Tools for Policy Impact: A Handbook for Researchers

Publication date: Friday 11 February 2005

The Overseas Development Institute in London has recently published this 68-page handbook to encourage policy research activism by civil society organisations. The handbook's importance, according to its introduction, stems from the following:
"The changing nature of the international development context has led to an increasing emphasis on the crucial . and as yet not fully utilised . role of civil society organisations (CSOs) in poverty reduction policy. Experience has shown that when CSOs are able to assemble and communicate information effectively, there is a significant and pro-poor impact on policy. The role of civil society is at the moment especially relevant to the large-scale development efforts around democratisation, where strong CSOs are among the .drivers. for democratic change, and PRSPs, where CSOs can potentially play a vital part in the planning process and in the immediate response phase."
The handbook offers tools for research, context assessment, communication and policy influence. It further suggests sources, most of them mainstream and Anglo-Saxon, of further information and guidance.