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.
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.
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.
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.
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.