To fill evidence gaps about the use of technologies to enhance citizen voice and government responsiveness; bring a reflective learning perspective into tech innovation and scaling projects supported by Making All Voices Count; and optimise learning for adaptation within the programme over its life-cycle so as to maximise its relevance and impact.
The rapid advent of technology applications to support citizen voice and government response, from about 2010 onwards, brought a corresponding rush to fund this sector among official and philanthropic donors alike. Many of the tech practitioners involved had no experience or knowledge of governance; many of the governance practitioners and researchers were engaging for the first time with new tech applications. In 2013 the sector was awash with tech optimism, but very little evidence or self-critical practice existed. The Research, Evidence and Learning Component of Making All Voices Count (MAVC) was designed to address this. MAVC was designed as a way to operationally support the Open Government Partnership (launched in 2011), and Open Government Partnership member countries and networks were major programme stakeholders and key among the learners addressed by the Research, Evidence and Learning Component.
Delivering MAVC’s Research, Evidence and Learning Component reflected IDS’s expertise in conducting, managing and quality-assuring research on an international scale and in a cross-sectoral, multi-stakeholder setting.
The Component’s design centred on:
This involved:
For a flavour of this work see:
A team of programme managers, grant administrators and communications specialists ran the learning programme on a day-to-day basis.
IDS researchers and IDS Associates involved in delivering research and learning activities included:
Consultants and collaborators we worked with included:
Typical participants attending the international learning events:
More than 200 organisations and 500 people participated in the research work.
Approximately 180 individuals took part in the four international learning events.
Approximately 45 Making All Voices Count staff took part in the research and learning activities.
The Research, Evidence and Learning Component played a critical role in bringing forth lessons from earlier generations of accountable governance research and practice to reinforce the message that context is key, and in drawing MAVC stakeholders’ attention to relevant evidence inside and outside the programme.
Researchers and practitioners who implemented MAVC research grants and participated in learning events developed self-critical reflective perspectives on their work and the ability to generate actionable evidence from it.
MAVC staff learnt to use evidence from the programme in deciding what to fund and how best to support it.
The Research, Evidence and Learning Component of MAVC contributed to shifting the prevailing attitude in the governance aid field from one of uncritical tech optimism at the programme’s start, to a more mature tech-realist stance by the programme’s end. (For details, see the programme’s synthesis report: Appropriating technology for accountability: messages from Making All Voices Count.)
In 2017, MAVC won the prestigious Market Research Society’s President’s Medal for its extraordinary contribution to society through research.