Project: The role of research centers in the generation and promotion of knowledge for the SDGs

The project explores the mechanisms that are used by Bolivian research centers to inform policy considering, on one side, the amount of evidence and, on the other, the potential response of national policy actors.

First, the degree of utilization of available knowledge in specific areas such as poverty, education and gender is established. Second, the main mechanisms that facilitate or delay the use (uptake) of this knowledge are identified. In order to respond these questions an approach based on specific elements of the research (offer) and of the context (demand) is utilized.

Finally, a set of recommendations are defined by comparing the effectiveness of the mechanisms identified in the Bolivian case with those used by research centers and think tanks in Argentina, a neighbor country with a different institutional context.

Project Results:

• 14 in-depth interviews: Including 1 Vice-Minister of Planning
• Roundtable Workshop: With Bolivian Poverty experts and NGO stakeholders

The initial scope of the project had to be scaled back to focus on the issue of evidence in informing policies related to poverty. As well as a range of interviews Miguel coordinated a Roundtable Meeting of major players to identify possible “knowledge gaps” that result from the research produced by research centres and the potential requirements of the actors related to policies for poverty reduction. This was attended by representatives from World Bank, UNDP, Oxfam etc.

Project Outputs:

• Roundtable Meeting Report – M Vera
• Roundtable Presentation – M Vera
• Project Bulletin 1 – June 2019 – ¿Cuál es el rol de los centros de investigacion?
• Project Bulletin 2 – Sept 2019 – ¿Cuál es la agenda de investigacion actual?
• Project Bulletin 3 – Sept 2019 – ¿Como se logra la conexion entre investigacion y politicas publicas.pdf?
• Model for Visibility Strategies for Research Centres – Estrategia de Visibilidad Centros de Investigación

Biography: 

Miguel Vera is an economist from Georgetown University and Bolivian Catholic University. He has been public officer in the Ministries of Education, Planning and Finance in Bolivia.

He has been Teacher in universities of Bolivia, Guatemala and Honduras and he has worked for the Inter-American Institute for Social Development as trainer in fields related to public policy, development indicators and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E).   In Bolivia, he has worked as technical adviser for the German Technical Cooperation, the Swiss Development Cooperation Agency and the Canadian Embassy.

Nowadays, he is Director of the training unit of ARU Foundation, a research center on social and economic policy. He has published several papers and two books in areas such as the production of social research, poverty, labor, educational quality, migration and development program evaluation. He has been consultant on issues related with public finance and strategic management in Equatorial Guinea, Nicaragua and Peru.