Achieving and Sustaining Evidence-Informed Policy Making: Effective Communication and Collaboration Can Go a Long Way

Abstract

Increasingly, decision makers are recognizing the value of evidence in formulating sound and sustainable policies. More researchers have also become concerned with ensuring that their evidence reaches policy makers. It is emerging that researchers and policy makers do not speak to each other as much as they should. This commentary shares examples of how population researchers and communications experts have collaborated to overcome the research-to-policy gap and to connect policy makers with research evidence.

Keywords

policy makers evidence communication policy making evidence-informed policy making EIPM research collaboration decision making

Increasingly, decision makers are recognizing the value of evidence in formulating sound, sustainable policies that will achieve their objectives. More researchers have also become concerned with ensuring that their evidence reaches stakeholders who can use the information for decision making. In fact, the issue of communicating research to policy makers took center stage several times during a conference held in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Institut Supérieur des Sciences de la Population (ISSP) at the University of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso in July 2016.

The conference was organized around the theme “Rethinking Training and Research in Population in Africa in the Light of New Paradigms and Methodological Approaches.” The conference provided an opportunity for scholars, development partners, and members of the civil society from Africa and beyond to reflect on the future of training and research in the population field.

During a session on communicating research to policy makers led by the Population Reference Bureau (PRB)¹ and the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP),² much of the conversation focused on the fact that researchers and policy makers do not speak to each other as much as they should. As a result, relevant evidence generated by researchers tends not to reach policy makers, and policy makers tend not to reach out to research institutions to generate policy-relevant evidence. Participants in the PRB- and AFIDEP-led session on communication identified researchers’ failure to synthesize complex research into key messages that are palatable for policy makers as a key barrier to evidence-informed policy making (EIPM). EIPM is an approach to formulation of policies that seeks to ensure that policy makers consider the best available research evidence in decision making (WHO (n.d.); Lavis, Oxman, Lewin, & Fretheim, 2009).

AFIDEP and PRB have both sought to bridge the gap between population research and policy making in sub-Saharan Africa. This commentary shares specific examples of how population researchers and communications experts have collaborated to overcome the research-to-policy gap and connect to policy makers with research evidence.

The Policy-Making Context in Africa and the Barriers to Use of Evidence in Policy Making

Generally, researchers, advocates, and policy makers believe that the use of evidence to inform policy is essential. However, there are several barriers that hinder this in reality. For instance, the formulation of most policies in African countries is often based on political expediency, values, or ideology (Broadbent, 2012). Furthermore, political interests drive policy debates, and where evidence is used, it is often flawed. Additionally, policy makers also adopt “best practices” from other countries without taking into consideration the applicability to local contexts (Cronin & Sadan, 2015). While these policies may have effectively addressed challenges in the contexts in which they were formulated, success in other contexts is not guaranteed.

Other barriers to the use of evidence in policy making include poor timing, unclear research findings, mismatch between evidence and current policy issues, policy makers’ inability to receive information, and researchers’ inability to communicate relevant findings (Brehaut & Juzwishin, 2005; Brownson, Royer, Ewing, & McBride, 2006; Crewe & Young, 2002; Kathryn, Innvar, Lorenc, Woodman, & Thomas, 2014; Lee, 2016). Scholars have specifically identified poor presentation and communication of research findings to policy makers as one of the key barriers to bridging the gap between research and policy (Stone, Maxwell, & Keating, 2001). In some instances, policy makers do not view research evidence as being of importance to their decision making. Translation of research evidence into understandable findings and effective communication of those findings to policy makers, therefore, are central to the success of efforts to cultivate a culture of EIPM. Without the clear communication of research findings, there are limited ways research will inform policy.

