1.    Study conducted by Gambia Economic and Social Development Research

Institute and Educational Research Network for West and Central Africa on the extent to which social policy development in The Gambia is informed by research evidence.

Introduction

This research was predicated on the assumption that there may be some deficiency in the national policy-making process in The Gambia (with regard to social policy development), in that the process does not sufficiently link research to policy development.  Established policies may have been driven instead by global trends, structural adjustment, and international aid agencies (as they make policy reforms a condition of aid).  Arguably, planners need reliable and valid relevant information otherwise they might respond to immediate political pressures or goodwill; whilst Aid agencies on the other hand emphasize the important role of relevant information in confirming and reinforcing their investment strategies.  In point of fact, the demand for such information surpasses by far the existing capabilities for the access, retrieval, organisation, interpretation and overall use of complex research data. 

In The Gambia, building research capacity is being promoted through the University and the Educational Research Network for West and Central Africa (ERNWACA) and the Gambia Economic and Social Development Research Institute (GESDRI). ERNWACA and GESDRI have wide experience in conducting research and it is against this backdrop that the National Commission identified ERNWACA to conduct this research under the 2006-2007 UNESCO Participation Programme. 

Methodology

The study was in two stages.  At the first stage, a baseline survey focused on the organisational framework for Social Policy Research in three social sectors, namely, Education, Health and Agriculture (Social Dimensions only).  The survey sample consisted of 25 organisations (10 Government organisations and 15 non-governmental organisations), across the three sectors.  At the second stage, the focus was on conducting 25 case studies of social policy development, over the past 10 years or so, in these sectors. 

For the baseline survey, a senior manager in each of the 25 targeted organisations completed a relevant, structured, pre-coded, questionnaire, and was subsequently interviewed individually about the various factors that can influence the policy-making process.  The case studies were based on the questionnaire, interview data, and documentary data that were collected about the social policies developed during those 10 years or so in the three sectors.

 
Key Findings

For 14 of the senior managers, the “most important” influence on social policy Development was the Professionalism of the sector staff.  However, half of this number of senior managers also thought that their social policies had been driven by global policy trends.

Only 48% of the senior managers acknowledged the influence of Research Evidence in the policy-making process, and even fewer (10%) attributed the legitimacy of their social policies to research findings.  Moreover, very few (4%) acknowledged the influence of the media on the policy-making process and none acknowledged the influence of pressure groups. 

When questioned about the type of research activities in which the sector staff were “most often” involved, 52% of the senior managers claimed that it was surveys — whilst none claimed that it was ethnographic studies.

Turning to the documentary data about the social research policies as such, it emerged that in all the sectors the policies had different “trajectories” and were developing at different rates.  Thus, on the one hand, the education sector had only recently created a new Department of State for Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology with responsibility for co-ordinating the review of policy for all research activities across the sector, while research was “dormant” in the Department of State for Basic and Secondary Education, an organisation which is highly experienced in commissioning/sponsoring research projects but does not yet have a well documented research policy. On the other hand, the research policy text of the Department of State for Health & Social Welfare and of the Department of State for Agriculture and Natural Resources are both comprehensive and impressive, but there is little evidence of social research having been undertaken in their respective sectors. 

Two more findings were singled out as very important.  One of these was that the University of The Gambia had already established bilateral partnerships with various organisations (through Memoranda of Understanding) and could therefore be expected to play a crucial role in social policy research.  The other finding was that some of the local non-governmental organisations were branches of large international organisations and therefore simply implemented the social policies that originated from their parent organisations.

Recommendations 

The following emerged from the research findings and fall under three groups:

CENTRAL GOVERNMENT:

■     At the sector and/or Department of State levels: Research Divisions, Research Committees, Research Partnerships, Research Funding, and Research Capacity Building be established

■     Setting up of a National Council for Socio-economic Policy Research

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS:

■     The Registration and Governance of NGOs for such organisations,

■     A Code of Practice for the organizations be developed.

■     Research Collaboration with other organizations be established.

THE UNIVERSITY OF THE GAMBIA:

■     The development of a Gambianised curriculum for the Social Sciences, drawing on local research findings,

■     The Resources for research be increased

■     Consultations on the lines of further development for Social Policy Research at the University