A presentation by Rachel Hinton as part of the Cohort Research for Programme and Policy panel discussion at the International Symposium on Cohort and Longitudinal Studies in Developing Contexts, UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti, Florence, Italy 13-15 October 2014

1. Research uptake
DFID learning from experience
Rachel Hinton
Research and Evidence Division (RED)
Department for International Development
October 2014 - UNICEF Innocenti Meeting
Thanks for contributions from:
Caine Rolleston, Young Lives
Zaza Curran, GCSD team, RED DFID
Laura Koch, Evidence in Action team, DFID

2. Outline
1. DFID’s research uptake strategy – Evidence into Action
team
2. Stakeholder engagement - Young Lives Programme
3. Capacity building - Harvard’s Evidence for Policy Design
4. Communicating - Global Girls Research initiative
2

3. DFID’s
evidence in
action team
provide tools
to help RED-funded
programmes
to maximise
their impact
The justified sinner, flikr

4. 4

5. STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
1. Mapping stakeholders
2. Tailor research design to meet user needs
3. Interactive discussion of research

6. BEST PRACTICE: YOUNG LIVES
COHERENCE AND RELEVANCE – ADVANTAGE OF LONGITUDINAL STUDY
- Consultation with stakeholders
- Establishment of long term partnerships
COHERENT
AND
RELEVANT
BODY OF
RESEARCH
USED IN
REVIEW PRACTICE
Existing
research &
knowledge
UNDERSTAND
- Policy context
- Evidence gaps
DEFINE
- Research
questions
- Design
- Analysis

8. EDUCATION RESEARCH IN VIETNAM
• Disseminate initial findings to stakeholder group
• Produce research & policy outputs on agreed priorities
• Make data publicly available to Vietnamese and
.
international researchers
• Conduct policy engagement events
• Focus debate and inform policy priorities
.
.
Sustained
Influence
Continued
Engagement
Consultation
• Design instruments in consultation with technical arm
of MoET (VNIES) plus sector stakeholders
• Finalise instruments with technical working group
• Collect data through Government Statistical Office
(GSO) and in partnership with local education (DOET)
and statistical offices (PSO)
• Review gaps in existing data/literature
• Consult Ministry of Education, World Bank, DFID, BTC,
UNICEF, key INGOs on policy issues to be addressed
• Combine government and project policy priorities
• Establish technical working group

10. CAPACITY BUILDING
1. Assess existing capacity internally and
externally
2. Design and implement capacity building
strategy

11. 1. Development of the African Evidence Network - a sustainable
and engaging community for policy makers and practitioners
to discuss and share lessons on evidence use
2. Focusing on the high level decision making process to
improve evidence use by Cabinet Ministers
3. Using innovative online training methods to improve the skills
of individuals to make evidence informed decisions
4. Developing an adapted toolkit which enables civil servants to
take a strategic overview of the evidence base
5. Establishing open policy dialogues between senior civil
servants to promote the use of evidence in decision making
11
Building capacity to use research evidence
(Bcure)

12. Building Capacity to Use
Research Evidence (BCURE):
Data and Evidence for Smart Policy Design
A program to build capacity of policy makers and
practitioners to access, appraise and use rigorous data
and research evidence

13. Overview of Programme Activities
• Rigorous assessment to develop a better
understanding of the barriers to use of evidence and
capacity-building needs
Assessment
• Online modules to train policy makers in how to
apply data and evidence to inform policy decisions Training
• Proof-of-concept projects to demonstrate the
practical value of data and evidence for policy
decisions through hands-on capacity building
Pilot projects
• Workshops on specific policy areas to discuss
existing evidence and build consensus for reform
Policy
Dialogues

14. COMMUNICATING
1. Design initial communication strategy
2. Rigorous synthesis
3. Package and disseminate emerging results

16. 11,212 institutions had access to
32,500 online journals
and there were around 10 million
downloads of journal articles

17. Assessing the
strength of
evidence
17

18. Rigorous synthesis
18

19. Accessible findings
R4D and Open Access policy
• R4D gets 150,000 visits &
100,000 downloads per month.
• Usage has increased by
over 40% since March 2012
(when improved web metrics
established a new baseline).
• 41% of visitors to R4D access it
from a Southern country, 11%
from DAC Least Developed and
Low Income Countries.
• Open access policy in advance
of other Government
departments.

20. Key Research Outreach messages
• Greater emphasis on understanding the political context – especially reforms
that can be researched at scale.
• Assess existing capacity internally and externally and the barriers to policy
reform.
20
• Imperative of early stakeholder engagement to build confidence and local
ownership of the research as well as sustainability beyond one political
regime.
• Inclusive capacity building will drive change.
• Communication of results in a range of formats, conferences and capitalising
on social media enables debate and media attention that can catalyse policy
action.