Helping Researchers Become Policy Entrepreneurs

From the document: "This Briefing Paper summarises the Overseas Development Institute (ODI)’s work on understanding how policy processes operate in the real world, as part of its mandate to inspire and inform policy and practice that lead to the reduction of poverty. ODI’s Research and Policy in Development programme (RAPID) helps other organisations, and ODI itself, lock together high quality applied research, practical policy advice, and policy-focused dissemination and debate." RAPID is designed to ensure that organisations have the skills, capacities, and networks necessary to engage successfully in policy discussions.

The paper condenses five years of work into six key lessons aimed to support researchers or organisations wishing to generate evidence-based policy change and an approach for policy entrepreneurs wishing to maximise the impact of research on policy. This is known as the RAPID Outcome Mapping Approach (ROMA).

The lessons include the following: "First, policy processes are complex and rarely linear or logical....Treating complex processes in a simplistic manner can undermine the chances of achieving the desired outcome. Strategies must be fluid and able to adapt to changing contexts and to take advantage of policy windows, and effective monitoring and learning systems are essential to keep abreast of the ever-changing dynamics.

Second, many policy processes are only weakly informed by research-based evidence....[P]olicy-makers face difficulties when using research-based evidence because of the ‘Five Ss’: Speed - they have to make decisions fast; Superficiality - they cover a wide brief; Spin - they have to stick to a decision (at least for a reasonable period of time); Secrecy - many policy discussions are held in secret; and finally, Scientific ignorance - few policy-makers are scientists, and they may not appreciate fully the scientific concept of testing a hypothesis.

Third, research-based evidence can contribute to policies that have a dramatic impact on lives....

Fourth, policy entrepreneurs need a holistic understanding of the context in which they are working....ODI has developed a simple analytical framework identifying four broad groups of factors.... The first group - external influences - are those factors outside the context in which the policy entrepreneur is working that affect what happens within it....The second - the political context - includes the people, institutions and processes involved in policy-making. The third group centres on the evidence itself, including the type, quality and contestability of the research and how it is communicated. The fourth – links – includes all of the other actors and mechanisms that affect how the evidence gets into the policy process.

Fifth, policy entrepreneurs need additional skills to influence policy. They need to be political fixers.... They need to be good storytellers, able to synthesise simple compelling stories from the results of the research. They need to be good networkers to work effectively with all the other stakeholders, and they need to be good engineers, building a programme that pulls all of this together. Or they need to work in multidisciplinary teams with others who have these skills.

Finally, policy entrepreneurs need clear intent - they need to really want to do it. Turning a researcher into a policy entrepreneur, or a research institute or department into a policy-focused think tank... involves a fundamental re-orientation towards policy engagement rather than academic achievement; engaging much more with the policy community; developing a research agenda focusing on policy issues rather than academic interests; acquiring new skills or building multidisciplinary teams; establishing new internal systems and incentives; spending much more on communications; producing a different range of outputs; and working more in partnerships and networks. It may also involve radically different funding model."

The document describes and diagrams (on page 3 of the document) the steps of the ROMA approach. It draws on concepts of complexity, on outcome mapping tools developed by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and tools for policy engagement assembled and developed by RAPID. The steps are:

• define a clear, overarching policy objective.
• map the policy context around that issue and identify the key factors that may influence the policy process.
  
• identify the key influential stakeholders.
• develop a strategy to achieve the milestone changes in the process.
  
• ensure the engagement team has the competencies required to operationalise the strategy.
  
• develop a monitoring and learning system - not only to track progress, make any necessary adjustments, and assess the effectiveness of the approach, but also to learn lessons for the future.
  

The document concludes that: "Promoting more evidence-based development policy may not be possible with traditional linear tools and approaches. The systematic, reproducible ROMA steps, which work with rather than fight against complexity, provide effective sets of tools for those looking to translate critical, and often potentially life-changing, research into action for the world’s [economically] poor."