By Ricardo Ramirez, DECI-3. Rick Davies has provided us with a refreshing review of the challenges with Theories of Change and the evaluation consequences. His report focuses on the use of theory of change for evaluation purposes. He emphasizes participatory design to create ownership, something that will sound familiar to many readers. And yet, in [...]
By Ricardo Ramirez, DECI-3. An April 2016 report entitled The Science of Using Science: Researching the use of research evidence in decision-making (by Laurenz Langer, Janice Tripney & David Gough, EPPi Centre, University College, London) provides a ‘review of reviews’ of the literature of evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM), plus a scoping study of the research reported [...]
By Ricardo Ramirez, DECI-3. Oxfam From Poverty to Power Series released a February 2018 item by Graham Teskey entitled “What makes adaptive management actually work in practice?” , first appeared on the Governance Soapbox. The following is an excerpt: Thinking and working politically (a phrase that reflects the adaptive management theme) means four things: Being [...]
By Ricardo Ramirez, DECI-3. A November 2017 collection by Palgrave Communications provides examples of the politics of evidence-based policy making. The overview by Professor Paul Cairney (Univ. of Stirling, UK) emphasizes the importance of confirming how and why policy-makers demand information, and about the policy-making process itself. This strategy requires skills in knowledge translation and [...]
By Ricardo Ramirez, DECI-3. All DECI partners are in the business of conducting research with a practical purpose: namely influencing policy so that impact can be manifested at scale. Most research teams are well aware of the policy context; they live in it and have ongoing contact with its protagonists and the many intermediaries. The [...]