Furthermore, research findings are often tucked away in peer-reviewed journals, most of which have subscription requirements and may not be read by busy policy makers. In addition, data collected for research purposes may not be available to government agencies. Even more important, the advances that researchers have made in how to collect information efficiently may not trickle down to organizations charged with routine data collection for policy purposes. This means that data and relevant research are sometimes not readily available to policy analysts. For example, a study conducted by AFIDEP in 2015 assessed the context and status of research use in policy formulation at the Ministry of Health in Kenya and found significant limitations in the evidence used in development of the Kenya Health Policy (2014-2030). AFIDEP’s study revealed that government systems established for data collection were not optimal, leaving large data gaps that made sound analysis nearly impossible (Ministry of Health & AFIDEP, 2016). Due to the missing data, analysts made many flawed assumptions that affected projections used in formulating the policy.

Exacerbating the limited use of evidence in policy making is the fact that policy makers are sometimes biased against research findings. The conversation at the ISSP conference also revealed that policy makers in Africa are sometimes wary of the intentions of agencies funding research on the continent. They question whether data generated are reliable, and as a result, some do not use it to inform their policy making.

Stories of Change: How Researchers and Communications Experts are Helping Bridge the Research-to-Policy Gap in Africa

Research provides information that helps the world understand its most pressing problems and provides clues as to how those problems might be addressed. Furthermore, in studying cause and effect, research provides information on what interventions, programs, and policies can produce the most desirable outcomes. Evidence can help ensure that policy makers maximize their resources and do what is most likely to have the desired outcome. Without an evidence base, policy makers could simply be guessing about where to invest precious resources and may not achieve what they intend to. The following section includes examples of how communication and collaboration between population researchers, communications experts, and policy makers contribute toward EIPM.

Researchers Build Capacity for Data Utilization in West Africa

The Center for Economics and Applied Finance Research (CREFAT) at the University of Thiés in Senegal has led work to advance stakeholders’ understanding of the intersections between population dynamics, such as population growth or decline, and economic development across West and Central Africa.

As part of its effort to advance consideration of the change in population age structure in countries’ development planning in the region, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) recommended that CREFAT provide technical assistance to countries in the region. Between September 2015 and May 2016, CREFAT conducted workshops with approximately 125 civil servants and national experts from 14 West and Central African countries. The workshops demonstrated techniques for demographic dividend³ analysis to country teams with members drawn from ministries of health, education, development, finance, and other offices.

CREFAT researchers themselves recognized the importance of communicating results of analyses to policy makers. They hoped to offer policy communication training in addition to conducting analyses, but they also acknowledged their lack of expertise in this area. CREFAT therefore approached PRB to provide policy communication training around the theme of the demographic dividend.

PRB conducted a policy communication workshop on the demographic dividend for CREFAT research associates. This intensive training covered how to craft a message and structure a presentation with a target audience in mind. All workshop participants reported that they learned new techniques that they could use in their work, and many have already used these presentations at professional meetings where both researchers and policy makers have been present.

CREFAT’s research assistance accelerated work necessary to complete country-specific National Transfer Accounts analysis of income and consumption by age for each country. These data have compelling stories to tell about how difficult it is for young Africans leaving school to find jobs that pay enough to support themselves, about how on average women earn much less than men throughout their lives. The data also tell stories on the effects of drought on livelihoods and migration. Efforts to communicate these results, however, remain relatively undeveloped.

Nonetheless, with the assistance of UNFPA communications staff and some collaboration with PRB, the analyses are informing current policy debates and took center stage at a high-level briefing on the demographic dividend held in Dakar, Senegal, in June 2016. More recently, in 2017, a country representative from Mauritania, working with CREFAT and PRB, presented results in a session on gender and the demographic dividend at the Gender Pre-Summit for the 28th African Union Summit. This has been a true collaboration of policy makers, researchers, and communication intermediaries.

Researchers Communicate Policy-Relevant Findings in South Africa

In 2008, researchers from the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU), University of Cape Town, and their partners from the University of Michigan began a project to analyze the connections between adolescent fertility, educational attainment, and health outcomes in South Africa. Their findings had the potential to inform policy and program development in teen pregnancy prevention and protective services for teen mothers and their children. The same year, some departments within the South African government expressed concern over the lack of research that would help them address teen pregnancy, an issue of both health and economic concern.

