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Do like Adam Smith: Ride the train with your policymaker (as often as possible)
Some of the arguably most fundamental, longest-lasting changes in the world economy resulted from the policy influencing efforts of an...
Clara Richards
Apr 15, 20143 min read


Lesson #14: It is not easy to keep people engaged after a specific training activity: we need to re-
At Spaces for Engagement, after organizing some face-to-face regional conferences to foster knowledge exchange and debates among leading...
Clara Richards
Apr 8, 20142 min read


The politics of capacity building for greater research-policy linkages – a reflection on Lesso
[Editor’s note: This post was written by Catherine Fisher and it reflects on the paper ‘Lessons Learned’ by Vanesa Weyrauch. Catherine is...
Clara Richards
Apr 8, 20144 min read


Lesson #13: Looking deeper at the harvest of face-to-face capacity building events
As we shared in Lesson #12 the programme Spaces for Engagement departed from a deep conviction about the value of creating opportunities...
Clara Richards
Apr 3, 20142 min read


Power and ideology are the keys to communicating research
[Editor’s Note: This post is a reflection on the webinar ‘Nevermind the research piece! Communicating in Policy Environments’. It was...
Clara Richards
Apr 1, 20143 min read


Lesson #12: Let’s meet face to face but knowing what for!
Although at P&I we have already argued about the advantages of online training (see here and here), and have found some colleagues...
Clara Richards
Mar 27, 20142 min read


Lesson #11: the longer we walk together, the deeper we will change
Longer CB processes provide with more opportunities to assess how capacities and skills are built; capacity developed through online...
Clara Richards
Mar 11, 20142 min read


Lesson #10: the many advantages that online courses brought about
Online courses have enabled us to efficiently reach a wider and more diverse audience, ensure longer processes to share knowledge in a...
Clara Richards
Mar 3, 20142 min read


Openness to continuous learning: one of the most important leadership skills
[Editor’s note: This post is part of a series that brings together reflections from a year-long leadership strengthening programme that...
Clara Richards
Feb 24, 20142 min read


How to improve your capacity to write proposals: Grupo FARO’s Committee for Project Approval
[Editor’s note: This post has been written by Adriana Arellano, from Grupo FARO, who are participating of a mentoring project with ASIES...
Clara Richards
Feb 10, 20143 min read


A researcher in search of a policy maker: reflections on the sustainability of a project aimed at li
The programme “Spaces for Engagement: using knowledge to improve public decisions” (SFE) is a six-year joint initiative by Global...
Clara Richards
Jan 28, 20143 min read


Lesson #8: Invest time in building an integrated approach for your capacity building efforts
It is worth investing time in designing an integrated approach to capacity building (CB) which reflects your main principles in terms of...
Clara Richards
Jan 21, 20142 min read


Lesson #7: Try to assess how much potential participants of a capacity building activity are genuine
Our seventh lesson is that usually the success of a capacity building activity is very tightly linked to the degree of real interest...
Clara Richards
Jan 14, 20143 min read


Lesson #9: Engaging others in co-producing knowledge strengthens capacity building
Opening up the field of work to a large and diverse universe of individuals and organisations enables the co-production of knowledge that...
Clara Richards
Dec 31, 20132 min read


Protocol for case study writing
[Editor’s note: This post introduces a new material produced by Anne Lan K. Candelaria for Politics & Ideas. This case study protocol...
Clara Richards
Dec 19, 20131 min read


Lesson #6: Understand context and participants to select the right incentives
However, before delving into these it is important to note, like Alex Ademokun did in this post, that individual and organisational...
Clara Richards
Dec 17, 20133 min read


Capacity building -from our Topic Guide
[Editor’s note: This post is the last one of a series that introduced our Topic Guide. Please feel free to check the insight our Topic...
Clara Richards
Dec 12, 20131 min read


Challenges in Practice – Thoughts on ‘Lessons Learned’ (Part 2)
[Editor’s note: This is the second post by Alex Ademokun reflecting on the recent Politics & Ideas paper ‘Lessons learned promoting links...
Clara Richards
Dec 10, 20133 min read


Lesson #5: Criteria for selecting participants: link them with the scope, nature, goals and guiding
This reflection is part of the 20 lessons included in the paper Lessons learned on promoting better links between research and policy in...
Clara Richards
Dec 3, 20135 min read


Challenges in Practice – Thoughts on ‘Lessons Learned’ (Part 1)
[Editor’s Note: This post is the first of two by Alex Ademokun, who manages the Evidence-Informed Policy Making programme at INASP.]...
Clara Richards
Nov 27, 20134 min read
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