explore the
influence of specific project activities.
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GDN Annual
Conference 2005 and Bridging Research and Policy Workshop,
Senegal, January 2005
The second GDN Bridging Research and Policy Project Workshop
was held on January 21-23rd in Dakar, Senegal immediately
before the Sixth GDN Annual Global Development Conference.
Julius Court and Enrique Mendizabal helped to facilitate
the BRP workshop, and Julius stayed on afterwards for
the Conference where he participated in two of the parallel
sessions. |
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CSOs, Evidence and
Policy Influence - Regional Workshop, Kenya
This workshop, held with AFREPREN in Nairobi in December
2004, focused on how CSOs can use evidence to promote
pro-poor policies. It was a forum for CSOs in Kenya
to discuss the opportunities and challenges they face
when they try to inform policy and share experiences
about what works and doesn't work, learn about the latest
worldwide research and practice in this area, and identify
gaps for future work.
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Development
Studies Association Annual Conference 2004 - London
The 2004 Annual Development Studies Association one day
Conference, held in November in London, was on the theme
of Bridging Research and Policy. There were workshops
to focus discussion, plenary sessions featuring speakers
with experience across the research and policy spectrum,
as well as a knowledge fair of development research publishers
and other organisations. |
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Promoting Evidence-based
Development Policy Workshop - DSA Conference, London
This workshop session, held at the DSA Conference, provided
a synthesis of the latest research on evidence-based
policy in developing countries; an analytical and practical
framework; policy perspectives from DFID and the south;
and the latest on effective research communication.
The workshop was attended by around fifty participants
of the DSA conference. Discussions focused on gathering
experience from participants and what should we do to
improve the impact of our work on development outcomes.
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Bridging Research
and Policy - EADN Workshop, Jakarta
A one day workshop to publicise the GDN Bridging research
and policy project among researchers associated with the
GDN East Asia Network. It was held alongside a regional
workshop for researchers involved in research projects
on Political Transition and Development, and Labour Migration
in the Asia Pacific Region. The workshop was held at the
Centre of Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta
on the 10th July 2004. |
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Policy
Entrepreneurship Workshop - Moldova
A one day workshop for the directors of senior staff of
policy research centers in Central and Eastern Europe
and the former Soviet Union. The purpose was to improve
participants' ability to analyze the context within which
they work and develop strategies to improve the policy
impact of their work. The workshop was hosted by the Institute
for Public Policy (IPP) in Chisinau, Moldova on 17 June
2004.
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CSOs, Evidence and
Pro-poor policy - CIVICUS Workshop
A morning workshop on how CSOs can use evidence
to promote pro-poor policy and practice, held at the
CIVICUS World Assembly, March 2004, Gaborone, Botswana.
Active participation was the cornerstone of the approach
in the workshop, with emphasis placed on participants'
own knowledge and experience. The workshop enabled participants
to discuss the opportunities and challenges for CSOs
to inform policy; learn about relevant approaches in
this area; and share experiences about ongoing activities
and what works.
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HIV/AIDS: Bridging
Research and Policy
A one-day project workshop in March 2004 for the Bridging
the Gap between Research and Policy in Combating HIV/AIDS
in Developing Countries project. The objectives of the
workshop were to share experiences about research-policy
interactions in the HIV/AIDS field; discuss the Context:
Evidence: Links framework along with the preliminary
findings of the project; discuss other HIV/AIDS-related
work relevant to the project; and to develop a strategy
for further work in this area.
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Policy
Entrepreneurs - UK
A one-day workshop for UK-based donors, practitioners,
advocates and researchers to share experiences and learn
about evidence-based policy and practice in the UK and
Developing Countries; try out some simple tools for policy
analysis and action; learn about other tools and approaches
which have been used elsewhere, and about where to access
further information and resources; and develop a personal
action-plan to improve the impact of your own work. |
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Bridging
Research and Policy - Delhi
A seminar and workshop for researchers, policy makers
and practitioners involved in the FRP R8171 project to
consider how to improve the policy impact of the project.
The project is focused on the intersection between water,
watershed and forestry policies in India and faces the
challenge of generating and using evidence to overturn
the prevalent narrative that planting trees is enough
to protect water resources. |
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Bridging Research
and Policy - Marrakesh
A one-day workshop on how to improve policy impact for
researchers attending the ERF 10th Annual Conference
in Marrakesh in December 2003. The workshop provided
an opportunity for researchers to discuss research-policy
links in the Northern Africa and Middle East Region,
learn about the emerging findings from GDN and ODI work
so far, and consider how they might be improved.
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Bridging Research
and Policy Project Seminar (October 2003)
ODIs Bridging
Research and Policy project has been researching
how research-based evidence contributes to policy processes
in developing countries. The project included a literature
review, the development of a new
framework for analyzing and strengthening research-policy
links and four in-depth case studies. This seminar provided
an opportunity to learn about and discuss the results.
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Meeting Series:
Does Evidence Matter (Spring 2003)
This lunch-time meeting series provided an opportunity
for researchers, policy makers and intermediaries in the
UK to discuss how and why evidence informs policy. Speakers
included politicians, bureaucrats, researchers, NGO activists
and practitioners from UK government and non-government
organisations. They talked about how the political and
institutional context influences development policy makers,
what sort of evidence they want and need, how research
institutes can manage and use their knowledge more effectively,
how NGO campaigns and Think Tanks achieve policy influence,
and what makes a good policy entrepreneur. |
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