Engaging policymakers in health research in sub-Saharan Africa

Shifts in research funding priorities, both in the UK and globally, underscore the increasing importance of research that can effectively influence policies, practices, and ultimately impacts health outcomes. This places a strong emphasis on the need for collaboration between researchers and policymakers. In this blog, we provide some tips to researchers involved in projects in Africa on how to effectively engage with policymakers.

Why engage health policymakers?

It is important that researchers understand the reasons for engaging with policymakers. A key reason is to improve the quality of the research so policymakers should be involved as partners throughout the research cycle from asking the research questions to the dissemination of findings. Researchers should believe that engaging policymakers can lead to better and more useful research outcomes. The involvement of policymakers as active partners in the research process not only provides them with an opportunity to provide critical guidance but also ensures that the research results are utilized effectively.

It’s not uncommon for some researchers to hold the belief that policymakers may not possess the necessary understanding of research methods, leading to a reluctance to involve them. However, this perspective needs to evolve. Effective collaboration is an ongoing process that requires the gradual establishment of trust, mutual respect, and the recognition of the value and benefits of cooperation between researchers and policymakers.

Which policymakers should researchers engage?

Policymakers operate at district and national levels within a country, regional levels between countries and at a global level. Some have more decision-making responsibility than others. The researcher must understand these layers and involve policymakers at different levels. In particular, they must identify and reach out to and engage with the policymakers that make the decisions. In some cases, this will be from sectors other than health (e.g. education) or they might be from both private and public sectors.

The Aim: Influence or Inform?

In some cases, the researcher’s aim is to influence policy. In other words, that they wish to persuade policy-makers to take up their research findings, even though they are often not in a position to weigh up the different priorities that policymakers must juggle. The aim of the research should instead be to inform – that is to provide clear objective evidence needed by policymakers for them to make the decisions.

It is also essential that researchers approach health problems with equipoise and are willing to accept findings that are negative (and that therefore might not have any relevance for policy).

Getting policymakers to engage

Building trust and respect between researchers and policymakers is essential to this partnership. This requires openness and for both sides to take time to understand each other’s needs – what will each side give to the partnership and what might they get?

There is a dearth of research in Africa and so policy-makers may welcome any research as they will see this as building capacity. However, they are more likely to engage if they believe that the research is of relevance as well as that the research team will answer the question timely and clearly. Thus, the researcher must understand the health challenges facing a country – for example, as laid out in the national health strategic plans or goals – and have a clear pathway to addressing the priorities of the country.

While research tends to focus on single questions, the policy-makers will usually want to acquire a broader understanding, including the social and economic effects as well as the clinical benefit, say, of any new policy and how any intervention proposed compares with other approaches that might be available.

Policymakers usually want answers rapidly. Research happens slowly. Thus, it is essential that the research questions these partnerships address are those that will remain relevant in years to come.

Connecting with policymakers

A key to accessing African policy makers is through locally-based senior researchers, who policy makers will know and trust much more than researchers flying in from overseas. It is essential that there is a strong and equitable partnership between the UK and African researchers and that this is evident to the policymakers since they may not want to engage where they feel that the agenda is driven from overseas.

Policymakers are very busy and are frequently called by politicians to attend meetings or to attend to pressing issues at short notice. Thus, attending meetings with researchers that are fixed well in advance is often challenging for policy makers and smaller meetings that can be rescheduled easily should be considered to supplement the large meetings.

While an aim of the researcher is to write a research paper, policy-makers may find it more useful to have a short summary written in simple language with minimal scientific jargon that they can read in a short time and circulate to their colleagues, who may also be involved in decision-making.

Conclusion

In African settings, effective partnerships between researchers and policymakers may rapidly generate evidence that informs policy and practice. However, for this to happen, the policymaker and researcher must have a clear understanding of each other’s ambitions, what it is that they each wish to achieve and why.

The GACD team has developed eight top tips for researchers when engaging with policymakers and influencing the policy process. Read the top tips for engaging with policymakers here.

Authors

1. Prof Shabbar Jaffar, UCL Institute for Global Health, London UK

2. Prof Nelson Sewankambo, Makerere University, Uganda

3. Prof Kaushik Ramaiya , Tanzania Diabetes Association, NCD Alliance and Shree Hindu Mandal Hospital