Michelle Laurie Knowledge management specialist

Improving our engagement strategies:policy and practice (KS & Learning #2)

South Asia Urban Knowledge Hub12-14 March 2015, Kathmandu

Creating demand…. Gaining attention…..

How?

Process of policy and practice influencing

Who?

What?

1. Define the issue

3. Understand your context

2. Articulate the goal

5. Describe your influence story

4. Identify decision makers, key actors, and relationships

6. Monitor and Learn

Influencing Strategy1

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Review from Sri Lanka (May 2014)

Influencing Strategy?

Supporting Strategy?

Engagement Strategy?

Step 1: Define the IssueWhat challenge are we addressing?

Address the entire issue

Step 2: Articulate the goal and objectives: What change do we want to achieve?

Objectives are outcomes that help achieve the goal (small steps)

A change in:

how evidence informs a particular policy;

how policy actors engage with research knowledge;

prominence of a research theme on the policy agenda;

the way budget’s are allocated for implementation

Step 3: Understand your context

What is the environment for change?

Or CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING!

Monitoring and Evaluation

Agenda Setting

DecisionMaking

Policy Implementation

Policy Formulation

Civil Society

DonorsCabinet

Parliament

Ministries

Private Sector

Adapted from Young, J (2004)

Is policy making simple?

Step 4: Identify decision makers, key actors and relationshipsWho do we need to engage?

Step 5: Describe your influence storyWhat is your process of change?

Factors affecting research uptake

Research uptake and changes in

people’s lives

Effective research communication

Research capacity

Political context and power relationships

Gaps between researchers and research users

Character and credibility of evidence

Slide adapted from: James Georgalakis, IDS

The role of communications in your influencing strategy

What is research communications?

Research communication is defined as the ability to

interpret or translate complex research findings into

language, format and context that non experts can

understand.

DFID

Distillation of findings

Plain Language

Accessibility

(use visuals)

Tailored for Different Audiences

Think beyond dissemination to engagement

Three ingredients of effective communication

Credit: James Georgalakis, IDS

Reaching your audience “channels”

Credit: James Georgalakis, IDS

We will cover:

• Audience

• Message

• Your elevator pitch

• Data visualization

• Media

• Policy brief

Step 6: Monitoring and learning: Improving and adapting our process