Robust research and analysis are the foundations of effective development policy and programming. Without accurate and insightful information and analysis, policy makers and implementers are less likely to make the right choices and are less able to track progress. But solid research and analysis is not enough to deliver effective development outcomes. To be effective, research needs to link the latest ideas and debates to the realities on the ground. Research findings need to be tailored to their audience and linked to key decision making processes.

theIDLgroup has developed a reputation for innovative and high quality applied research and policy analysis. Our consultants have been at the cutting edge of applied development research in a number of key areas including: the political economy of change, rural livelihoods approaches, and innovations in livestock service delivery, social protection and safety nets, community driven development, social dynamics of conflict and rehabilitation. 

theIDLgroup's consultants are not only skilled researchers, we are experienced development practitioners. We know what kind of information and analysis can contribute to evidence-based decision making. We are also accomplished communicators. Our consultants have built a reputation for conveying complex research findings in a manner that ‘leaps off the shelf’ to inform development policy and practice.  

Our applied research and policy services include:

FIELD-BASED RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS: Donors, multilaterals, NGOs and governments regularly commission theIDLgroup researchers to conduct complex field-based research and analysis. We have developed a reputation turning this bottom-up research into practical policy, programme and policy advice for our clients.   In 2006 and again in 2008, the World Bank and DFID have commissioned theIDLgroup to conduct a field-based assessment of the effectiveness of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP), an innovative social protection programme providing assistance to 10 million rural Ethiopians.

SYNTHESISING CURRENT KNOWLEDGE AND BEST PRACTICE: theIDLgroup's consultants are regularly called upon to synthesising current knowledge and experience into policy and strategy papers for donors and multi-lateral agencies.

DEVELOPING CAPACITIES FOR ACCOUNTABILITY AND VOICE:

• UNDP’s Oslo Governance Centre commissioned theIDLgroup to draft a policy paper exploring the latest thinking on accountability and voice mechanisms for participation in public service delivery in Eastern Europe and CIS countries (2008)
• ‘Leveraging Private Sector Research’, a strategy paper for the UK Department of International Development’s (DFID) Policy Division. Part of the realignment of DFID’s research strategy, the paper proposes a range of public-private mechanisms through which DFID might stimulate pro-poor private sector research in agriculture, human and animal health, engineering and other areas. DFID, Central Research Team (2005).

POLITICAL ECONOMY ANALYSIS: theIDLgroup has built a reputation for conducting political analysis at all levels from the grass roots to the international level. Much of this work has been carried out in fragile and post-conflict environments. Recent examples of our applied political research include:

• Strategic Governance and anti-Corruption Assessment (SGACA), Pakistan and Ethiopia: Piloted the SGACA process in Pakistan and applied it in Ethiopia for the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The SGCA process supports more effective and strategic engagement of the Netherlands’ Embassy in governance and anti-corruption and contributes to the Embassy’s multi-annual strategic planning process. Process included drafting a Power and Change (political economy) analysis and planning and facilitating workshops for key national and international stakeholders. Will provide ongoing support to the SGACA process in other countries throughout 2008/09.
• Ethiopia Drivers of Change theIDLgroup conducted a Drivers of Change analysis exploring the relationships between state and citizen in Ethiopia, particularly the links between citizen voice and state accountability. The analysis provided an understanding of when, where and how citizens are able to make demands on the state and when and why the state is willing and able to respond. To inform DFID’s Country Assistance Plan.(2006)
• Drivers of Change in Sierra Leone. theIDLgroup conducted a Drivers of Change study for DFID in Sierra Leone. The study aimed to facilitate better understanding of the context for pro-poor change and to identify key operational implications to inform DFID’s Country Assistance Plan. Particular emphasis of the study was on the political economy of public sector reform and decentralisation (2006).
• Why Local Drivers of Change Matter Developed an analytical framework for expanding Drivers of Change analysis to include analysis and engagement at sub-national levels.  Concluded that sustainable pro-poor change can only be achieved if donors are willing to rethink their roles beyond the central level and to find new modes of engagement which cut across, and link all levels: central, middle and local. DFID, Drivers of Change and Urban Rural Change Teams

And finally, facilitating lesson learning events that build the capacity and effectiveness of organisations and their personnel to use research and analysis more effectively.