CSPP Regional Workshop

The first workshop of ODI's new Civil Society Partnerships Programme's (CSPP) Regional Consultation was held in Lilongwe, Malawi, on the 9th and 10th February 2005, in collaboration with the Malawi Economic Justice Network (MEJN). The workshop provided a forum for representatives from policy research institutes and non-governmental agencies to discuss the opportunities and challenges for CSOs to use evidence to inform policy, learn about the latest worldwide research and practice in this area, share experiences about ongoing activities and identify opportunities for collaborative work.

After registration, Professor Wiseman Chirwa from the University of Malawi opened the workshop. Collins Magalasi from MEJN welcomed the participants from Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique and provided an overview of MEJN's work. John Young described ODI, the Research and Policy in Development Programme (RAPID), and the purpose of the CSPP. Participants introduced themselves, their work, and their hopes for the workshop. After coffee, Collins presented a case study describing how MEJN has been responsible for the coordination of the civil society participation in the PRSP process in Malawi and is currently engaged in a range of activities including budget monitoring under the PRSP. Their work has shown how it has been possible to influence civil society participation in policy processes through lobbying and advocacy, research and budget monitoring. Then Naved Chowdhury provided some evidence of the impact CSOs can have on pro-poor policy and practice from Tanzania. After the presentations, workshop participants divided into groups to share other examples of how CSOs have influenced policy processes in Southern Africa, based on their own experience. They concluded that while the political space is opening for civil society participation in policy processes, a general lack of capacity and weak policy advocacy skills are major problems. In the afternoon, John Young provided an introduction to RAPID's Context, Evidence and Links Framework, with an example from Kenya illustrating how it can be used to understand how specific policy processes work. Naved Chowdhury then went on to show how the framework can also be used to help develop strategies to maximize the impact of research on policy and practice, and introduced some other simple tools for policy advocacy. After this, participants divided again into groups to explore the relative importance of different factors in the context, evidence and links for their own cases.

The second day started with a presentation describing how factors in the political context, evidence and links contributed to the evolution of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Approach during the late 90s, followed by group work in which participants used the context, evidence and links framework to analyse other case studies. After coffee, Robert Jamison facilitated a session to identify successful mechanisms to communicate research to policy makers, what information products ODI should produce, and what other organisations exist that can help communicate the results of research to policy makers. Participants made a number of useful suggestions. The final session of the workshop focused on what ODI's CSPP could do to improve the capacity of organisations in Southern Africa to help CSOs use research-based evidence to promote pro-poor policies and practice.

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