First meeting of the three policy supporting projects
The first meeting of the three Policy Supporting Programme (PSP) projects was held on June 4th. An opportunity for the researchers to share their progress and good practices since the launch of their projects.
Each PSP project brings together researchers from Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Flanders and one or several partner countries from the Belgian development cooperation. Since their start in November 2023, the projects are running at full speed. Over the next four academic years, their aim will be to provide support to DGD in the following three themes: ‘Climate & Environment‘, ‘Fragility & Resilience‘ and ‘Social Protection, Inequality & Inclusive Growth‘.
For the first time, the two administrating entities for PSP, VLIRUOS and ARES, organised a “Joint Steering Committee”. It gathered the members of all three projects with the presence of representatives of DGD and ENABEL. This annual meeting serves a dual purpose: to provide a platform for exchanging best practices and addressing obstacles encountered, and to explore possible synergies and avenues for collaboration between the various projects.
The first “Joint Steering Committee” was a success in terms of participation, with all the projects represented in a balanced way. After introductory words by Tanguy Goethals, Director of Development Cooperation at ARES, and Kristien Verbrugghen, Director of VLIRUOS, the research groups presented their progress and projections for the coming years. This provided an opportunity for fruitful exchanges, given the interconnected nature of the three themes.
The participants were then divided into two groups for a workshop.
The first group was asked to provide examples of real cases where research had influenced policy and examples where it had failed. Recommendations were then formulated to encourage policy-making based on scientific evidence. In this context, the group highlighted the importance of building trusting and lasting relationships between researchers and policymakers, ensuring interactive communication; increasing the visibility of projects and research results (conferences, conflict cafés, etc.); the interdisciplinary dimension in policy-making; the potential source of inspiration and influence from other countries; and the implementation of a “post-PSP” strategy to keep research results alive.
The second group’s discussion was oriented towards communication and dissemination of research results. This breakout session on knowledge communication emphasised the importance of informal and formal spaces for effective information sharing, including breaks during meetings and creating common working paper series across PSP groups. Key recommendations include making findings concise and visualised for beneficiaries, translating content for non-specialist audiences, and using a three-layered approach for document presentation. The session highlighted the need for sustainable website strategies and social media integration to support communication. Additionally, aligning long-term academic schedules with day-to-day policymaking and developing a comprehensive communication strategy were stressed to enhance engagement and the practical application of research findings.
The event ended on a high note with a lunch that allowed the various teams to get to know each other better.
VLIRUOS and ARES would like to thank everyone who participated and helped to set up the “Joint Steering Committee”, and in particular the research groups, which were at the heart of this meeting. We wish them all the best for the future and look forward to seeing them next year!
