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 Bridging
Research and Policy in International Development:
An Analytical and Practical Framework
Better use of research-based evidence in development policy and
practice can help save lives, reduce poverty and improve the quality
of life. But for this to happen more effectively researchers need
to do three things:
First, they need to develop a detailed understanding of i) the
policymaking process - what are the key influencing factors, and
how do they relate to each other? ii) the nature of the evidence
they have, or hope to get - is it credible, practical and operationally
useful? and iii) all the other stakeholders involved in the policy
area - who else can help to get the message across?
Second, they need to develop an overall strategy for their work
- identify political supporters and opponents, keep an eye out for,
and be able to react to policy windows, ensure the evidence is credible
and practically useful, and build coalitions with like-minded groups.
Third, they need to be entrepreneurial - get to know, and work
with the policymakers, build long term programmes of credible research,
communicate effectively, use participatory approaches, identify
key networkers and salesmen and use shadow networks.
Based on over five years of theoretical and case study research,
ODI's Research and Policy in Development programme has developed
a simple analytical framework and practical tools that can help
researchers to do this.
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