A theory of change for capacity building for the use of research evidence by decision makers in southern Africa

Abstract

The effective use of public policy to reduce poverty and inequality in southern Africa requires an increased use of research evidence to inform decision making. There is an absence of clear evidence as to how best to encourage evidence-informed decision making, and how to build capacity among decision makers in the use of research. This paper proposes a demand-focused approach for increasing the use of evidence in policy, presenting strategies supporting 'pull' activities and closer linkages and exchanges between producers and users. The paper shares for discussion a people-focused theory of change for building capacity to use research evidence amongst policy makers in southern Africa. key words research use • knowledge transition • evidence-informed policy • capacity building Why is there a need to increase the use of research evidence to enable reductions in poverty and inequality?

Walking the last mile on the long road to evidence-informed development: building capacity to use research evidence

“…Evidence-informed decision-making in development mirrors the institutionalisation of evidence-based health care. The adoption of the term evidence-informed rather than evidence-based development acknowledges that research evidence remains but one factor influencing decision-making in policy and practice (Stewart 2014).…”

“…The evidence further needs to be taken up by policymakers and practitioners in order to be used to inform development policies and programmes. This third step in the theory of change depends, among other, on the nature of the evidence and much effort has been invested to broaden the methodological scope as well as context-and policy-relevance of evidence products (Bamberger, Rao, and Woolock 2010;Leach 2014;White 2014b;Stewart 2014). The creation of effective communication and transmission channels between evidence suppliers and users is further a key aspect to support the uptake of evidence at a policy and programme level.…”

“…However, most of these programmes have focused on increasing the capacity to supply research evidence ('push activities') as opposed to enhancing the capacity to use scientific knowledge by decision-makers in development ('pull-activities') (Newman, Fisher, and Shaxson 2012;Stewart 2014). One-sided push activities, yet, rarely translate into meaningful evidence use as they neglect the crucial capacities and incentives of decision-makers to engage with research evidence -for example, the ownership of research findings (White 2014b;Goldman 2014).…”

“…One-sided push activities, yet, rarely translate into meaningful evidence use as they neglect the crucial capacities and incentives of decision-makers to engage with research evidence -for example, the ownership of research findings (White 2014b;Goldman 2014). As a result, recent efforts in evidence-informed development were focused on how to build policymakers' demand for and capacity to use research evidence (Newman, Fisher, and Shaxson 2012;Stewart 2014). This article introduces one such effort to capacity building currently piloted with the national governments of South Africa and Malawi.…”

“…This article aims to provide a theory of change for evidence-informed development -that is, the systematic and transparent use of scientific knowledge in the formulation, design, and implementation of development policies and programmes. In particular, it will present an innovative model to increase the uptake of evidence, showcasing a people-and demand-focused approach to build capacity to use evidence currently piloted with national policymakers in South Africa and Malawi (Stewart 2014). The remainder of the article is structured as follows: after a brief introduction to the state of the art in evidence-informed development, the theory of change of how evidence can improve development performance is presented visually and explained narratively.…”