Research for Impact

Welcome to Research for Impact. In week 1, we introduce the Research for Impact approach and its elements. You will learn more about the ASSAR research project and the ‘wicked’ problems that the project attempts to tackle. You will also get a glimpse into the complex systems within which the project work takes place. Transdisciplinarity is an important theme in the Research for Impact approach, and so we discuss its role in addressing wicked problems such as climate change adaptation. Chandni Singh and Hillary Masundire share their personal experiences around using the Research for Impact approach to bring change in their communities. We also hear from students, researchers and practitioners about why the Research for Impact approach is an important aspect of their own research.

In Research for Impact, we are always working towards some kind of positive change. But how does change happen in complex systems and how can we plan our research activities to bring about this change? This week’s expert, Marta Arranz who works as Oxfam’s Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Lead, helps us explore these difficult questions and introduces us to the Theory of Change, Impact Pathways and other tools that will help us to develop a roadmap from the beginning of our research toward the change we are planning for. Since projects do not always go to plan, we consider monitoring and evaluation as an important aspect of planning for change. We look at revisiting and adjusting our planned activities as we learn from experiences to improve and increase the impact of our research activities. Mark Tebboth and Alemayehu Zewdie share their experiences of doing research in East Africa and provide us with practical examples of how to plan for impact.

A key principle of the Research for Impact approach is that we move away from doing research ON people and start doing research WITH people. This encourages us to think carefully about how we can most effectively engage with those affected by, or who may influence the outcomes of our research. How can we develop partnerships that will move us closer to achieving our research goals, and what are the considerations for identifying stakeholders? This week, Daniel Morchain who is the Senior Advisor in Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience at Oxfam leads us though considering these questions and more. We also learn about different methods of engagement and what we can gain from these processes. Daniel also discusses the challenges and opportunities of working with issues of powers and politics and what sensitivities we need to be aware of when engaging with diverse groups of stakeholders. For a more practical perspective, Prince Ansah from the University of Ghana and Chandapiwa Molefe from the University of Botswana, share valuable insights from their experiences working with stakeholders and forming important partnerships to achieve their research goals. As you may have gathered, using the research for Impact approach also comes with challenges and we hear from researchers and practitioners about how they addressed some of these challenges in their own research projects.

Different stakeholders have different languages, cultures, and interests and so we need diverse communication approaches in order to effectively communicate with them. In this week, communications expert Prathijna Poonacha Kodira, who is a consultant for the Indian Institute for Human Settlements, explores the process of moving beyond research dissemination and using the information and evidence that we have to deliver impactful messages to various stakeholders. We learn how to develop communications strategies with impact in mind by asking five simple questions: Why, Who, What, How and When. Prathijna also introduces the important roles that knowledge brokers play in ensuring that research findings reach the right people at the right time in a language and format that they can use. This week’s case study is led by Kwasi Appeaning Addo, who demonstrates how using drone footage of floods in Ghana has not only been an effective form of communicating research findings but has also influenced change.