GDNet Blog

GDNet reaches out to researchers

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:12:27 +0000

By Maya Madkour – GDNet GDNet is now reaching out to its researchers, letting them know their work has been featured on a number of its regional windows. Part of a strategic decision to cultivate long-term partnerships with its users, GDNet understands the importance of putting a name, and face, to the organization. GDNet staff [...]

“Understanding and Avoiding the Oil Curse in the Arab World”, why this topic?

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:34:43 +0000

At the ERF Conference on “Understanding and Avoiding the Oil Curse in the Arab World”, I had the opportunity to interview Ahmed Galal, Managing Director of the Economic Research Forum about the importance of the topic to the region and the role of ERF in producing knowledge about the important issues of natural resources and [...]

Comment on Some findings on the investment climate and business environment in Africa by Afaceri Mici

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:45:45 +0000

I think it would be great if you could make a video about it.

Comment on “Will not use them. Cannot use them. Web 2 what?” Why aren’t web 2.0 tools being used more for research collaboration? by davidb

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:00:03 +0000

I’m a big advocate and fan of web 2.0 collaborative tools and definitely feel that there would be an added benefit for such tools to be implemented. While the study suggests that there are barriers to adoption of these tools, I think there needs to be some more evidence to suggest that these tools would improve productivity and collaboration. A tough study to design…but I think convincing an evidence based users to adopt something without evidence may be the big barrier.

“Understanding and Avoiding the Oil Curse in the Arab World” was the theme for the ERF & AFESD Conference

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:29:47 +0000

Organized jointly by the Economic Research Forum and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, the conference “Understanding and Avoiding the Oil Curse in the Arab World” was held in Kuwait on January 15-16, 2012 and convened around 100 regional and international researchers. Eleven countries of the twenty-two members of the League of the Arab [...]

Some findings on the investment climate and business environment in Africa

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:58:45 +0000

Once again, I am sharing with you a couple of video interviews I made in Kampala, Uganda at the GDNet-TrustAfrica Policy Workshop held on June 7-8, 2011. Francis Kemausuor, Energy Centre at the Kwameh Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana, presented the findings and recommendations from his paper on “Jatropha biofuels in Ghana [...]

Comment on GDNet-TrustAfrica Policy Workshop by Take away lessons from the GDNet-TrustAfrica Workshop « GDNet Blog

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:52:44 +0000

[...] has been quite a while since I posted the last blog from the GDNet-trustAfrica Policy Workshop held in Kampala, Uganda, on June 7-8, [...]

Take away lessons from the GDNet-TrustAfrica Workshop

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:52:33 +0000

It has been quite a while since I posted the last blog from the GDNet-trustAfrica Policy Workshop held in Kampala, Uganda, on June 7-8, 2011. During the workshop, I have had the opportunity to interview some of the participants about the so-called “take away lessons” from the workshop. I thought of making a blog out [...]

Dr. Justine Nannyonjo discusses communicating research at the Bank of Uganda

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:06:21 +0000

Blog written and posted by Betty Allen on Research to Action I recently co-facilitated a Policy Brief Writing workshop for the Global Development Network (GDNet) and the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) in Nairobi, Kenya. This workshop brought together a specific group of researchers who have produced research papers for the AERC “ICT and Economic [...]

Comment on GDNet-AERC Policy Brief Training Workshop – ICT and Economic Development Project by Accessibility is Key: A journalist’s perspective on communicating research « GDNet Blog

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:37:33 +0000

[...] Global Development Network (GDNet) and African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) workshop on ‘Writing Policy Briefs’ in Nairobi, Kenya, a media panel was held for participants. One of the key speakers during this [...]

Accessibility is Key: A journalist’s perspective on communicating research

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:34:57 +0000

Blog written and posted by Betty Allen on Research to Action There have been a number of posts on Research to Action about researchers and journalists working together to communicate development research. Practical tips on how to target Journalists with your research through Twitter looks at the ways you can utilise social media’s ever-expanding reach [...]

