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New Policy Challenges on a Changing Economic Landscape

Brent Herbert-Copley, Director, Social and Economic (SEP) program area.

2006-12

Profile of IDRC's Social and Economic Policy (SEP) program area

The current era of economic globalization has brought high expectations — but also some profound disappointments — to people in the developing world.

Rapid growth, particularly on the part of the robust Asian economies of India and China, contributed to a decline in extreme poverty (at least, as measured in income terms) from 28 to 19% of the world’s population between 1990 and 2002. Despite such advances, the number of very poor people continues to rise in many countries of Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Measured in nonincome terms — for example, access to education, nutrition, and the prevalence of disease — the plight of the world’s poor looks even bleaker, the growth of inequality more stark.

“There’s a sense today that the forces of economic and social globalization alone aren’t enough to lift people out of poverty or to resolve the key social challenges facing developing countries,” says Brent Herbert-Copley, Director of IDRC’s Social and Economic Policy (SEP) program area. “That points to an important role for a more active public policy in the developing world.”

Yet sound public policy is not produced in a vacuum. Several elements are needed to nourish the policy-making process. Access to solid research is an essential element. A culture of consultation and public debate is also helpful.

With these requirements in mind, SEP strives to support economic and social policy-making by pursuing three interlocking goals:

1. helping build research capacity in developing countries;
2. promoting linkages between researchers and policymakers; and
3. stimulating “evidence-based” public debate and discussion.

“[The Social and Economic Policy Program Area] focuses on enhancing the prospects for equitable development in its broadest sense, implying a simultaneous concern for economic growth, poverty reduction, political inclusion, and social justice.” CS+PF 2005 –2010 (PF, para. 72)

Peru’s Consortium for Economic and Social Research provides an example of how all three of those goals can be achieved. When IDRC (along with the Canadian International Development Agency) began supporting the Consortium more than 15 years ago, the aim was to strengthen Peru’s research capacity and provide incentives for researchers to remain in the country during a period of political and economic crisis. In subsequent years, the Consortium has grown from five members to 35. It has reached out to weaker institutions beyond Lima, and has fostered links between the research and policy-making communities.

During the 2006 national election campaign, the Consortium played a key role in Peruvian political life by commissioning a series of research reviews on key issues, ranging from trade negotiations, to employment, to gender equality, health care, and education. That research not only engaged policymakers and political candidates, but also informed a broader public dialogue through public seminars, broadcast media coverage, and publication in the leading Peruvian newsmagazine. Only an institution that had earned a reputation for reliable, nonpartisan research could achieve this degree of input into national debate.

While the Peru Consortium deals with a wide variety of issues, SEP works primarily through four programs that address specific policy challenges.

• The Peace, Conflict and Development initiative examines the roots of conflict and the transition to durable peace.
• Globalization, Growth and Poverty builds on IDRC’s considerable experience with economic issues, such as trade policy and poverty analysis.
• Women’s Rights and Citizenship is a new initiative focusing on gender equity.
• Governance, Equity and Health (GEH) addresses the complex range of factors affecting health policy and access to services.

The extent to which health issues are intertwined with a range of other policy questions is illustrated by current efforts to distribute antiretroviral drugs for AIDS patients in Africa. GEH is wrestling with the question of how this goal can be met in a way that strengthens overall health systems, rather than diminishing capacity to deliver other health services.

Challenges and opportunities

“One of the ongoing challenges is bringing research and policy-making communities closer together,” says Herbert- Copley. “Often that involves taking both groups outside their comfort zones,” building relationships and confidence. The increasing complexity of public policy issues creates real opportunities for bringing evidence to bear on policy decisions. Ultimately, research can stimulate public debate and enhance public accountability. “And that’s really what’s at the centre of the SEP program area.”

Multi-agency collaborations are likely to assume a greater role in the future, offering new opportunities and challenges. Herbert-Copley notes that IDRC is well prepared for this new way of working given its prior experience with networks and consortia. For example, IDRC has been deeply engaged — with CIDA, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and Health Canada — in establishing the Global Health Research Initiative, which seeks to expand Canadian participation in global health research.

“We will be looking at ways in which we can work effectively with our Canadian and international partners,” he says, “to build on that foundation of collaborative research.”

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