Communication is crucial in international development. Sometimes providing information is the most powerful strategy available but communication is often about more than this. Many people argue that better communication is needed, as well as advice and help about how to communicate more effectively.

To help researchers and practitioners communicate better with policymakers, the Research and Policy in Development (RAPID) Programme from the Overseas Development Institute in the UK, reviewed over 100 books and articles on communicating research for poverty reduction. Recommendations from experts have been used to develop 23 practical tools for planning, packaging, targeting and monitoring.

Whether researchers want to inform or influence policy, or simply make their knowledge more accessible and understandable to a wider audience, they need to use the best tools for the job. Researchers usually communicate evidence, information and knowledge to inspire and inform development policy and practice. The RAPID tools aim to help researchers to do this better, once they have thought through why they are communicating in the first place.

Communication, done well, is a two-way learning process, benefiting the ‘sender’ and the ‘recipient’. Too often communication is reduced to just dissemination – telling others what you know. Considering and planning communication processes strategically can ensure that everyone learns and benefits. Planning communications strategies over the long term means that they are more likely to become learning systems. The review of experience revealed some key recommendations:

• strengthen researchers’ communication skills
• aim for close collaboration between researchers and policymakers and continue disseminating development research
• construct an appropriate platform from which to communicate
• strengthen institutional policy capacity to take up researchers’ findings
• strengthen Southern research capacity
• support research networks, especially electronic and/or regional networks
• incorporate communication activities into research project design
• encourage user engagement, map existing information demand and the information-use environment
• promote participatory communication for empowerment.

Communication is about creating social awareness, encouraging public democratic dialogue, contributing to evidence-based policy, building a shared understanding and creating space to hear other voices. In addition to being aware of the issues listed above and using the tools, the following important themes are emerging:

• Approach communications as a systemic issue, linked to economic and political processes in society.
• Improve the conditions for communicating research, including the political environment and socio-economic conditions.
• Help different levels of users to engage in communicating research, particularly with Southern research demand, capacity, and communication.
• Invest in communication for ‘double-loop’ learning – the gradual and indirect impact that research has on learning for all involved.

Source(s):
‘Successful Communication: Toolkit for Researchers and Civil Society Organisations’, by Ingie Hovland, ODI, October 2005 Full document.

Funded by: Overseas Development Institute

id21 Research Highlight: 20 September 2006

Further Information:
Ingie Hovland
Research and Policy in Development Programme
Overseas Development Institute
111 Westminster Bridge Road
London, SE1 7JD
UK

Tel: +44 (0)20 7922 0300
Fax: +44 (0)20 7922 0399
Contact the contributor: i.hovland@odi.org.uk

Overseas Development Institute, UK

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"Why do research findings fail to change health policy?"

"Networking in Africa: using ICTs to exchange research and policy knowledge"

"Bridging research and policy > Critical examination of the current thinking on the research to policy process" GDNet