Comment on Policymakers addressing researchers at the GDNet-AERC Policy Brief Training Workshop by zeinabsabet

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 09:19:50 +0000

Thank you Tezira for your interesting comment. And please feel free to share the blog with researchers or any other relevant audience.
As for researchers and improving the communication of their research, this is the aim of our programme “GDNet Research Communications Capacity Building”. Hence, training workshops are organised to help researchers build their capacities in order to communicate more effectively their research to policymakers.
For more information about the programme, please visit:http://cloud2.gdnet.org/cms.php?id=com_cap_buil
Presentations and papers from the above-mentioned workshop are available on: http://cloud2.gdnet.org/~community_groups/GDNet-AERC%20Policy%20Brief%20Workshop

Regards,
Zeinab

Comment on Policymakers addressing researchers at the GDNet-AERC Policy Brief Training Workshop by Tezira Lore

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 08:30:38 +0000

Thanks for this blog post. These are very useful insights from the Kenyan policymakers regarding what researchers, and indeed science communicators, should and should not do in order to effectively communicate their research findings to inform the policymaking process. As a communications officer involved in packaging and repackaging scientific and technical content for various audiences, the comments are very well received.

To my mind, Mr Rotich’s comment that “policy is decided without research…” suggests that, in the Kenyan context, researchers and science communicators have a lot of work to do to improve the communication of research results so that policy decisions are informed by robust evidence from research instead of a situation where research findings are sought out to ‘validate’ a policy decision that has already been taken.

Tezira Lore
Communications Specialist, ILRI

GDNet & AERC: A fruitful collaboration?

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:53:04 +0000

“AERC has from the beginning believed very strongly that research is not done for its own sake. Research is done in order to inform the policymaking process” stated Prof. William Lyakurwa, AERC Executive Director. However, to inform the policymaking process it is essential to make research available to policymakers in a language that they can [...]

A glimpse on the key challenges faced by researchers in communicating with policymakers

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:34:21 +0000

As part of the exercise to build the researchers’ capacities at the GDNet-AERC Policy Brief Training Workshop, I had the opportunity to interview some of the participants on a number of questions related to their research work. Some of them talked about the challenges they face when communicating their research to policymakers, among which: - [...]

GDNet-AERC Policy Brief Training Workshop: Researchers sharing what they learned

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:30:26 +0000

Here I am again writing another post about the GDNet-AERC Policy Brief Training Workshop, held a couple of weeks ago in Nairobi, Kenya. By holding a range of training events and producing training materials, GDNet commits itself to help southern researchers communicate their work better and more widely. Therefore, it is important for us to [...]

Policymakers addressing researchers at the GDNet-AERC Policy Brief Training Workshop

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:51:21 +0000

Communicating effectively is a key to increase the impact of research. This is why GDNet dedicates its Research Communications Capacity Building Programme to help researchers building their capacities in communicating their research effectively with their target audience. Given that policymakers are the main target audience of researchers, an entire building block of the most recent [...]

GDNet-AERC Policy Brief Training Workshop – ICT and Economic Development Project

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:16:07 +0000

I am writing this blog from Nairobi, Kenya, where I am helping run another GDNet-AERC Policy Brief workshop held from 1-2 December, 2011. The workshop is the fourth in a series of research communications capacity building workshops which were held in collaboration with the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) over the past two years 2010-2011. [...]

Comment on “Will not use them. Cannot use them. Web 2 what?” Why aren’t web 2.0 tools being used more for research collaboration? by kamotho

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:51:00 +0000

Yes there is lack of knowledge on the above due to access to internet,personally i have not understood the web2.0 tools i am deeply intrested to know.

The psychology of scarcity: A very different look at poverty

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 06:34:33 +0000

The fifth and last plenary session of the LACEA 16th Annual Meeting was dedicated to “The Psychology of Scarcity: A Very Different Look at Poverty”. Sendhill Mullainathan, Harvard University, delivered a thought provoking a new view on the cognitive capabilities of the poor. He argued that they might seem to be cognitive constrained not because [...]

Steven Berry & Jean Tirole at the LACEA 16th Annual Meeting

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 05:19:42 +0000

“Inversion, Indices and Instruments: Identifying Differentiated Products Demand” was the topic of the third plenary at the LACEA 16th Annual Meeting. Steven Berry, Yale University, held a discussion on how the new economic thinking centered around differentiated products should be taken on and some of its implications. Jean Tirole, Toulouse School of Economics, addressed the [...]

