Lately, I have been contemplating the importance of broadening our perspectives on how we envision the potential future of our field, whether we refer to it as evidence-informed policymaking, knowledge translation, development research, or by any other name, including the use of your native language.
I have facilitated strategic planning for think tanks and have also been witness of an amazing strategic foresight process for research developmentĀ facilitated by STIAS and funded by IDRC. The most powerful moments of these processes have been when we suspended our minds for a while and opened ourselves to other sources of knowledge: body knowledge, intuition, emotional intelligence. In the strategic foresight workshop, we (researchers and those supporting this type of organizations) visited a museum in Stellenbosch to expose ourselves to art and then participated in an artistic ritual to share how we were feeling about the whole collective process of working together to envision a future for research development.

Caption: Strategic foresight participants sitting at a replica of MandelaĀ“s prison before entering a museum to experience new ways of conveying and receiving knowledge
It is there where I truly sensed the potential of an evolution of the field: those exercises opened the door to connect from a different angle with what we call with OTT internal and external thorny issues. These are complicated, sensitive and often controversial problems, which impede effective generation, communication and use of evidence in policy-making.
Art, such as storytelling, provides a direct route to connect research generated through a thorough and high-quality process with additional sources of knowledge that can enhance it, leading to innovative methods of incorporating evidence into policy.
āThere is plenty of science, philosophy and literature pointing to the importance of narrative in human affairs. One way to understand the findings and arguments presented is that people, by nature, are inclined to impose meaning on the world and that when they do, they rely on information shortcuts (heuristics) to develop quick and easy emotional renderings of the world that fit with who they think they are and what they know.ā (Crow, D. and Jones, M. (2018) Narratives as tools for influencing policy change, Policy & Politics, vol 46, no 2).
āFor we dream in narrative, daydream in narrative, remember, anticipate, hope, despair, believe, doubt, plan, revise, criticise, construct, gossip, learn, hate and love by narrativeā
Hardy, 1968
The importance of narratives, discourses and storytelling has already been highlighted in our field (Roe: 1994, Fischer: 2003, Cullerton: 2022, etc.) Moreover, many think tanks have recurred to art to convey their policy proposals (CIPPEC from Argentina, for example, developed the photographic exhibition āMore days to careā in the largest train station of B Buenos Aires to install in the public agenda the importance of extending maternity and paternity leaves). Aidan Muller shows how Theos Think Tank featuredĀ {REAL-LIFE STORIES}Ā for the release of their āGrowing Goodā report which was not expensive to produce and had a significant impact.

Caption: Photograph from the "More days to care" exhibition promoted by CIPPEC at a train station in Argentina
As far as I am aware, we have not yet utilized art and creativity to narrate or visually depict the work, purpose, and methods of those in this field. I ponder the impact of incorporating imagination, emotions, and visual arts into our advocacy efforts. Could we potentially attract a broader audience and garner support from new individuals and organizations by presenting our work in this manner?
At P&I we have an appetite for exploring how to bring artists, creators and innovators to our field. We want to create a space, along with others yearning for innovation and new avenues, to experiment how we could talk about what we do and how we do it using much more of our right hemisphere. I think this would be an experiment that many of the current funders could consider, maybe supporting a group of think tanks from the South to work with artists/content creators and come up with a new narrative that engages many more. If citizens got to know what policy research institutions do, how many policymakers strive within their agencies to foster the use of knowledge in the decisions they or others make, how many CSOs have the needed knowledge to promote significant changesā¦would our present be different?
Comments