LIRNEasia – evidence based policy intervention via the media
It is naturally assumed that evidence based research and indicators feed into policymaking. However, the degree to which these do enter into policy process discourses and influence policymaking is rarely documented. This week, LIRNEasia had a big win in their attempts to introduce the issue of lowering intra-SAARC call charges into the agenda of inaugural session of the 15th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC). Although they were told it was too late to introduce the issue via the technical committees, LIRNEasia appears to have succeeded not only in getting it into the agenda, but into the SAARC Chairman’s speech! As part of a multifaceted strategy, in addition to documenting and making price benchmarks available online, LIRNEasia also worked to ensure that the story was covered in the media of different SAARC countries. As noted by LIRNEasia, the real success will be when the rates are actually lowered to levels that are not above extra-SAARC rates.
Click here for LIRNEasia pricing benchmarks.
Click here for LIRNEasia post with links to media coverage on this issue and here for the post on the SAARC agenda.
Click here for the full text of the speech by Sri Lankan President and SAARC chairman Mahinda Rajapaksa.
![[del.icio.us]](http://images.del.icio.us/static/img/delicious.small.gif){kind=small}
January 3rd, 2010 at 05:01
This is an excellent example of ‘how to’ in the growing dialogue on evidence based policy making. Would love to see more of LIRNEAsia’s experiences showcased.