Targeting policy actors

What drives the use of evidence within government?

By 18/11/2016

odi
5 December, 2016 17:30 – 19:00 GMT
This public event in London is free, and is also streamed free online. Watch a recording of the event.

For policy to bring positive change to people, it needs to be informed by the best available evidence and local knowledge. Producing robust evidence is just part of the policy-change story; we need to look at where that evidence is – or isn’t – being used by governments, and why. And while we have seen increasing interest in evidence-informed policy-making, relatively little attention has been paid to the political and organisational challenges of embedding a culture of evidence within government departments.

What are the politics of how research-based evidence is used in policy-making: what factors influence decision-makers? What systems help or hinder research use? And how can the development community support robust evidence-informed policy-making?

Contributing chair

Louise Shaxson @LouiseShaxson – Research Fellow, Research and Policy in Development Programme, ODI

Keynote speaker

Rizal Sukma @KBRILondon – Indonesian Ambassador to the UK

Speakers

Ian Goldman @iangoldmansa – Head of Evaluation and Research, South African Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation

Justin Parkhurst @justinparkhurst – Associate Professor in Global Health Policy, Lo7

Penny Hawkins @penehawk – Former Head of Evaluation, UK Department for International Development

This event is hosted by the RAPID programme.
Working at the interface between knowledge, policy and practice, RAPID occupies a unique place in ODI’s range of expert teams. We are dedicated to improving the integration of local knowledge and research-based evidence into policy-making. We work with researchers, think tanks, civil society, donors and governments to develop capacity for policy influence and evidence-informed policy-making.