VakaYiko Symposium 2016 Policymakers, researchers and civil society from 12 countries discuss evidence-informed policy making in accra, Ghana #VY2016

VakaYiko has worked for the last three years to build capacity for evidence-informed policy making. During this two-day symposium, participants shared their experiences, reflections and learning from the programme.

The meeting kicked off with a session exploring research and knowledge 'systems' and how they link to policy. The session showed that the complexity of the research to policy system means that there are many more stakeholders that need to join the conversation aside from researchers and policymakers. And often these stakeholders are working in silos.

Session one: Taking a systemic approach to getting knowledge into policy

Building networks for evidence use was a big part of the VakaYiko programme. In session two, VakaYiko partners from Kenya, Uganda, Peru and UK, talked about how we can break down the silos and get stakeholders talking.

Session two: Approaches to building networks for evidence use: public engagement and co-creation

Next, we heard from three parliaments working with VakaYiko: Ghana, Uganda and Zimbabwe, about the role of evidence in parliament and how they are strengthening systems for evidence use.

Session three: Evidence informed scrutiny in parliaments

Training for civil servants was one of the most popular capacity building approaches used in VakaYiko. During the programme, we created and tested a new Toolkit for evidence-informed policy making.

Session five: Approaches to training for evidence informed policy making

Day two kicked off with a session on sharing experiences and lessons for future training.

Although VakaYiko is coming to an end, we want to continue to grow our network, to share expertise, experience and contacts. Here we are thinking about how we can continue to support each other.

There was also lots of time for networking!

In the afternoon on day two, the symposium opened up to the public for a forum hosted by VakaYiko partner GINKS. The forum explored opportunities to improve evidence use in Ghana's policy making.

Thank you to everyone who took part in the symposium and joined us online #VY2016

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