With financial support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the SALDRU team was able to bring their research to policy makers. With the support of Baird’s Communications Management Consultants, SALDRU identified and engaged specific government stakeholders who would be interested in SALDRU’s ongoing research. In preparation for the meeting with stakeholders, the research team participated in a messaging workshop facilitated by communications and advocacy experts with the Children’s Institute at the University of Cape Town.

The researchers met with the key stakeholders to share preliminary research findings and discuss how these findings might be translated and used to support policy discussion, focusing on summarizing the results in a simple and nontechnical manner. The stakeholders largely responded positively to the outreach efforts, expressing interest in the full research results and agreeing to a series of follow-up presentations.

After a series of presentations and production of policy briefs summarizing key research results and messages for policy makers, SALDRU was invited to join the National Teenage Pregnancy Partnership (NTPP)—a coalition of nongovernmental organizations, advocacy groups, researchers, and South African national government departments concerned with advancing the sexual health and rights of young women. SALDRU participated in two NTPP meetings in 2013, with one of the research team participating in NTPP’s statistics working group.

Beyond engaging with NTPP, the SALDRU research team continued to share the policy relevance of their research and to learn about issues important to policy makers. Engagement with stakeholders helped make SALDRU's work more policy relevant and increased government interest in results. At a planning workshop with key stakeholders, SALDRU received guidance on what challenges confronted stakeholders in family planning programs. They also learned about the importance of timing and variation in the roll-out of the National Adolescent Friendly Clinic Initiative.

In turn, the planning workshop led to additional opportunities to consult with the loveLife program and the South Africa Health Information Systems Programme, an organization that designs and maintains a database system to collect health service provision data for every public health facility in South Africa. These organizations are also potential consumers of SALDRU research results.

The SALDRU team also produced two policy briefs that connect data on youth-friendly services and teen childbearing to policy. The policy briefs were enthusiastically received by stakeholders from the planning workshop and have been widely cited in newspaper articles, reaching a broad audience that includes other policy makers.

AFIDEP’s Role in Setting the Demographic Dividend Agenda as a Blueprint for Africa’s Transformation

In Africa in general, the demographic dividend paradigm has garnered a lot of traction due to evidence from the experience of East Asian countries (Asian Tigers) showing the additional economic growth that may be achieved if countries reduce fertility and invest in their human capital, specifically ensuring quality education and gainful employment.

The potential associated with change in population age structure combined with policy action has motivated the development of several frameworks at the regional level in Africa to support harnessing of the demographic dividend, resulting in a continental initiative. The frameworks include the 2013 Addis Ababa Declaration on Population and Development in Africa Beyond 2014; Harnessing the Demographic Dividend: The Future We Want for Africa (African Union Commission, 2013); the Common African Position on Post 2015 Development Agenda (African Union, 2014); the African Union’s Agenda 2063 (African Union Commission, 2015); and the First Ten-Year Implementation Plan (African Union Commission, 2015). These frameworks were developed after the realization that investments made in the youth today (both current and future youth), who represent Africa’s greatest asset, will determine the development trajectory of the continent over the next 50 years and position it toward realizing the “Africa We Want.” AFIDEP has been involved in development of these frameworks, including advocating for the theme of the 2017 African Union Summit to be “Harnessing the demographic dividend through investments in youth.”

Since 2012, AFIDEP has been involved in advocating for the adoption of the demographic dividend as a development framework to achieve socioeconomic transformation in Africa. Through collaboration between AFIDEP and UNFPA, research evidence, at both country and regional levels, has been generated to support the potential dividend that can be accrued from investing in human capital development. Comparison was made with the Asian Tigers to demonstrate how African governments can spur socioeconomic development in their countries if they adopt similar policy and program action. The communication of the concept about population age structure change through visual aids such as population pyramids and projected growth in per capita income helped policy makers understand what it means to have less child dependency burden and more working-age adults.

Furthermore, in collaboration with UNFPA, AFIDEP was instrumental in briefing the Malawi President H. E. Peter Mutharika on the demographic dividend and the role it can play in transforming African economies, provided policy decisions and investments remain consistent with the required population structure and human capital development.

