Strengthening Policy Research: Role of Think Tank Initiative in South Asia

Strengthening Policy Research: Role of Think Tank Initiative in South Asia is a vivid presentation of the diverse journeys of think tanks under the aegis of the Think Tank Initiative (TTI) programme managed by the International Development Research Centre in South Asia. The book extensively discusses the three areas of TTI support to strengthen think tanks, viz., organizational performance, research quality and policy engagement. It emphatically demonstrates the crucial role of long-term core support in strengthening think tanks for more rigorous research quality as the basis for public policymaking. It presents a rich tapestry of complex pathways that each think tank adopts to engage in policy outreach in their respective domains. The book makes a strong, evidence-based case on how even limited yet assured funding to think tanks leads to enhanced organizational capacities for good quality research, effective policy outreach and improved sustainability. It firmly puts forth the view that governments need to work jointly with private funding organizations to strengthen think tanks, which is in the best interest of evidence-informed and effective public policy-making.

Sukhadeo Thorat is Chairman, Indian Institute of Dalit Studies (IIDS), and Emeritus Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. He is an economist by training, who has worked extensively in the areas of agricultural development, economic institutions and development, poverty, social exclusion and inequality, caste and economic discrimination, labour market discrimination, economic problems of excluded groups (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes), higher education, urban slums, human rights, and economic ideas of Babasaheb Ambedkar in his previous roles at Jawaharlal Nehru University (1973–2014) and as the founder director of IIDS (2003–2006). He was also chairman of the University Grants Commission (2006–2011) and of Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR; 2011–2017). He has been awarded honorary DLitt, DSc, DS (Doctor of Education) and LLD degrees by 12 universities from India and 1 university from outside India. In 2008, Professor Thorat was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian award; he was also awarded the Mother Teresa International Award and Babasaheb Ambedkar Ratna Award by the Delhi government.

Ajaya Dixit works as an analyst of water resources and environmental themes in Nepal and South Asia. He taught water resource engineering at Nepal’s Institute of Engineering and worked with a team to establish a Master’s-level interdisciplinary water education course in Nepal. His current research focuses on exploring the approaches to develop strate­gies for resilience building against shocks due to climate change and other hazards at the sub-national scale. He is studying the role systems play in building societal resilience and using the knowledge generated to engage the policy-making domain. He has written extensively on water resources, transboundary cooperation, flood management, envi­ronment and climate change adaptation.

 

Samar Verma is Senior Program Specialist at International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada. He manages the Think Tank Initiative (TTI) programme in South Asia (and more recently a similar support to think tanks in Myanmar). Before joining IDRC, he was the global head of the economic justice policy team at Oxfam Great Britain, based at Oxford, UK. He was also the founder director and chairman of Consortium of Trade and Development, a not-for-profit think tank. Previously, he had been Oxfam’s South Asia advisor on trade policy. As Senior Fellow with the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), he has published widely on international trade and competitiveness. Most recently, with Professor Sukhadeo Thorat, he jointly edited a semi­nal book on Social Science Research in India: Status, Issues, and Policies. With over two decades of professional experience in corporate sector, conducting policy research, international development and research grant management based in India and in the UK, Samar holds a PhD in economics and an MBA.