| African knowledge networking experts to convene in Ethiopia next week. Press release Addis Ababa, 6 December 2006 (ECA) -- Knowledge networking experts from across the continent will convene at the Addis Ababa headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) on 12-13 December for the third Africa Knowledge Networks Forum (AKNF 3). Organized by ECA, the two-day meeting will focus primarily on strengthening the effective use of indigenous policy-oriented research and analysis by African decision-makers in the content, process and outcome of policymaking and policy targeting. This shall be accomplished through a three-pronged approach. The first involves a close look at the accomplishments of and challenges faced by research institutions and the African Diaspora in sharing knowledge for development. The second approach is to assess the experiences of African researchers and the challenges they face in having their research applied in policymaking. The third is to determine the way forward and the specific steps that ECA can take to strengthen its role in knowledge for development. The meeting will bring together researchers from African institutions such as the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA), Economic Policy Research Center in Uganda (EPRC), and Centre Ivorien de Recherches Economiques et Sociale (CIRES). Experts from various African universities and international organisations will also participate in the Forum. AKNF was established by ECA in 2000 and envisaged as a demand-driven, capacity building initiative that aims to facilitate knowledge-sharing and research partnerships among professional networks and the African Diaspora, as well as between them and key knowledge end-users, including policy makers, trainers at institutions of higher learning, civil society organizations and the private sector. Conceived as a network of networks, AKNF has been designed with the aim of strengthening indigenous policy-oriented research and analysis for more effective use by African decision-makers. In that context, a key aim of the AKNF 3 is to contribute to narrowing the gap between the creation and assembly of knowledge and its use in policymaking for sustainable development. BACKGROUND: Progress in effective policy making in African countries is constrained by, among other things, the gap between knowledge production by research institutions and its use in policy design and implementation. This gap can be attributed to a variety of factors, including the political context, the relevance and credibility of the knowledge, the lack of effective knowledge networks and insufficient support from stakeholders, and a range of external. The fact that much of the current development research is conducted in the North and that much of the development research done in the South is funded by Northern donors raises the important issues of ownership of knowledge, credibility, relevance, and beneficiaries' access to the research findings. (END) Issued by the ECA Information and Communication Service PO Box 3001
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