Paper: Collaborating for Impact: The Role of Partnerships between Academia, Policy, and Practice to Improve Evidence-Based Humanitarian and Development Action

Paper details

Paper authors Daniel Kiernan Balke, Marie Riquier, Kristina Tschunkert
In panel on Bridging the Gap: Academia, Policy-Making, and Humanitarian Response in Complex Emergencies
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting In-Person / Online

Abstract

This paper explores the opportunities of partnership and collaboration between academics, policymakers, and humanitarian and development practitioners to support evidence-based practice.

Preventing, preparing for, and responding to global humanitarian crises driven by compounding issues like violent conflict, climate change, food insecurity, global inflation and displacement require a whole-of-society approach. However, the gap between academia, policymakers, and practitioners, or between theory and practice, is often described as particularly ‘unbridgable’. This paper focuses on possible solutions, highlighting two key questions:

1.How can scholarly research that is often perceived as detached from practice be ‘put to use’, including making theory, concepts, and empirical evidence more accessible for policymakers and practitioners to enrich their work?

2.What are concrete opportunities to bridge the gap between research rigorousness and realities ‘on the ground’ such as short timeframes and different modus operandi in terms of conducting research as well as constantly changing situations in volatile contexts?

The authors draw on experience working in development banks, donor institutions, policy research institutes and universities to explore these questions with the use of case studies.

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