Playing the Role of a 'Boundary Organisation': Getting Smarter with Networking

This paper discusses the practices of organisations that cross the boundary between research and politics in an effort to promote evidence-based policies and programmes. It uses the experience of a network of organisations in Africa - Regional Network on HIV/AIDS, Livelihoods, and Food Security (RENEWAL) - to describe the methodology, challenges, and successes of efforts to promote utilisation of research on the interconnections between HIV/AIDS, food security, and nutrition in South Africa. It emphasises that crossing the boundary between science and politics can be done systematically and is inevitable for any attempt that seeks to influence policymaking.

The authors use the concept of "boundary organisation" as a means to understand the methodological underpinnings of efforts to get research into policy and practice. This term signifies organisations that cross the boundary between science and politics and draw on the interests and knowledge of agencies on both sides to facilitate evidence-based and socially beneficial policies and programmes. In order to perform as a boundary organisation, RENEWAL has systematically set out to do more than be a network. Within each country of operation (Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia), locally prioritised action research, capacity strengthening, and communications have "enabled the networking approach to build relationships and trust that have allowed decision makers to access evidence for policy dialogue." Furthermore, in each country, RENEWAL has facilitated the establishment of National Advisory Panels (NAPs), consisting of senior government officials, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and academics with interests in the type of research being supported in that country. The NAPs take different forms, but they are channels to review and spread information from the research projects to relevant other officials and decision-making fora within the country. They also guide RENEWAL on which facets of current research projects are of interest to policymakers in that country as well as research topics that are likely to interest policymakers in the near and medium-term future. The operational ethos is that the process of developing networks is both a means and an end. Networking is necessary to create channels for identifying socio-economic challenges, for determining appropriate investigation, and for sustaining communication and information flows during research and during discussions on the potential and actual uses of research.

The methods section of the paper is divided into two parts. The first introduces the process and approach of the RENEWAL network in order to present operational challenges and successes in promoting utilisation of research on the inter-connections between HIV/AIDS, food security, and nutrition in South Africa. The second part conceptualises boundary organisations in terms of using appropriate literature to give substance to the analysis in the subsequent sections. The method section as a whole emphasises that crossing the boundary between science and politics can be done systematically and is inevitable for any attempt that seeks influence policymaking. One point to emerge here: "A successful boundary organisation serves two sets of agents and is itself the agency which bridges the boundary between them. To fulfil this role, a boundary organisation must have credibility on both sides of the boundary which, in the first instance, is achieved on the basis of engagement and inclusion of interested parties. Thereafter, credibility is maintained by the boundary organisation being acknowledged as an arbiter of the quality and utility of relevant research and its facilitation of an effective flow of information. Adopting a flexible, adaptive approach is essential for a boundary organisation; hence, a 'network' presents itself as one appropriate form for a boundary organisation."

The results section examines the work undertaken by RENEWAL in the period 2006 to 2009. A review was undertaken of project documentation from this period including 3 annual donor reports, various outputs from 4 research projects conducted in South Africa including final research reports and formal publications, and email correspondence between members of the network. Some discussions were held with key members of the advisory group. Amongst the findings:

• "A recurring challenge has been to manage the 'messiness' of engaging with different organisations and the political vagaries of changing political conditions for researchers and policy/decision-makers....[One RENEWAL-funded project] explored the interactions between hunger, HIV and TB [tuberculosis], culminated in a workshop in an urban settlement where the results were shared with research participants, residents, local officials and NGOs. The research results showed widespread co-infection and stimulated vocal criticisms amongst the participants and residents about the lack of effective health service support (e.g. slow time for diagnosis, inexperienced doctors). Subsequently, one workshop resolution was that the project had a responsibility to articulate and demand for better services. Furthermore, community representatives felt strongly that all should march to the offices and homes of local politicians to highlight their concerns. However, some of the researchers raised concerns that the study was being used for a larger political agenda which went beyond the actual focus and results of the study. Nonetheless there was a realisation amongst the researchers that their research had the power to evoke responses much greater than originally expected. In short, this was a case of researchers coming face to face with the difference between the dissemination and the utilisation of research."
• "Another challenge for RENEWAL was dealing with the politics within science...[A]s researchers work together, particularly in arenas as complex as the HIV-Hunger nexus, challenging questions emerge with regard to what is credible and salient knowledge; how does the means of generating this knowledge give it validity; and what type of knowledge should take precedence over others?"
• RENEWAL South Africa has benefited from the active facilitation of discussions amongst researchers and government officials - many examples are provided.
• "RENEWAL has demonstrated how a continuous feedback process back to respondents not only contributes back to community and household level development in AmaJuba District in KwaZulu-Natal but also validates and strengthens the research findings and its relevance. RENEWAL encourages on-going critical commentary and interpretation of research findings as they emerge by different parties, and engagement of researchers with that process, as a means to strengthen the validity of final analyses and to ensure utilisation of them....RENEWAL has found on occasion that its workshops and training courses have been viewed as means for researchers to write more creatively yet, still, to disseminate their findings when they have completed analyses and to avoid engaging with the political facets of their work."
• "RENEWAL has made a general distinction between training on scientific practice and training on thematic knowledge. This is one way of indicating that there are steps between conducting research and using the results. Material has been developed by IFPRI in collaboration with the RENEWAL team and training modules have been made available through the Africa Centre for Food Security."

The authors conclude that "RENEWAL has made a contribution through research projects informed by the networking approach to build bridges between actors, which have fed into broader processes that have led to changes. Examples reveal that researchers have to build relationships with actors that have the capacity to make changes, whether they be civil society or government, which reveals the instrumental value of research and the credibility of the research teams. Thus there is a strong argument for groups hoping to influence policy making to utilise the concept of a boundary organisation, particularly as it helps break down the linear approach to such processes, and helps the understanding of how 'messy' processes can be engaged through networks and alliances."