Eighteen (18) civil society organizations (CSOs) operating in Ghana and Nigeria participated in the second edition of S4C’s Research and Knowledge Building (RKB) Clinic held in Accra on June 11 and 12, 2024. Convened under the auspices of the Ford Foundation-backed Civic Space Resource (CSR-Hub), the RKB Clinic aimed to increase the capabilities of CSOs to use research evidence and strategic communications to drive social change and defend the civic space in West Africa.
S4C’s RKB aims to enhance the capacity of civil society organizations to conduct rigorous research and build credible evidence that can inform their policy reform and accountability campaigns to defend the civic space in West Africa. Accordingly, the Clinic’s eight expert-led sessions equipped participants with theoretical and practical knowledge of human rights, social justice research, and evidence building. These sessions delved deeply into the interconnections between research and activism, the quantitative and qualitative methodologies for conducting social justice research, data collection techniques, evidence-building and the significance of statistical evidence, with an emphasis on enhancing research authenticity. The high point of the Clinic was the group exercise, affording participants the opportunity to apply the knowledge gained to real-life scenarios.
The training became more intense on the second day, focusing on grant-writing and academic-writing for activist-scholars. Participants learned how to contextualize human rights issues across social, cultural, and economic backgrounds. Because generating knowledge through research is not enough, the training placed emphasis on communicating research for policy reform or the utilization of research evidence for influencing policy. Along this line, participants also gained practical insights into the available tools and techniques for presenting research evidence effectively. They also explored the benefits and risks of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in research, addressing concerns like data privacy and duplication. Beyond using research evidence to influence policy, the strategic communication of research results to diverse audiences is another important role of CSOs. Elated RKB participants left the Clinic empowered to conduct more credible social justice research and deploy the evidence to address injustices in West Africa.
