In 2016, INASP and Politics & Ideas (P&I) produced the Context Matters Framework – a lens through which to examine the internal and external context in which an organization is working, identify the main factors affecting evidence use, and provide a way to systematically identify how they manifest in any given agency. It considers interrelated areas to help navigate complexity, so that one can better understand the organization, the blockages and opportunities for positive ch

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Ghana has been working with Politics & Ideas and INASP to apply the Context Matters Framework and Mr. Ebenezer Sampong, Deputy Executive Director for Technical Services at the EPA, told Leandro Echt about the agency’s plans as a result of the findings Why is evidence importance and what are your main challenges? I have been working at the EPA for over 20 years and one of the things I desire is to ensure that our evidence architectu

Emily Hayter, Vanesa Weyrauch and Leandro Echt reflect on working with agencies in Peru and Ghana to help understand how they use evidence in policy Good use of knowledge and research is essential for well-informed policy decisions. We know there are many different contextual factors that affect how evidence is used in policy. Knowing how all these interrelated factors play out in any specific public agency can be challenging—but without a systematic way of identifying the en

[This blog post by Emily Hayter, INASP’s Evidence for Policy Programme Specialist, was originally published at INASP´s blog] Source: INASP It’s been two years since we published our Evidence-Informed Policy Making Toolkit, and research and practice in the EIPM sector continues to develop rapidly. Many new perspectives are emerging, from questions about connecting the evidence and innovation agendas to discussions on the role of citizen evidence in decision making. Of particul

Staff members from three parliaments (Ghana, Uganda and Zimbabwe) are participating in a Learning Exchange programme coordinated by the African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA), as part of the VakaYiko project. The aim is to strengthen the role of parliamentary information support units in evidence uptake by providing a space for peer exchange and support—both ‘learning together’ and ‘learning from each other’. Photo: Participants in the Parliament Learning Exchange (

Courtesy of Alan Levine, under CC at flickr.com After three years, 11 countries, 1, 164 people trained and 26 public engagement events held, the VakaYiko programme led by the Evidence Informed Policy Making (EIPM) team at INASP has come to an end. VakaYiko partners have seen a new Research and Policy Unit established in the Zimbabwe Ministry of Youth, supported Parliament of Uganda’s first Research Week, embedded a new evidence course in a civil service college in Nigeria, an

In 2016, Politics & Ideas published the study “Going beyond ‘Context matters’”, a framework to help government organizations improve their use of knowledge for policy making by understanding context. This knowledge systematization effort was carried out with the crucial help of others: four mentors from Africa, Canada and Latin America, and more than 50 policy makers, practitioners and donors worldwide that have been interviewed by the research team. This effort resulted in 3

[Editor’s note: This post was written by Tanja Jakobi, Media analyst and researcher at CENTAR Public Policy Research Centre, Serbia. It is the ninth article of a series of reflections to share what facilitators and participants learned through P&I’s online course Doing policy relevant research, ran for the first time in the first quarter of 2016.] Let me start with one Serbian joke: “Have you read the book The Bridge Over the Drina?” (written by Ivo Andric, a Nobel Prize Wine

[Editor’s note: This post is part a series produced by Vanesa Weyrauch and Leandro Echt from Politics&Ideas to present the conceptual framework developed under the project “Going beyond ‘Context matters”, supported by the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP). For an overall synthesis of the whole project, visit our interactive product] In our recently launched series about how context at the public institution level affects the generat

[Editor’s note: This post is part of a series focused on sharing findings from the conceptual framework developed under the study “Going beyond “Context matters”, conducted by P&I and INASP. The presented framework intends to be a lens to help policymakers, researchers, practitioners and donors better define windows of opportunity in different public institutions to focus efforts on promoting better interaction between knowledge and policy. In a recent post, we have presented

[Editor’s Note: This post was written by Vanesa Weyrauch and Leandro Echt, from Politics & Ideas, and it was originally published at the Aditi Bulletin of the Center for Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP).] When reflecting about the link between research and public policies, academics and practitioners usually refer to two key actors of this relationship: the researchers and the policy makers. While there is some clarity on the characteristics of the former, we believe th

By Waponi at flickr.com under CC It is interesting to reflect on the use of knowledge in the public sector or the different state organizations that are part of public administration, such as municipalities, utility companies, ministries and also public or state companies. However, it is unavoidable to debate the ways knowledge is poorly used and recognize the stakeholders taking part in its preparation and implementation. The use of knowledge implies a complex scenario. Reso

In 2015, P&I published the case study  The design of the General Directorate of Social Policy Analysis and Evaluation of the Honduran Secretariat of Social Development, by Leandro Echt and Héctor Díaz Romero (only available in Spanish). It focuses on a very interesting experience developed by the Honduran Secretariat of Social Development, which decided to consolidate its operation through the creation of an internal technical agency specialized in social policy design and th

The Peruvian Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion coordinates efforts for the prioritization of public policies that benefit early childhood among the different governmental levels. In 2014, the National Multisectoral Commission for Early Childhood was created and it currently has a Performance Incentive Fund that is allocated throughout the country. The goal of this Fund is to contribute to achieving results regarding Early Childhood Development; besides, regional ev

A change that is becoming a reality during the first years of the 21st Century is the mass use information and communication technology in transforming old processes and methods so as to leverage human knowledge. A recent course developed by Politics & Ideas is a clear example of that — it has trained over 20 public professional in the region through Internet-based technologies for the co-creation of knowledge so that they can improve their ability to use and promote the use

Several and different efforts are being conducted around the globe to promote the use of research in policy. P&I is permanently thinking about ways to contribute to a more fruitful interaction between knowledge and ideas emanating from it and policy. Yet, are we learning enough from those who are hardly working for this on the ground? At P&I we believe there is large and promising room to further systematize what policymakers are achieving (and challenges they are dealing wit

I am currently working as head of transparency and strengthening of information systems projects for the Management and Evaluation area of the Office of Planning and Budgeting, Presidency of the Republic of Uruguay. Within the framework of this work I’d like to share two lessons from the “Leaders of change: developing Latin American policymakers’ capacity to promote the use of knowledge in policy” online course, developed by P&I during April and May 2015. The first lesson is

[Editor’s note: This post originally appeared at Practising Development, managed by the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP). It is part of a series produced by Vanesa Weyrauch and Leandro Echt from Politics&Ideas to share what we learn through the development and conduction of an online course aimed at building the capacity of Latin American policy makers to promote the use of knowledge in policy making.] Selecting a promising group o

If we focus on the key players within the state structure, it is worth mentioning that most public policies are designed by the Executive Branch (more than by the legislative power) and that those in charge are often technocrats working in public administration (more than “politicians”). Among them, standing secretaries, staff officials, special advisors, writers, political analysts, technical consultants, researchers hired by the government, etc. stand out. But while the rol

Information is not incorporated to public policy processes exclusively by experts (whether individuals or organization) or public servants. Far from an elitist view of this process, it is also necessary to consider citizens as significant players when thinking about the processes tending to incorporate information to the decision-making process. On one hand, they become more relevant as users of the information generated by governments and other players. The information provi