May 8
Donors are always keen to fund organisations working in 'networks' or 'partnerships' but are not willing to support the long and unpredictable processes that lead to their formation. The Chilean Government, not strange to innovation in the field of research, has launched a competition to do precisely that: support links between Chilean and foreign centres.
What is the future of think tank communications? IPPR, ODI, the Social Market Foundation and the Economist come together at an event in London to try to address this. The report of the event in itself is a perfect example of what can be done with very little effort -but careful planning.
In this week's Managing Think Tanks chapter, we look at ways to foster innovation within think tanks so they stay updated and relevant to the national policy agenda.
Strategic plans are useful for think tanks. They offer a direction of travel, a clear sense of how the centre plans to contribute to their society, and therefore an excellent opportunity to assess that contribution. But these plans do not need to be terribly complicated and 100 pages long. Here is a rather simple template.
Force Field Analysis can be used to plan, monitor and evaluate the decisions made by think tanks involved in influencing interventions. It provides the user with intervention options, rich information about the context, and a good sense of progress. An excellent tool for ex-ante evaluations.
Some funders are pouring money into a few think tanks in developing countries. But little is being done to improve the environment in which they work (and will work). Central to this is the development of spaces in which ideas as presented and discussed, in public, by researchers, analysts, and experts.
Authorship is important for researchers, particularly when it comes to ethical authorship - giving credit to everyone who deserves it and excluding those who don't.
Catriona Moss, a Communications Specialist for the Center for International Forestry Research, discusses multimedia packages - digital content brought together online to tell a story - for communicating research. She provides tips for think tanks interested in using this tool.
The third chapter of Managing Think Tanks, Organising Staff Training, provides a comprehensive training program for think tank staff that helps in increasing their productivity as well as their human capital.
We summarise the second chapter of Managing Think Tanks, Motivating Staff for Higher Productivity and Increased Retention. Staff motivation strategies are presented in order to maximise staff quality and productivity.
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