Opportunities and Challenges in Promoting Policy- and Practice-Relevant Knowledge on Child Rights

This paper analyses the linkages between knowledge and policy on child rights issues in order to supplement current understanding of these dynamics in the sector. The paper, published by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), was originally published with the African Child Policy Forum, Childwatch International Research Network, and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Innocenti Research Centre as a background paper for the conference "Children's Rights at a Crossroads", which was organised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, November 30 - December 2 2009.

The paper presents frameworks and lessons through which to promote the appropriate design of rights strategies. In particular, the multiple types of knowledge that shape policy agendas are discussed, as well as the impacts of political context and the role of different actors at play in the policy arena. Finally, some broad suggestions on improving the child rights knowledge-policy interface are provided, with special attention towards knowledge generation, the translation of knowledge, and the institutionalisation of child rights.

The paper takes the research-policy framework of the ODI’s Research and Policy in Development (RAPID) programme as its starting point to look at how different types of knowledge can contribute to strengthening the link between knowledge and policy in child rights. "Looking at knowledge more broadly... allows us to look at the source of the influences guiding policy and to investigate the political and epistemological dynamics in the production and use of such knowledge, while still including (but also reframing) the insights already gained into evidence and research."

Communication-related issues emerge in the discussion of knowledge management. The document focuses discussion on and provides examples of "networks, institutions and databases established to promote better information and knowledge sharing on child rights, and provide a brief overview of their relative strengths and weaknesses in terms of knowledge management."

As indicated here, "[u]nderstanding the complexities of knowledge generation is an important first step in mapping the knowledge-policy interface on child well-being but equally important is an analysis of knowledge translation dynamics." The strengthening of the knowledge-policy-practice interface on children’s rights needs coordination across sectors and researchers, as well as policymaker and practitioner communities. Knowledge generation must be recognised for its particular perspective, possible biases, and roots within an academic discipline or tradition. While data are being shared across disciplines, historical perspectives can also be added to broaden understanding of child well-being. Monitoring child well-being can address significant gaps in evidence-informed policy.

The document concludes: "In short, in order to address the marginalisation and limited visibility of children and knowledge about children’s rights..., particular attention will need to be paid to: tackling barriers related to institutional culture dynamics, whereby child rights remain an ‘add-on’ rather than a central component of achieving better development outcomes; framing debates so that they resonate with broader development discourses; and encouraging more meaningful and strategic participation in policy initiatives by children and young people. A more dynamic and proactive knowledge-policy-practice interface on child well-being will also necessitate greater investment in knowledge translation efforts that go beyond basic knowledge provision and focus on strategic promotion of that knowledge to ...audiences at multiple levels.... This could include support, for instance, to knowledge hubs embedded within key government ministries..., or fostering knowledge networks linked to legislative committees.... Critically, such initiatives need to focus as much on improving knowledge production as on enhancing capacities of policy actors to effectively identify and articulate their demand for knowledge on child well-being and children’s rights."