Organizing for Policy Impact in Telecommunication: A Framework for Action

Abstract

Policy impact is the ultimate goal of policy research. Different kinds of organizational forms to enable/enhance policy impact have emerged. It is useful to evaluate such organizational forms periodically to evaluate their performance. The ‘organizations’ facilitating the taking of research to policy can range from very loose forms through tightly networked associations of researchers to actual organizations such as think tanks. Communication Policy Research south (CPRsouth) is an Asian initiative to “facilitate the creation, sustenance and continuous advancement of policy intellectuals capable of informed and effective intervention in ICT policy and regulation processes in specific country and regional contexts in the South.” The paper develops and applies a systematic method, based on the theory of change and theories of communication networks, to evaluate the efficacy of CPRsouth. First the theory of change implicit in CPRsouth’s statement of objectives is explicated. The attributes of participants and the results of six policy-impact surveys conducted after each annual conference are used as data sources to evaluate CPRsouth’s performance in relation to its theory of change. The connectedness among the CPRsouth community, measured in terms of co-authorships, citations and informal interactions, is used to examine the organizational form of CPRsouth. The results are discussed in the context of other research conferences and other research-to-policy initiatives, generally, and communication policy research initiatives, specifically. The paper makes a contribution to the state of the art in evaluating research-to-policy initiatives, especially in the field of communication. Distinctions, if any, between developing- and developed-country contexts are identified.