The Civil Society Partnerships Programme aims to improve the use of research-based evidence by CSOs to promote better development policies. A key part of the programme is to make practical tools and experience available and the communication strategy includes face-to-face interaction through collaborative work, seminars and workshops, and a wide range of print and web-based publications, in addition to the normal research project reports and conferences.

Practical experience has shown that face-to-face communication, preferably in an environment where people can see and feel the results of new approaches at first hand, through, for example, visits to pilot projects, are particularly effective. If this is not possible, short video clips where respected individuals describe the results, and the advantages and disadvantages, are also very effective. People particularly like stories based on personal experience.

So far the programme has conducted and filmed 20 short interviews with policy makers, practitioners and CSO staff and members to use on project websites and in presentations.

The interviews were designed to elicit personal experiences of the use of research-based evidence in development policy, focusing on the following issues:

• What is your experience of using research-based evidence to influence development policy?
  
• What do you think are the most important tricks of the trade?
  
• Do you have any 'good news case studies'?
  
• Do you have any 'horror stories'?
  
• What three things could CSOs do to increase their policy impact?
  
• What three things could policymakers do to increase their use of research-based evidence?

Comments from the interviews include the following:

• "I would view research as improving the policy debate generally, so that out of an improved policy debate, you will get more informed policy" Montek Ahluwalia, Chairman of the Bridging Research and Policy Project
  
• "Sometimes it is partly accident and sometimes by design" Nancy Birdsall, President of the Center for Global Development (CGD), Washington D.C.
  
• "The experience that we have is that you need to get the two sides working together as a team" Chalangphop Ssusangkarn, Thailand Research and Development Institute
  
• "Every two years in Ghana we have a National Economic Forum, which brings together policy-makers, researchers and other civil society members" Ernest Aryeetey, Director of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research at the University of Ghana

The first batch of interviews are available on the RAPID websites as film clips, audio tracks and transcripts:
www.odi.org.uk/Rapid/Tools/talking_heads/Interview_list.html. Further interviews from the CSPP community will be available shortly.