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Working better with INGOs on research. Duncan Green, Oxfam June 2011. First, understand your INGO. Why are we interested in research? What do we mean by the word ‘research’ What does good research look like?. Why are we interested in research? . Impact, impact and, er impact - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Working better with INGOs on research
Duncan Green, OxfamJune 2011
First, understand your INGO
Why are we interested in research? What do we mean by the word ‘research’ What does good research look like?
Why are we interested in research?
Impact, impact and, er impact – Advocacy and campaigns– Improved programme design and delivery
Otherwise, curiosity in short supply?– Often bad at keeping/conserving/valuing
knowledge
What do we mean by the word ‘research’?
Follows from requirement for impact Narrative > data – telling a story Witnessing Catching the eye of press and decision
makers Clear messages in terms of
– Problems– Solutions
Which can mean dismissive of nuance, complexity or ‘two handed’ experts
What does good research look like?
Relevant to public agendas Good review of literature Strongly rooted in poor people’s experience Tackles issues of power and inequality Clear message on problem and solution Killer facts, stats etc for impact Answers deadly ‘What’s new?’ question
Are INGOs any good at research?
Strengths Rooted in
communities and partners
Commitment to participation and action research
Advocate with policy makers
Excellent comms Spot opportunities
Weaknesses Better at qual than
quant Methodology can
be weak Short attention
span Relations to DC
researchers £ and capacity
How can UKCDS members engage better with INGOs? Encourage co-design from inception That means understanding evolving INGO
thinking (luckily herding should make that relatively easy......)
Immediate (0-3 year) herding on......
A retro theme – hunger and resource constraints
Source: WFP
Global ecological boundaries (cannot be shifted)
Consumption share of those living in poverty
Environmental impact of global consumption Reality
in 2010
7 billion
Global ecological boundaries (cannot be shifted)
Consumption share of those living in poverty
Environmental impact of global consumption Vision
for 2050
9 billion
How well do we understand change?
How Change Happens: steady state– What are our theories of change? How well do we
understand, apply or even acknowledge them? E.g. 1: is social/political change mainly urban or
rural? E.g. 2 Discontinuity and shocks
– Emergence and complexity– How do we plan for/respond to the Arab Spring?
What do we measure and why?
Pressure to prove impact and value for money poses threats and opportunities
Threats: we measure what is easy, not what is important, e.g.
– Rights and power – Volatility and Resilience > stocks and average
flows– Poverty v wellbeing – fear and shame– The unpaid and unvalued world
A new global system is being born
Networks & variable geometry (CSOs as well as nations) We won’t like aspects of G8 -> G20
– growth v aid; space for CSOs and Africa Piecemeal global (and regional) government
– International Finance (Robin Hood, tax havens etc)– Environment (> Climate Change)– Trade and investment– Migration– Knowledge– International Humanitarian Law + ICC – Norms (eg via UN conventions)
Technology
Practices v Products Normally Nice Technologies
– Renewables– Low Carbon Transition– ICT– Water conservation
Normally Nasty ones– Geoengineering– Nano– GM (+ nice biotech, eg markers)– Bad medium tech, eg foetal scanners
Gender and almost anything
Almost total lack of disaggregated data e.g. Women in agriculture
Caring economy and its links to the formal economy still largely ignored
Longer term herding likely on
The end of North-South distinctions in– Aging– Urbanization– Domestic Taxation– Social Protection/welfare state– Mental Health– Disability– Obesity/non communicable disease
How well do we understand poverty?
Voices of the poor: ill-being v poverty Multidimensionality beyond health and
education: what about shame and fear? Multidimensional inequality The importance of volatility
– Prevention: smoothing mechanisms– Cure: social protection, countercyclicality
Suggestions for UKCDS members: getting to the grassroots Access to communities works best if The research is relevant to the people and
partners (e.g. Testing new approaches through action research)
The research is properly discussed at draft stage and dissemination locally on publication
Time and direct costs are properly funded You need buy in at country level, where staff
may see things very differently from INGO HQ
Suggestions for UKCDS members:Involve NGOs from the outset Do consult NGOs at the outset and discuss
overlap between priorities Do think about building NGO and partner
research capacity Don’t decide the agenda and then try and
persuade/buy INGOs Don’t say ‘you can do the voices of the poor
bit’ Don’t just see INGOs as a channel to
disseminate research
The Prize
Constant and productive interchange between funders, HEIs and NGOs– Create incentives for better linking between
the 3 groups– Focus on impact and relevance– Build space for collective reflection on
research priorities among NGOs– Built NGOs capacity to understand,
commission and use research (as well as do some)
Thank you! For more random thoughts
From Poverty to Power blog on oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/