SELECTED ISSUES FROM IDRC-ISST ROUNDTABLES ON POLICY RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT AND POLICY RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS (GALLE, SRI LANKA JAN 21; PUDUCHERRY, INDIA, JAN 24-5;

KATHMANDU, MARCH 5-6)Ratna M. Sudarshan, Director, Institute of Social Studies Trust, New Delhi

Themes

Overall message: strengthening the policy influence of good policy research in South Asia requires a long term perspective

Creating a conducive environment Raising the quality of social science/

development research Addressing the management needs of

research organisations Communicating for policy influence

Political Context

Impact of coalition politics, and fragile policy consensus, on the demand from government for policy research - India

Challenge of militancy and extreme conflict - Pakistan

Identity and exclusion - Nepal How much space for constructive criticism

or dissent – Sri Lanka Policy research can be 'technical and

managerial‘, 'problem solving mode'; Or strategic research - strengthening may

be much more needed at this level

Quality of Research

Public Domain

Consultancies Work of Commissions and Committees Unpublished reports

Peer review, contribution to public debate, not possible without placing in the public domain

Quality and Research Planning Project dependence restricts ability to

plan strategically Good policy research needs to build on

basic research, ‘policy irrelevant’ research, but funding does not always permit the latter

Linked to human resource planning

Research Quality

Universities and research organisations:

Universities place emphasis on teaching Fresh graduates need orientation for

research Think Tanks have to take on tasks of

training/ teaching, capacity building; the pre-conditions for good policy research

Management Needs of Research Organisations Staffing concerns

Recruitment and retention Compensation and consulting Contract and core staff Overseas educated nationals Individual vs institution

Funding

Limited government funding Funding not available for institution

building – only projects Research agendas may be driven by

donors Competitive bidding can discourage

climate of academic sharing and debate, encourage focus on good packaging over content

Other issues

Quality Generally accepted norms for validation for

policy research needed Culture of Evaluation needs to be

encouraged within institutions Need for multi disciplinary work

Role of Boards

Communicating for Policy Influence No single route, very many ways Role of commissions and committees

important Country differences in policy making

process Networking can sometimes help How measure impact