Making research evidence matter

Feeding into the growing interest in developing advocacy capacity, this guide provides a basis to understand the experience and challenges of successful research-based advocacy in transition contexts, best practice in planning and conducting such advocacy campaigns, and an accessible advocacy planning tool to allow practiconers to apply these insights to their own policy advocacy efforts.

The authors Eóin Young and Lisa Quinn from the International Centre for Policy Advocacy reflect on research evidence in the policymaking progress, introduce different policy advocacy approaches and at its heart, lead you through the Advocacy Planning Framework (APF). This framework can help think tanks to design their research strategies, plan interactions with key stakeholder and sharpen their message.

This is a preview of a chart showing the advocacy roles of various nonprofit institutions. You can read the online version of the full guide here or download the PDF below. 

This is a graphic from the guide on the nature of debates around a policy decision from the chapter "How does research feed into decisionmaking once issues are on the agenda?". You can read the online version of the full guide here or download the PDF below. 

This guide was published by the Open Society Foundation, 2012. 

Eóin Young is facilitating a session during the Think Tank School 2025 on effective policy advocacy.