INASP and Politics & Ideas partner to strengthen evidence use in policy

INASP and Politics & Ideas announce their partnership to deliver a series of capacity development services to strengthen public institutions’ capacity to produce and use knowledge in policy making, including individual skills training, organizational assessment and development of change management plans.

The two organizations have worked together and collaborated in an informal way for a number of years:

• In 2012, Politics & Ideas carried out the review of a capacity development programme on evidence-informed policy
• In 2015, Politics & Ideas, with INASP’s support, developed an online course on ‘leaders of change’ to incentivize the use of evidence in public institutions. This course was initially open to participants in Latin America and was then rolled out to four countries in Africa
• Both institutions jointly developed the Going beyond context framework and practical paper, highlighting key organizational factors that affect evidence use in public institutions in 2016.

“Throughout these projects, we discovered that there are many synergies in how we operate that could be expanded and capitalized. We are delighted to have forged a strategic partnership to enhance each other’s strengths and increase how we add value to the research and policy field,” says Julie Brittain, Executive Director at INASP.

“We are looking forward to working with researchers, policymakers, capacity- development experts, donors and others passionate about the interaction between knowledge and policies,” says Vanesa Weyrauch, Co-founder of Politics & Ideas. “We are delighted to open a new chapter of our work with INASP by co-creating innovative mechanisms and processes, technically sound and politically savvy, and continuing to build on what emerges.”

A call to government agencies wishing to participate in an opportunity to improve the use of knowledge in policy, through the application of a new diagnostic tool, will be launched on 12 June.

About Politics & Ideas

Politics & Ideas: a think net is a Southern-led space and joint initiative of researchers and practitioners to co- produce and share innovative and relevant knowledge linking ideas and politics in developing and emerging economies.

About INASP

INASP is an international development organization working with a global network of partners in Africa, Latin America and Asia. In line with the vision of research and knowledge at the heart of development, INASP works to support individuals and institutions to produce, share and use research and knowledge, which can transform lives. INASP promotes equity by actively addressing the needs of both men and women across all our work and addressing issues of power within the research and knowledge system