The second day of the Evidence-to-Policy (E2P) Summit focused on how to build trust and foster effective collaboration and partnerships. Panelists presented insightful examples of the roles of networks, frameworks and contractor models to strengthen equitable collaboration across the evidence ecosystem. One of the panelists Ruth Stewart, Founding Chair of the Africa Evidence Network, summarized: “Facilitating trusted relationships is not a soft skill. It is a hard skill and needs prioritized time and funding over sustained periods of time.”
The second panel of the day honed delegates’ attention on the role of forums to support citizen engagement in deliberative processes, and the need to build trainings and tools to match lived experience to policy agendas. As Alessandro Bellatoni, Head of Open Government at OECD, explained: “It is not the knowledge that is missing, it’s the capacity to transform this knowledge into good and successful practices”.
The new WHO guide on citizen engagement in evidence-informed decision-making, which will become available later this year (complementing the existing WHO overview document), was seen as a welcome addition to the tools and guidelines identified by panelists and participants. For those interested in citizen-backed evidence, join the Evidence Commission, EVIPNet and Cochrane Consumers for their upcoming webinar on November 2 to continue this discussion. This event will focus on bringing evidence and citizen engagement to bear in addressing misinformation.
Day three of the WHO E2P Summit will identify pathways for institutionalizing EIDM, how artificial intelligence can facilitate collaboration across evidence ecosystems, and next steps to catalyze support for E2P efforts globally.