“Productive knowledge” and “the nature of liquidity provision” at the LACEA 16th Annual Meeting

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:05:47 +0000

The LACEA meeting started on Thursday 10th with LACEA’s Presidential Address. The first plenary was dedicated to Ricardo Hausmann, Harvard University, who made a presentation on how wealth and development are related to the ability of a country to make more products, which in turn is based on how many different types of knowledge the [...]

LACEA 16th Annual Meeting – Santiago, Chile

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:13:05 +0000

With almost 40 key speakers and over 300 contributed papers in 101 sessions covering all areas of economics, the 16th Annual LACEA Meeting 2011 will be jointly organized with the 26th Annual Meeting of the Latin American Chapter of the Econometric Society (LAMES) in Santiago, Chile, from November 10th to 12th and will be hosted [...]

Comment on “Will not use them. Cannot use them. Web 2 what?” Why aren’t web 2.0 tools being used more for research collaboration? by Best List of Web 2.0 Resources I’ve Ever Seen- Wiki Web 2.0 Guru « adaptivelearnin

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:49:20 +0000

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Comment on ¿Qué tipo de inversión extranjera se debe promover? :Un Meta-Análisis Vertical de las externalidades de la Inversión Extranjera Directa (IED) by Estudio de inversion

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:22:50 +0000

Agradezco el interesante post que me aclara algunos puntos de vista sobre la inversión extranjera, una vía para la diversificación de la economia local y su valorización, siempre dentro de los parametros de una politica estatal consecuente.

“Will not use them. Cannot use them. Web 2 what?” Why aren’t web 2.0 tools being used more for research collaboration?

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:52:01 +0000

GDNet study explores the barriers to adoption of web 2.0 tools for research collaboration in developing countries By Cheryl Brown Blogs, wikis, social networking sites and other web 2.0 tools have enormous potential to facilitate collaboration. But to what extent are researchers actually using them to support networking, working with and exchanging knowledge with other [...]

Comment on Sessions recordings by Toalama Bruno FAYAMA

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:57:16 +0000

following conferences yes, but reposition of african countries after global economic and financial crisis migth be possible if the voluntee exist. This, because those who have possibility to invest in a certain sectors to rise up it, if they don’t try how can be the issues?. Understand now why with big potentiality in ground and over ground the development is low.How african states mobilize their ressources is important to study for real change in economic background, where others estates are linked.

PEM Asia Research Communications Workshop

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 03:33:11 +0000

Being influential requires you to be clear who you are trying to influence! As basic as this sounds, it is often the reason why researchers fail to make a bigger impact with their work. GDNet’s ongoing research communications capacity building workshops explored some of the tools to help researchers analyse and target stakeholders recently. The [...]

GDNet/BLDS Scoping Workshop

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:56:00 +0000

Understanding the information literacy needs and Exploring how to build Southern researchers capacity to access and use information In collaboration with the British Library for Development Studies (BLDS), GDNet organized a scoping workshop for its team, including the Regional Coordinators covering its regional windows: Africa, MENA, South Asia, East Asia, CIS, CEE and Latin America. [...]

GDNet reflects on the challenges for building capacity in knowledge management in Africa

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 12:40:18 +0000

Article by GDNet featured in the latest issue of the World Journal of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development As the knowledge management and research communications arm of the Global Development Network, GDNet’s purpose is to help diverse research and policy audiences make better use of development research from the Global South. It does this through [...]

Comment on GDNet-AERC Research Communications Workshop by Global Development Awards and Medals Competition | Climate Himalaya

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 03:54:06 +0000

[...] GDNet-AERC Research Communications Workshop (gdnetblog.org) Rate this: Share this:FacebookLinkedInTwitterEmailDiggRedditStumbleUponPrintLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. Environment, Opportunities, Urbanization Economic development, Global Development Network, Poverty, Urbanization, West Wing [...]

