RAPID Tools: Successful Communication Online Toolkit

Why communicate?

To inspire and inform
We usually communicate evidence, information and knowledge in order to inspire and inform development policy and practice. In order to improve our communication, there are several steps we can take to make it more inspirational and informative. The first step is simply to think through why we are communicating in the first place.

Let us briefly look at one example. This question has recently been addressed in Omamo's article 'Policy Research on African Agriculture' (Omamo, Steven Were (2003) 'Policy Research on African Agriculture: Trends, Gaps and Challenges' International Service for National Agricultural Research Report No 21/2003, available free of charge at www.isnar.cgiar.org). Omamo argues that agricultural economists have failed to put Africa's agricultural problems on the policy agenda in anything more than an abstract fashion. He suggests that this is because researchers and CSOs have failed to come to grips with the real problems facing policymakers in the agricultural sector in Africa, namely the operational feasibility of alternative policy options. In other words, the policy options that are outlined in research publications have failed to capture policymakers' attention and to connect with them. There has been a distinct failure in communication.

The tools that are included in this toolkit aim to rectify this kind of situation. The first steps to take are to begin asking questions: Why is the knowledge not being used to inform policy and practice? Has it been appropriately targeted? Has it been communicated clearly? Is it easily accessible? Why is the knowledge not experienced as inspirational? What does it take for research to inspire? What is it that makes some groups notice and connect with certain pieces of evidence, while other evidence is easily ignored?

There is no single, best, generic solution to these questions. The best answers will vary from project to project and from situation to situation. But the tools that have been included here - especially those under 'Packaging' and 'Targeting' - will especially help to show how evidence can be communicated in order to inform and inspire.

To learn
Communication, when it is done well, does not only benefit the 'recipient'. It also benefits the 'sender'. This aspect of communication is often overlooked. We tend to think of communication as a process of teaching others - or of telling others everything we know ('spread the good news!'). But communication is also a process whereby the 'senders' themselves can learn a lot. If we think strategically about the communication process, we can maximise our own benefits too.

We learn different things by using a range of communication activities, or by strategically choosing the communication activity that will give us most information in return. For example, by putting documents on the web, and tracking which of them are downloaded or picked up by other websites, it is possible to get a sense of which topics spark an interest in which networks. By hosting workshops or public meetings, it is possible to get a sense of which research is regarded as credible, and which is not. By asking for feedback as part of our communication activities, it is possible to get a sense of the needs and frustrations of the target audience, and therefore of how we might increase the impact of our knowledge.

Let us look at another example - again from the agricultural sector in Africa. In their article 'Promoting Research-Policy Dialogues', Mortimore and Tiffen (Mortimore, Michael and Mary Tiffen (2003) 'Promoting Research-Policy Dialogues: Lessons from Four Studies of Dryland Development in Sub-Saharan Africa' Drylands Research Working Paper No 41, available free of charge at www.drylandsresearch.org.uk) suggest that if you already know who your target audience is, then the best way to ensure that they regard your research findings as credible and useful is to engage in two-way communication with them. The dryland development projects described in the article had to engage with many different target groups, including scientists, national level policymakers, donors, NGO staff and the beneficiaries themselves. Each of these groups has different communication needs. They access information in different ways, they have different perceptions of credibility, and they are used to seeing research results in different formats and at different times. Therefore, the more we are able to engage with each group in a meaningful process of communication, the more likely we are to learn how to maximise the uptake and impact of our research.

In this regard, it is useful to think of how one might build up communication capacity over a longer time period. Programmes cannot become 'learning systems' unless they go through a few cycles or iterations. Again, there is no single, generic, best solution here. But the tools outlined in this toolkit - especially those under 'Planning' - should be of help when thinking strategically about how communication can improve learning and build capacity.