AFRICAN POPULATION AND HEALTH RESEARCH CENTER

Promoting the well-being of Africans through policy-relevant research on population and health

Shelter Afrique Center, Longonot Road, Upper Hill,

P.O. Box 10787–00100 GPO, Nairobi, Kenya

Tel: (+254) 20.2720.400/1-2; Fax: (+254) 20.2720.380

For further information, contact:

Rose N. Oronje, APHRC

Mobile: (+254) 0727 935 844

Email : roronje@aphrc.org ; info@aphrc.org

Policymakers at Population Conference Discuss Using Research in Policy-Making

March 2008

Policymakers participating in the 5^th African Population Conference met on December 13, 2007 to discuss ways of using research in policy-making. The meeting was convened by APHRC to facilitate discussions among Members of Parliament (MPs) and Heads of Population Secretariats on how they planned to use the enormous amount of research evidence shared at the conference and how APHRC and other research institutions could support their efforts.

The meeting was addressed by Dr Eliya Zulu, the Deputy Director of APHRC and the then Vice President of UAPS; Hon Gaudense Kayombe, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Planning, Economy and Empowerment in Tanzania, and Dr Jotham Musinguzi, the Director of Partners in Population and Development (Africa).

Highlighting the importance of using research evidence in policy and practice, Dr Zulu noted that the conference should enable leaders to know where to source for evidence when they need to formulate policies and make decisions. He said that researchers were always willing to assist policymakers in accessing and using research evidence.

In his address, Hon Kayombe said that a key lesson he had learnt from the conference was that while governments concentrated development resources in rural areas, there were large pockets of urban areas worse off in terms of poverty, which need to be prioritized as well. He urged his fellow policymakers to use the conference as a stepping stone to create awareness and ensure that the conference deliberations inform policies and programs in their respective countries.

Dr Musinguzi emphasized the need for all parties to play their roles effectively, noting that researchers have the responsibility of getting research to those that can take action (i.e., policymakers) and that they need to repeatedly share research findings with policymakers in various forums to ensure that the message is heard and acted upon. He also stressed the need to package research evidence in a way that policymakers can easily understand. On the other hand, he called on policymakers to make the efforts in sourcing for and using research in policy processes.

Policymakers attending the meeting, especially MPs, highlighted some of the challenges they faced in using research in their work, including not knowing credible research institutions where they could get evidence, not having research assistants to help them in accessing and interpreting research evidence, and governments not being willing to listen to them. They committed to exploring ways of using the evidence shared in their work and linking with researchers. They asked for the establishment of a network that would link them with researchers, which would make it easier for them to access and use research evidence.