Comment on Using knowledge to improve policy influence by Strategy | laboratory

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 15:55:56 +0000

[...] Using knowledge to improve policy influence (gdnetblog.org) [...]

Comment on ABCDE 2011: A critical perspective on African growth and economic development by Nema Mathieu KOLIE

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 10:28:27 +0000

My comment a bout the critical perspective on African growth and economic development.
As an African Inventor and President of African Center of Adapted Technology Promotion,
I can say that there is no developpement outof Peace in Africa.

The best way to developpe Africa is to improve new technologies and food preservation in Africa.

All Africans must to jouned toghter for food preservation and conservation post recolt.

Africa has a good potential ressorces but its not developped.
We must to work heard to improve our economic.

Comment on Expanding the reach of financial services by Expanding the reach of financial services (via Global Development Network Blog) | Latinoamérica…puede

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 21:49:08 +0000

[...] Expanding the reach of financial services (via Global Development Network Blog) Publicado el abril 21, 2011 por Lat-Am…puede The discussion held during the session, Financial Crisis and Financial Inclusion: What we know, and what can be done? shed light on potential alternatives for financing development in a post-crisis scenario. The event showcased various case studies from Latin America and Asia on policy options carried out to promote credit access to a wide … Read More [...]

Comment on Expanding the reach of financial services by Expanding the reach of financial services (via Global Development Network Blog) « 54pesos

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 21:40:53 +0000

[...] 21/04/2011 by Luis Flores Ballesteros The discussion held during the session, Financial Crisis and Financial Inclusion: What we know, and what can be done? shed light on potential alternatives for financing development in a post-crisis scenario. The event showcased various case studies from Latin America and Asia on policy options carried out to promote credit access to a wide … Read More [...]

Comment on The emerging landscape of development finance: the Bourguignon perspective by Financing development in a post-conflict world: The new agenda « Global Development Network Blog

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 11:00:59 +0000

[...] Read the related post The emerging landscape of development finance: the Bourguignon perspective [...]

Comment on 12th GDN Annual Conference: Major coverage of the opening ceremony in local media by Optimismo colombiano en la apertura de la conferencia de GDN « Global Development Network Blog

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 09:21:13 +0000

[...] en una mejor situación económica. Además puso una cifra a su ambicioso plan de crecimiento, para el deleite de la prensa, por encima de 5% [...]

Comment on ‘Context is King’ in bridging research and policy by Enrique Mendizabal

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 10:42:56 +0000

It’s a shame blogs sometimes hide the richness in these stories. For a more in-depth analysis of the research policy linkages in Ecuador, Colombia and Chile you might want to try this book (including a chapter by Orazio): http://bit.ly/9qJs5v it is in Spanish but there is a summary in English.

For an ever more captivating study on the Chilean case, I encourage you to read James Puryear’s account here: http://bit.ly/eNEkAq

The role of think tanks is a particularly interesting one -and in fact one that Orazio’s chapter in the book on think tanks in Latin America focuses on. I have made some contributions to this here: http://bit.ly/faXLUw

Comment on The emerging landscape of aid by ipeanddevelopment

Sat, 15 Jan 2011 21:07:59 +0000

Great poset thanks. Still Milner made the claim that states would rather channel aid via IOs.

Comment on Financial Inclusion for Development: How to get Banking to the Poorest? by eustace emeka amuka

Sat, 15 Jan 2011 12:40:13 +0000

The paper is a true reflection of the facts as it relates to the economies of developing and transitional countries. However, in as much as these are facts, there are now more mitigating factors that will compound the situations in these economies, and these emanated from the recent global financial/economic crises.
Most developing and transitional countries, lack the requisite capacity to undertake the fundamental restructuring that will effectively impact on their national economies. Pauper city of capacity are multidimensional in such places.
For instance there are clear evidences of insufficient cash to back up even well intentioned policy decisions,furthermore, the issue of political will and human resource inadequacies, and finally coruption are sure constraints.
The most problematic, is the globalization of the crises. With most of Europe requiring loan to forestall economic collapse, to where do such developing countries look for capacity enhancement and support?.It will be a very slow process, but the best approach will be indigenising the transitional agenda, so that it will not face disruption from externally induced financial instability.