Strengthening Research Quality for Policy Engagement in Africa

1. Strengthening Research Quality for Policy Engagement in Africa   "Assessing the quality of policy-relevant research in the African context - metrics and indicators for research into use“ By Eugenia Kaitesi ED , IPAR-Rwanda

2. Overview • Citations and hits determine quality of Academic research published in journals • Metrics to assess the quality of Policy research are different • Policy research is intended to have impacts on policy as an output and is supposed to impact the lives of people as an outcome • Metrics should include changes /impact on both policy formulation and policy implementation

3. Examples of Metrics/Indicators • Changes in policy formulation in PRSPs • A program to improve Sexual reproductive health for Historically Marginalized people HMPs after an HMP Assessment • A reduction in tax incentive to FDI and more budget reallocation to health and education • A program to promote customer care after a customer care research study.

4. Timing of engagements with policy makers • Aligning Research themes with the development priorities • Policy think tanks need to engage policy makers earlier on in the research process i.e. during problem and research question formulation phase in order to deal with the issues and problems that are relevant for the policy makers. • Thereafter, policy makers should be engaged at all stages of the research through meetings like deliberative forums, where research findings are discussed and recommendations agreed upon by all stakeholders. • That way research quality and policy uptake will be higher.

5. Getting Good balance between own research and commissioned projects • Although there are competing demands for think tanks to generate income, there must be a quiet period in which local researchers read widely and work on own research projects • For one to conduct and write good quality research, they must be able to read the literature widely. • One of the key metrics or indicator for this would be the number and time allocated to own research projects within local think tanks- own research

6. Continuous Research Capacity Development • Hiring Competent directors of research and Senior Research fellows to nurture young researchers to do good research over time • Internal training for local researchers has to be problem or case based • skilled research associates from the north should be co-opted in order to work with local researchers on research projects in hands-on manner • upgrading of skills, transfer of skills etc • Building capacity of Researchers to publish in international Journals and follow research ethics

7. North-South Research Partnerships • North to south research partnerships should not only take the shape of local researchers collecting the data and providing local context to the northern-based researchers. • Northern-based researchers should facilitate to local researchers to collect data, analyse it and provide policy recommendation which take into account the local context in which the recommendations are to be implemented

8. Research Networking • Local research partnership with national and international practitioners are key to improving the quality of research for policy uptake. • International bodies like the World Bank, UN agencies ,and international NGOs usually have global experiences on research methodologies and findings • Policy think tanks should also develop good networks with universities and think tanks in the region including AERC, IDRC research project networks, CSAE oxford conference networks, JPAL, EASST. • Such experiences once incorporated into local research can greatly improve both the quality of the research and the visibility of local policy think tanks at national and international level. • In addition, these partnerships provide intensive peer reviews of the research done by local researchers which then improves its quality . • The number of projects done under North -South research partners or with international development practitioners is a key metric and indicator to improving research quality for policy engagement

9. Internal and external Peer review mechanisms • Local policy think tanks have to nature a strong culture of internal seminars and workshops through which local researchers internally review the work of their peers. Such regular seminars promote learning from one another • The purpose is to use these networks to attract strong international researchers to partner with local researchers on projects. • Technical Advisory Commitees and other Advisory committes should be active in advising on the Resarch