The Asian Development Bank (ADB) considers NGOs/CSOs as significant actors in development at both the operational and advocacy levels. ADB is concerned primarily with developmental NGOs/CSOs. A recent report on ADB-NGO cooperation notes that 'NGO activity now influences or will affect virtually every aspect of ADB's operations, to an extent not experienced in the past and that will increase even more in the future'. ADB's cooperation with NGOs / CSOs generally is realised through two parallel streams: strategic or thematic institutional cooperation and operational cooperation.

Initiated by the Communication for Social Change (CFSC) Consortium, the Practitioner Network is a semi-formal grouping of individuals committed to and expert in communication for social change, who can offer advice and support to organisations seeking to transform principle and theory into practice. The network's main activities include providing training and technical support to those in the network, as well as identifying and developing training materials for development agencies interested in using CFSC principles. More information is available via the Communication Initiative.

The UK Department for International Development (DFID) actively shares its knowledge such that policymakers and practitioners can use it to have a positive impact on people's lives. DFID has set up a Knowledge Policy Unit (KPU), whose purpose is to enhance the use of knowledge by DFID and others in support of the elimination of poverty. The KPU seeks to coordinate DFID's existing knowledge activities more effectively and to initiate new activities that will add to the impact of DFID's knowledge programmes.

The Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Commission on Development-Related Research was established to learn what could be done to improve learning for policymaking. It emerged from the strong belief that policymaking should be based on solid knowledge. With regards to political programmes, such as development aid, the Commission points out that legitimacy depends not only on whether policies are well intended, but on whether they will work and whether public resources are frugally used.

The Getting Research into Policy and Practice (GRIPP) website is a practical resource to support researchers maximise the impact of their research on policy and practice. While the tools are generic, the case studies are mostly on the topic of family planning.

The Global Knowledge Partnership is a 'network of networks' with a diverse membership base comprising public, private and not-for-profit organisations from both developed and developing countries. The Partnership was born as a result of the 1997 Global Knowledge Conference in Canada, hosted by the World Bank and the Government of Canada. At present there are 45 members and 48 pending members.

The International Budget Project and the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex have been working together over the past year to produce in-depth case studies on the Impact of Civil Society Budget Work to learn specifically about the impact of sustained budget work on good governance and poverty reduction. The research draws on case studies of independent budget organisations in Brazil, Croatia, India, Mexico, South Africa and Uganda who have been engaged in budget analysis and budget advocacy.

The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is a public corporation created in 1970 to help developing countries find long-term solutions to the social, economic, and environmental problems they face. IDRC's architects believed that the powers of science and technology could be harnessed to promote economic growth and development in the South.

The Netherlands Development Assistance Research Council (RAWOO) was established to issue recommendations regarding research priorities; to put forward proposals for long-term research programmes; and foster communication among the various parties involved in research for development: researchers, policymakers and end users, both in the South and in the North.

The Network for Evidence-Based Policy and Practice was established in 1999 by the Economic and Social Research Council, the UK's largest funding agency for research and postgraduate training in social and economic issues, to bring social science research much nearer to the decision making process.

The Research Unit for Research Utilisation (RURU) was recently set up by the University of St Andrews, affiliated to the ESRC Network for Evidence-based Policy and Practice. They aim to look at how to enable evidence to inform policy and professional practice, and their main areas of interest are key public sectors such as health care and social care.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) runs a series of networks, most importantly the Sub-Regional Resource Facilities (SURFs) network that is geared to engage in global advocacy and analysis to generate knowledge, alliance building and promotion of enabling frameworks on key issues, policy advice and support for national capacity building, and knowledge networking and sharing of good practices.

The World Bank has a number of useful resources. The World Development Report 1998/99 focused on 'Knowledge for Development' (www.worldbank.org/wdr/wdr98/index.htm), and dealt with the broad issues of narrowing knowledge gaps, addressing information problems, and policy priorities. The World Bank also has a Knowledge Sharing webpage (www.worldbank.org/ks), and is a member of the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) (www.globalknowledge.org). The Poverty Reduction Group's approach to Poverty and Social Impact Analysis (PSIA) aims to improve links between research and policy for poverty reduction.