Influencing policy
Helping researchers become policy entrepreneurs
How to generate evidence-based policy change
Authors:
J. Young (ed); E. Mendizabal (ed)
Publisher:
Research and Policy in Development, ODI, 2009
Donors spend billions of dollars on development research each year, but what is the impact on policy? This Briefing Paper summarises ODI’s work on understanding how policy processes operate in the real world, as part of its mandate to inspire and inform policy and practice that lead to the reduction of poverty. The paper outlines the RAPID Outcome Mapping Approach (ROMA) and presents six key lessons that are essential to any researcher or organisation wishing to generate evidence-based policy change - along with an eight-step approach for policy entrepreneurs wishing to maximise the impact of research on policy.
Key points include:
- researchers and policy-makers are missing chances to turn research findings into lasting change for the world’s poor
- policy processes are complex and rarely linear or logical
- policy entrepreneurs need to be strategic, systematic and flexible in design, monitoring and learning of policy engagement
