Challenges and preliminary reflections
Within the context of the European Union’s Partnership with Africa, the Joint Research Centre - European Commission’s Science and Knowledge Service – started to develop the Africa Knowledge Platform (AKP) in 2019 (https://africa-knowledge-platform.ec.europa.eu/) a dynamic web-based gateway to knowledge that includes datasets, policy-relevant narratives, interactive tools, and partnerships across a variety of thematic domains. This report was motivated by the need to shift away from a linear and uni-directional production and dissemination of scientific evidence to policy, and innovate towards systematic co-creation of knowledge involving multi-laterally knowledge producers and users. Challenges are addressed to respond to this need and make knowledge more impactful at both policy making and policy implementation levels. This study delves into the intricacies of the AKP's knowledge practices, reflecting its status at the end of the first phase of its development (2019-2023) and particularly assessing its potential for knowledge brokering on the basis of few knowledge products. Outcomes of this report feed into the context of the EU’s partnership with Africa, notably for the Regional Centres of Excellence (RCoEs) Programme (2024-2027) where the AKP plays a role as a cross-regional and cross-sectoral transversal platform to enhance the effective use of Science, Technology and Innovation for sustainable development in Africa with a focus on Green Transition.
To enhance knowledge use in policy, four inter-dependent and nested knowledge components were identified, namely knowledge management, knowledge translation and exchange, knowledge brokering and knowledge co-creation with policy officers. Knowledge brokering appeared a fuzzy umbrella concept which plays a central and instrumental role in bridging the gap between policymakers and scientists. It goes beyond conventional knowledge management (informational function such as identifying, filtering and synthesising) to include relational and systemic functions such as sharing, translating and making sense of knowledge for the users’ community as well as stimulating ideas. Those functions are activated in an agile mode, depending on context, type and focus of the policy demand on one hand and the availability of the knowledge supply on the other hand.
To maximise the value and impact of knowledge in the EU policy process, eight challenges (e.g. over supply of information, its complexity and the need of cooperation, policy process as an ecosystem, lack of mutual respect, exclusion of stakeholders, lack of awareness of evidence-informed solution) were used from the framework of the Knowledge Management for Policy Agenda of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (Topp et al., 2018). Associated skills were analysed: synthesizing research, managing expert communities, understanding policy and science, interpersonal skills, engaging with stakeholders, communicating scientific knowledge, monitoring and evaluating, advising policy makers.
BERTELLI Anna;
ESTREGUIL Christine;
ANGELUCCETTI Irene;
BATTISTELLA Luca;
2024-12-06
Publications Office of the European Union
JRC137350
978-92-68-22568-4 (online),
1831-9424 (online),
EUR 40138,
OP KJ-01-24-184-EN-N (online),
https://africa-knowledge-platform.ec.europa.eu/,
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC137350,
10.2760/0792280 (online),
