The Impact Lab

What makes impact work?

The Impact Lab seeks to strengthen links and create dialogue by providing an outline of the issues and clear lessons for knowledge practitioners, donors and researchers. 

Find out here how to enable change through social science research or read more about why the Impact Lab was set up.

 

Above: Pamela Mason, ESRC highlights how research evidence can influence change.  This short playlist includes interviews with: Pamela Mason, ESRC; Arjan De Haan, IDRC; Diana Dalton, DFID; and Thokozile Ruzvidzo, UNECA.  Interviews took place at the 'Power of Partnership: Research to Alleviate Poverty' conference, December 2018.

Additional publications and resources published as part of the Impact Initiative, including outputs from the individual projects enabled through ESRC-DFID's Joint Fund for Poverty Alleviation Research and Raising Learning Outcomes in Education Systems Research Programme, are available from the Impact Initiative collections which are stored in the IDS OpenDocs repository.

Impact stories

Impact Initiative impact stories highlight the overall impact of projects funded within the ESRC-DFID Strategic Partnership, showcasing a rich source of development research evidence which will appeal to audiences beyond academia.

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Impact story

Outsourcing Primary Education in Liberia Leads to Mixed Results

Following contracting out of government primary schools to private companies in Liberia, researchers have examined the effects of these partnerships and how the schools deliver (or fail to deliver) better outcomes.
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Impact story

Improving Early Childhood Education in Rural Bangladesh

Research in Bangladesh demonstrates how early childhood programmes could be effectively adapted for implementation at scale, using locally available resources and infrastructure.
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Impact story

Reforming Higher Education Teaching Practices in Africa

Innovative research is enabling changes to teaching practices that support the development of students’ critical thinking skills in sub-Saharan Africa.
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How to enable impact

Resources to help you generate impact

More resources from the Impact Initiative.

Edited collection: 

First-hand accounts of impact to action which focus on how to institutionalize best practice and lessons. The collection reflects a range of experiences (both negative and positive) and includes in-depth case studies and featured authors. This collection draws on what is common, as well as unique, across different sectors and perspectives. Contributors include researchers, funders, practitioners and policymakers

The social realities of knowledge for development

Analysis of the critical challenges faced by organisations and individuals involved in evidence-informed development through a diverse set of case studies and think pieces

Where to get funding for impact

Learning guides: 

A series of Learning Guides which draws on the lessons for successful impact.

Each Learning Guide identifies replicable approaches to effective engagement in a particular area previously identified as a potential barrier for impact

© JB Russell /Panos Senegal, Diagho.

Opportunities, Ownership and Tailored Outputs: How to respond to demand for evidence

Cultivating demand for evidence to influence policy and practice for greater research impact

Engaging research with policy and practice

How to engage research with policy and practice to strengthen decision-making

G.M.B. Akash/Panos

Strengthening Networks and Building Relationships to Increase the Impact of Global Development Research

Strong networks and relationships contribute to greater impact of global development research