I recently co-facilitated a Policy Brief Writing workshop for the Global Development Network (GDNet) and the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) in Nairobi, Kenya.

This workshop brought together a specific group of researchers who have produced research papers for the AERC “ICT and Economic Development” Project and is the fourth in a series of research communications capacity building workshops, which have been taking place globally since 2010.  The researchers came from Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, the Congo, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda and it was incredibly interesting to hear about the different levels of capacity their research institutions and organizations have for communicating the work they carry out.

In the short clip below, one of the workshop participants, Dr. Justine Nannyonjo, Head of Domestic Resource Costs and Index of Agricultural Production at the Bank of Uganda, discusses the challenges she faces in communicating her research. The Bank of Uganda has an in-house communications department and policymaking body, which come together every week to discuss research findings. However, opportunities remain limited for researchers in connecting with these key decision-makers. Dr. Nannyonjo believes that “communicating in the Bank is fairly new” and it must be pushed and encouraged.