From 2013-2014, Results for Development Institute (R4D), together with CommsConsult and consultants Ray Struyk and David Olson, supported 13 Anglophone Africa think tanks in strengthening their policy engagement and communications (PEC) strategies. The work, conducted as part of the Think Tank Initiative’s Policy Engagement and Communications program, attempted to help think tanks better translate research into action. Over the course of the year, we saw the struggle that exi

When I found out that TTIX would focus on research quality, I was quite excited (maybe you have seen my previous posts that focus on these issues here and at On Think Tanks). I wasn’t that worried that we were doing so much “research quality” talk, in fact, the frustrating part for me was that the conversations often diluted into other topics, and so it was hard work to summarize key takeaways on the main issue of the discussion.  I took a couple of days after the conference

[Editor’s Note: This post was originally published by Maria Urbina-Fauser, Programme Officer at the Think Tank Initiative IDRC at Research to Action.] “How can we best share the vast amount of data we have on over 40 think tanks around the globe?” This has always been a tough question for us at the Think Tank Initiative. We have struggled with the issue of confidentiality (what can we actually share?); with the matter of usefulness (why would we want to share it?); and finall