Other Issues

New players in policymaking
The cases do give an indication that policymaking is becoming more open and participatory – with more space for NGOs, media and private sector actors (e.g. PRSPs in Ethiopia; Minority Policies in Eastern Europe). Many would argue that this is a positive step in its own right. And it seems to translate into more evidence-based policymaking for develoment. But more work on this aspect to better assess where, how and to what degree this new space actually makes a difference.

Capacity Building
A number of cases highlighted that capacity is crucial in ensuring the link between policy and implementation. The Watershed approach in India and Franco-British case in Africa demonstrate that if policy changes, capacity building will need to be a key part of a programmes. The case of private sector development in Samoa highlighted that the success of a small grant scheme was due to the inclusion of a business training course for recipients and the availability of follow up and advisory services. The Caribbean case highlighted that capacity gaps in terms of actually carrying out relevant, high-quality, operational research exist in many countries. The case of Domestic violence in Papua New Guinea highlights the lack of capacity as a key reason policy recommendations were not implemented. The same is highlighted in the case of fiscal policy in Morocco.

Importance of donors
Many of the cases were ones where bilateral or multilateral donors had supported the activities to a large degree – e.g. SMEs in Samoa, PRSPs in Tanzania; Governance indicators in the Philippines; Development Planning Reform in Lithuania. An initial estimate is that over half the cases involved international support. Donor support alone, however, did not mean that research had an impact on policy (e.g Kyrgyzstan case).

A number of cases highlighted that the interaction between the lack of local capacity and the strength of external influences is a problem in developing transition countries. For example, if the Lithuanian public sector institutions had more competent personnel, the government could have been willing to reject more of the research recommendations (from external reviewers)..