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 CSO
Capacity for Policy Engagement: Lessons Learned from the CSPP Consultations
in Africa, Asia and Latin America
The nature of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in development
work is changing, but how successfully - and leading where? While
there is still a strong demand for CSOs to 'sustain the good work'
in terms of direct service delivery, there is also a growing need
for civil society to participate in policy processes, in order to
bring about sustained long-term change. Surprisingly, there is very
little systematic research on how CSOs all over the world are influencing
policy processes, especially from the point of view of those actually
involved in the policymaking process in the South.
This paper was written as part of the Civil
Society Partnerships Programme (CSPP) funded by the UK's Department
for International Development (DFID) and administered by the Research
and Policy in Development Group (RAPID) at the Overseas Development
Institute (ODI), London. The CSPP aims to improve the capacity of
Southern CSOs to influence pro-poor policy. During its first phase,
the CSPP undertook a range of consultations across the world. Workshops
and seminars were held in Southern Africa (Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique),
Eastern Africa (Tanzania and Uganda), and West Africa (Ghana and
Nigeria), South Asia (Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) South East Asia
(Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand) and Latin America (Peru, Bolivia
and Argentina). Participants at these events were mainly from research
institutes, national non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and networks,
along with a wide spectrum of stakeholders interested in the issue
of bridging research and policy - including government officials,
international NGOs and bilateral and multilateral donors. In total,
approximately 800 members of civil society were in attendance. The
events were organised in partnership with Southern policy research
institutes in each country.
The aim of the CSPP
consultations was to explore the views of Southern CSOs and
other stakeholders on the issues of evidence-based policy engagement.
Participants at the consultations discussed the opportunities and
challenges for CSOs when using evidence to inform policy, presented
lessons and best practice in this area, shared experiences about
ongoing activities and identified opportunities for collaborative
work. This paper aims to compare and contrast the lessons that emerged
from the CSPP Southern consultations regarding the use of evidence-based
policy-engagement, and for ODI to learn what role it may take in
aiding CSO involvement in policy processes in the future, especially
through the CSPP.
The first section of the paper deals with the influence of the
political context on CSO impact on policy processes - from 'internal'
factors such governmental structures, capacity and attitudes; to
the political context of the country; to the wider 'external' influence
of international politics. The second part of the paper presents
the importance of good, timely, appropriate and well-presented evidence
when trying to influence policymaking, as well as associated problems.
The third section looks at the potentially limiting factors of CSO
capacity (from financial capacity to resources) and links, and explores
the importance of networks. Fourthly the paper covers external factors
that influence the policymaking process, including the cases where
donors have expansive control over research and policy processes.
Finally, the last section of this paper summarises and presents
the lessons on evidence-based policy-engagement that emerged from
the consultations, and includes a section on specific recommendations
and next steps for the CSPP as suggested by conference attendees.
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