President Mutharika, who is now a demographic dividend champion, has engaged other African presidents through the United Nations (UN) and regional African Union forums on the demographic dividend concept and its potential to transform Africa. President Mutharika, has convened several forums on the demographic dividend, including the High-Level Consultative Meeting for Heads of State and Government on Demographic Dividend and Investing in Youth, held alongside the Sustainable Development Goals Summit in September 2015. His advocacy has contributed to African Heads of State and Government acknowledging the role the demographic dividend can play in transforming the socioeconomic landscape of the continent.

Following this high level consultative meeting in September 2015, African leaders signed a Communique committing to drive the continent toward harnessing the demographic dividend in line with the aspirations of Agenda 2063 and the Common African Position (CAP) on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, which emphasize investments in the rights and capabilities of women, girls, and young people in order to spur accelerated and sustained economic growth and development in Africa. The leaders also committed to creating a coalition of Heads of State and Government open to all African leaders in order to facilitate combined efforts toward harnessing the demographic dividend and strengthening investments in youth.

In addition to leading the Africa-wide commitment among leaders, President Mutharika has taken steps to enact the social and economic development of Malawi following a study on opportunities for the country to harness the demographic dividend. In collaboration with various stakeholders, AFIDEP led a study in 2015 to estimate the magnitude of the demographic dividend that the country could harness if it invested in various policy options (Government of Malawi, 2016). The President urged his ministers to ensure implementation of the recommendations. Specifically, AFIDEP synthesized available research evidence on Malawi’s prospects for harnessing the demographic dividend, and the key messages were packaged in policy briefs in simple and concise language. The research findings were also shared with other policy makers at a national dissemination forum in Malawi in order to further stimulate a national conversation on moving the demographic dividend agenda forward.

AFIDEP Generates Political Commitments to Achieve the Demographic Dividend in Africa

AFIDEP has worked in several other African countries to generate evidence on the potential socioeconomic development than can be achieved if countries invest in developing human capital and bringing down the child dependency burden by reducing the number of children per woman.

Uganda’s president, H. E. Yoweri Museveni, is a good example of how credible and robust evidence can change the mind-set of policy makers and influence policy change. President Museveni, who has for a long time been known for his support of a large population, has come forth and stated that a large, poor, unhealthy, and uneducated population is a challenge to the economy. At the launch of the study report Harnessing the Demographic Dividend: Accelerating Socioeconomic Transformation in Uganda (Republic of Uganda, 2014), President Museveni noted that a large population full of unhealthy peasants who cannot read or feed themselves is of little value to the country. President Museveni noted that he was happy that conversations on linkages between population and development were finally focusing on how countries like Uganda can take advantage of their population dynamics to accelerate socioeconomic transformation. Pointing to the successes of countries with large populations like India, China, and Brazil, President Museveni indicated that Uganda needs to invest in education, health, infrastructure development, and job creation, in order for the country to reap the benefits of having a quality population, which includes harnessing a demographic dividend.

This declaration is seen as a turning point for President Museveni, and his words have resulted in a major advocacy campaign for harnessing the demographic dividend in Uganda. The country is in the process of developing a road map that will guide the implementation of the interventions recommended in the demographic dividend report. The country’s second National Development Plan identifies harnessing the demographic dividend as a development strategy, and clearly highlights how challenges brought out in the demographic dividend report will be addressed to maximize on the demographic dividend achieved.

President Museveni’s change of position culminated in his declaration at the 69th UN General Assembly that Africa is emerging from the long night of decline. He stated that in Uganda, the country has laid the road map for harnessing the demographic dividend to achieve socioeconomic transformation and development.

Leading up to the culmination of President Museveni’s mind-set shift, AFIDEP and UNFPA collaborated with Uganda’s National Planning Authority in briefing the President on the study findings and what this meant for Uganda’s socioeconomic development. The framing of the messages on “why now” were key as the findings also revealed the outcome of a “business-as-usual” approach where policies and programs did not change. The result would be that Uganda would continue to lag behind as the rest of the continent progressed, and achieving the country’s Vision 2040 would be a pipe dream.

