Mobilising Knowledge Networks, World Bank, 20 June 2012

Mobilising knowledge for development

Alan StanleyAdrian Bannister

Who we are

Wicked question

Understanding context is essential for designing effective knowledge services

Partnerships are important for understanding context

How do you identify the right partner to work with without already understanding the context?

Understanding partnerships

Facilitated self evaluation

Key characteristics ofknowledge intermediaries

Understanding context - Research policy praxis country studies

Over 600 respondents from 6 countries - Kenya, Nepal, India, Ghana, Bangladesh and Ethiopia

Policy-actors - including national government, local government, NGO, private sector, research and media

Research questions:

– What is the current information ecosystem for policy actors in those countries?

– What are the possibilities that these policy actors will pick up on ‘new services’ (technologies and software)

– What does that mean for researchers and knowledge brokers seeking to improve research use in evidence informed decision making?

Understanding context - Research policy praxis country studies

How do decision-makers access information for their work?

Respondents were asked to comment on the statement:

“I tend to get my briefings face to face officially, in meetings”

(-2) Strongly disagree, (-1) Disagree, (0) Not Sure, (1) Agree, (2) Strongly Agree.

Understanding context - Research policy praxis country studies

Statement “I tend to get my briefings face to face, officially, in meetings”

Understanding context - Research policy praxis country studies

How do decision-makers access information for their work?

Respondents were asked to comment on the statement:

“Local research is often not relevant”

(-2) Strongly disagree, (-1) Disagree, (0) Not Sure, (1) Agree, (2) Strongly Agree.

Understanding context - Research policy praxis country studies

Statement “Local research is often not relevant”

Understanding context - Research policy praxis country studies

Conclusions:

Some evidence that policy actors are searching for information themselves

Some evidence that this behaviour increases as connectivity improves

Policy actors value international research significantly more than local research (except India)

Policy actors value formal research more i(except Ghana)

Overall:

High variability between countries – understanding context is important

What does it mean for knowledge brokers? More work needed!

Understanding effective knowledge products

Are policy briefings effective?

Joint research – IDS, 3ie and NORAD

Little research done and what exists is conflicting

YES! - 79% of policy makers think that policy briefs are valuable communications tools (ODI, SciDev)

NO! - “among the least useful forms of information exchange” (IDRC Think Tanks Initaitive)

Characteristics of effective briefings (Jones and Walsh)

– Authority – the messenger (individual or organisation) has credibility

– Opinion – the presentation of author’s own views about policy implications of research finding

Understanding effective knowledge products

Are policy briefings effective?

Joint research – IDS, 3ie and NORAD

Randomized Control Trial to examine the effectiveness of policy briefing format, and query whether different versions of a briefing bring about different results. 3 treatments plus “placebo”

– Treatment 1 (T1) - A basic 3 page policy brief - allowing us to test for an effect resulting from delivery of information

– Treatment 2 (T2) A basic 3 page policy brief accompanied by an opinion piece attributed to a named sector expert – allowing us to test for an authority effect

– Treatment 3 (T3) A basic 3 page policy brief accompanied by an opinion piece attributed to an unnamed IDS research fellow – allowing us to test for an opinion effect

Understanding effective knowledge products

Are policy briefings effective?

Joint research – IDS, 3ie and NORAD

Findings:

Can policy briefs change the beliefs of readers who held strong prior beliefs?

Can they create evidence-accurate beliefs among readers holding no prior beliefs?

Does presenting the authors own views on the policy recommendations make any difference?

Does this effect increase if opinion is authoritative?

Find out more…

www.bit.ly/ids-ks

www.impactandlearning.org/