Better utilization of research and evidence in development policy and practice can help save lives, reduce poverty and improve the quality of life. For example, the results of household disease surveys in rural Tanzania informed a process of health service reforms which contributed to a 28% reduction in infant mortality in two years. On the other hand, the HIV/AIDS crisis has deepened in some countries due to the reluctance of some governments to implement effective control programmes despite clear evidence of what causes the disease and how to prevent it spreading. Although evidence clearly matters, there is no systematic understanding of when, how and why evidence informs policy. A better understanding of how research can contribute to pro-poor policies, and systems to put it into practice are urgently needed.

ODI has been working on research-policy linkages for several years. A literature review published in 1999 (ODI Working Paper 118, 1999) identifies theoretical approaches in political science, sociology, anthropology, international relations and management, and provides a 21-point checklist of what makes policies happen. In 2002, ODI produced an Annotated Bibliography (ODI Working Paper 174, 2002) and developed a new Framework (ODI Working Paper 173, 2002) for understanding research-policy links. Ongoing research focuses on three recent policy changes: the adoption of PRSPs by the World Bank in 1999; the adoption of a charter by humanitarian agencies since 1997; and the legalisation of paravets in Kenya. ODI will also liase with other Development Research Institutes and Think Tanks, in the UK and around the world, who are interested in these issues.

ODI has also been involved in the development of the Bridging Research and Policy theme within the Global Development Network, including contributions to sessions at the GDN Annual Conference in Tokyo in November 2002, co-organising an international workshop in Warwick in July 2001 and coordinating the development of GDN’s US$ 3 million research project, launched at the GDN Conference in Rio in December 2001. As part of the GDN project, ODI collected and analysed 50 short case studies based on existing knowledge about research-policy links.

ODI has also undertaken a wide range of advisory and consultancy work on related topics. Recent work includes: mapping organisations involved in strengthening southern research capacity; a review of knowledge about information and policy change for the World Bank Transport and Rural Infrastructure Services Project; working with FAO and DFID to develop a livelihoods approach to information services; and developing a communications strategy to enhance policy impact for the DFID Multi-stakeholder Forestry Project in Indonesia.

The recent DFID Research Policy Paper, based on its detailed review of international and UK attempts to fund research that has a poverty impact), notes that the “critical issue for the future is how to improve researchers’ effectiveness in producing outputs that directly and indirectly change both policy and practice, are truly relevant to poor people’s needs, and are effectively taken up” and makes a number of specific recommendations refering to the need to:

• improve the understanding of the “knowledge systems” in which research takes place (Recommendation 2);
• strengthen research-related capacities in developing countries in order to access, produce and utilise research by ensuring that effective support for local research capacity is available taking into account best international practice and the longer experience of some other donors (Recommendation 6);
• engage with a wider range of actual and potential users of research within developing countries, within DFID, within international organisations and private sector (Recommendation 8);
• focus a greater proportion of its resources to promote much greater use and uptake of the research (Recommendation 9);
• extend the recent trend within DFID towards building specialist dissemination facilities (Recommendation 11);
• invest explicitly in the formation and maintenance of alliances and networks explicitly to promote uptake and dissemination (Recommendation 12).

The RAPID programme, based on ODI's work on Bridging Research and Policy to date, will address many of these issues.