Communication of Research Evidence Can Influence Policy Change

The need for research evidence to find its way into policy-influencing spaces cannot be overstated. For instance, events usually held during the African Union Heads of State and Government Summit provide opportunities for policy influencing. Researchers or their intermediaries such as communications experts may be called upon to present key findings relating to current socioeconomic challenges and the corresponding policy implications and recommendations. Policy makers want to effect change based on the best available information. Without access to or understanding research results and their implications, policy makers are not in a position to deliberate policy issues from a well-informed standpoint. Communication of research evidence to policy makers therefore, becomes a critical tool to enhance their capacity to make sound decisions for the benefit and transformation of society.

There have been efforts to ensure that research informs policy making, but uptake is still low. ISSP, for instance, has been instrumental in improving sexual and reproductive health programming in Burkina Faso. However, although some of the research findings have been used in policy making, there has been more policy-relevant research generated that has not been used to inform policy making. The need still exists for strategies that can aid researchers to communicate research evidence to policy makers in order to influence policy change and/or formulation.

Some of the suggested researcher-specific strategies include the following: engagement with government standing committees (national councils), expert briefings to policy makers, science policy cafés, and presentation of evidence to cabinets. Furthermore, training researchers on policy communications will be useful. This will ensure that researchers are not only skilled in undertaking research but also have skills to effectively engage relevant audiences on their study findings. As some of the researchers pointed out at the ISSP conference, rethinking an education curriculum is no small feat, but change begins with identifying problems and potential solutions. In addition, government investments in research and analysis can augment efforts undertaken by researchers.

Conclusion

The communication of research to policy makers in order to cultivate a culture of EIPM is not an easy task. As demonstrated in the literature, there are several other factors that influence the policy-making process. Furthermore, policy makers do not always find research relevant to their decision making. However, collaboration among researchers, communications experts, and program implementers can level off most of the obstacles. Working with national development agencies such as ministries of finance and planning is a critical entry point in engaging policy makers as this collaboration opens the doors for researchers, communications experts, and other intermediaries. Effective communication of research evidence for policy influencing therefore, ensures that policy makers and other critical stakeholders in development are not passive recipients of research evidence, but active participants in the bid to bridge the research-to-policy gap. Furthermore, the synthesis of complex research into simple and concise messages further aids in working toward getting research into policy-making spaces. The journey to getting research evidence into the hands of policy makers and getting it considered for policy formulation requires constant effort characterized by effective communication and strategic collaboration.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP) completed activities discussed by Diana Warira and Eunice Mueni in this article with funding from One UN Fund, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), specifically UNFPA East and Southern Africa (ESARO), UNFPA Malawi and UNFPA Uganda; and the Institut Supérieur des Sciences de la Population (ISSP). Elizabeth Gay and Marlene Lee completed activities discussed in this article and the writing of this article with funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Grant #2014-1029.

Notes

Author Biographies

Diana Warira is a communications officer at the African Institute for Development Policy with over 8 years of experience in development communication. Her work is mainly focused on communication of research on population and development to nonacademic audiences such as policy makers, program implementers, and the general public, among others. She has an interest in how research evidence and data feed into public policy-making processes in Africa and how communication can facilitate the formulation of sound policies.

Eunice Mueni is a knowledge translation officer at the African Institute for Development Policy. She is a Demography and Public Health researcher with over 8 years of experience in research, conducting systematic reviews and meta-analysis of health care interventions. She has extensive understanding of the GRADE process of appraising the quality of evidence of primary research studies, which she has applied in several systematic reviews she has conducted. She is also a fellow of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars.

Elizabeth Gay is a senior policy analyst at the Population Reference Bureau. She leads the development of policy-focused events and synthesizes research on reproductive health and economic outcomes. Prior to joining the Reference Bureau, she led advocacy efforts to improve availability of and access to modern contraceptive methods in the United States.

Marlene Lee is a senior program director and director of the Secretariat for the Population and Poverty Research Network at the Population Reference Bureau. She currently works on the relationships among population dynamics and economic development, the demographic dividend, and labor force dynamics.

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