Abstract:
This paper puts the relevance of research into perspective in the policy-making, formulation and implementation context. It points out that there are differing policy goals to sustainable development and the use of research might be vital for one element. Although the debate on the use of research results for policy decision-making and implementation processes is not new and its features have changed over time, the issue has gained greater prominence in recent decades following the major processes of world change that increasingly call for concrete evidence to support or challenge the innovations that are implemented in a variety of contexts, including legislative policies and systems.
Viable and appropriate policies are necessary for sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction. Policies are made by policy makers the persons bestowed with the power, either by citizens or a group of people in a society, to make decisions. However, research should provide an important input in policy decision making, formulation and implementation. It shouldn’t be taken for granted that the relationship between research and policy is straightforward, with good research, policy design will tend to be more relevant and their results are likely to deliverer the desired impact in the country. Why is it that more often policy making isn’t research based? This paper responds to the question raised by those who wonder how better use can we make out of research in the policy-making, formulation and implementation process?
The findings point to significant gaps in the research to policy to practice pathway, particularly in achieving sustainable development in developing countries with a focus on policy research. A considerable part of this thinking addresses the problem from a more traditional perspective, which regards research results as depicts the decision-making process simplistically and linearly, and thus restricts strategies to the suiting of the research.
