Abstract
This article sets out a perspective from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) on the challenges of achieving research uptake. Two country case studies are presented from India and Uganda, which explore research projects under the Economic and Social Research Council ESRC-DFID-funded Raising Learning Outcomes programme. These case studies focus on relationships between the key stakeholders that enable policy debate relevant to the funded research. They are not a direct assessment of the impact that this research has had. Rather, this article explores the messy and iterative processes that DFID advisers are engaged in within the networks that they are embedded (and those that they are not), the way that they use partnerships to access evidence and promote it into policy debate, and the other drivers that matter. This article is important as a contribution to ongoing efforts to improve the quality and usage of education evidence in low-income contexts.
Highlights
Identifying the Qualities of Research–Policy Partnerships in International Development – A New Analytical FrameworkJames Georgalakis and Pauline RoseRethinking Research Impact through Principles for Fair and Equitable PartnershipsKate Newman, Sowmyaa Bharadwaj and Jude FransmanPathways to Impact: Insights from Research Partnerships in Uganda and IndiaRachel Hinton, Rona Bronwin and Laura SavageExploring Partnerships between Academia and Disabled Persons’ Organisations: Lessons Learned from Collaborative Research in AfricaMaria Kett, Mark T
2 Theoretical framework We have developed a conceptual framework based on our wider experience of international development both from within and outside of Department for International Development (DFID), and work with the Raising Learning Outcomes (RLO) programme
Sabates highlights the work of the Annual Status of Education Report as an example of citizen-led research making policy impacts: ‘It has been informing policy in India and informing the learning crisis globally. It has had an incredible impact in terms of how policymakers are responding to what they see in terms of learning levels in schools.’27 One result of this, according to Sabates, has been the adoption by six Indian states of Teaching at the Right Level Methodology
Summary
Demand for evidence in education is growing. Countries across the globe recognise that education has the potential to unleash talent and support wider development. The study explores economic approaches to implementation at scale to determine value-for-money impacts on pupil learning and teacher performance in African schools Researchers from both projects based in Uganda shared their experiences in relation to pathways to impact, in addition to representatives from DFID Uganda and a member of the National Examination Board working closely with the Ugandan government.. Bangay worked in close partnership with the local advisers, and benefited from their social capital His engagement in government processes demonstrated commitment beyond his own programme: the establishment of such informal relationships seems to have been key to open up space for policy dialogue. Both research teams noted that time to support government officials outside the remit of the research was important, arguing that this was key to building the social capital and trust required when it came to dissemination of their own findings: Once the collaboration is going, you need some easy way of communication... It has had an incredible impact in terms of how policymakers are responding to what they see in terms of learning levels in schools.’ One result of this, according to Sabates, has been the adoption by six Indian states of Teaching at the Right Level Methodology
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