Research & Knowledge Management

RSPN as part of its core mandate actively works in the Research and Knowledge Management domain with national, regional, and international stakeholders. We believe evidence-based learning is critical for policy advocacy, programme planning and design and improved development management. RSPN has been central in assessing and creating new knowledge drawing practical lessons from over 30 years of experience on various issues of critical importance for development practitioners, academia and officials.

RSPN’s Research and Knowledge Management section works closely with the RSPs and other development partners, gleaning lessons from the work of RSPs with communities and documenting them for wider dissemination. 

The challenges that the RSPs face in this respect are threefold:

• first, to set appropriate baselines and key performance indicators that track progress over time, especially when the flow of resources and the sectors of work vary over time and between target groups (i.e. Community Organisations);

• second, to develop and use effective tools to address several important questions like, “Are the RSPs reaching the poor?” “Are the poor participating in and benefiting from the RSPs programmes?” “Does the RSPs make a difference in the standard of living (quality of life) of rural households participating in the RSPs programmes?”;
• and third, to hire, train, and retain the professionals to do the challenging job, given limited resources available for this purpose and rather a dynamic job market for individuals with monitoring, evaluation, and reporting skills. 

Since its inception, RSPN has actively pursued capacity building, experience sharing, evidence generation, and assessments and evaluation services for the RSPs. While the activities have been dynamic and changing with time, RSPN has focused on improving the RSPs capacities to better track and assess their programmes for results and impacts.