The CEDS-hosted Global Development Network (GDN) Global Workshop, held in Jakarta on 7-9 April marked the completion of the 5 years GDN global research project on “Strengthening Institutions to Improve Public Sector Accoutability”.

Researchers of 14 research institutions from 14 developing countries from three continents shared their research findings and exchanged ideas and how to communicate their findings with policy makers and relevant stake holders.

The project which was funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), UK through its Governance and Transparency Fund (GTF) aimed at building and strengthening institutional capacity for public expenditure analysis; exploring the effectiveness of public service delivery in health, education and water; emphasizing rigorous analysis, producing reliable public expenditure reform proposals and, thus, aiming to shape policy debates; developing policy alternatives and tailored research communication and outreach in a peer-learning environment; and producing internationally comparable information on public expenditure.

In this workshop, participants not only shared various analytical tools, but also exchanged innovative policy-relevant recommendation for improving and equalizing access to social services. These includes, billingiual instruction at Amazonian school to improve the education outcome of marginalized group in South America, free transportation for female school children in Nigeria, and tutoring voucher to improve the poor access to higher education in Indonesia.

Shared with all partners, the GDN project has significant value to the global research community in various ways. First, the flexibility in the issues to be research in the project provides opportunity for developing countries researchers to do research works relevant to their own country as well as suitable with the researchers expertise and interests. Second, the project’s emphasis on finding research questions that are relevant to the society around us and communicating the findings to relevant policy makers have inspired researchers not only to stay inside the academic ivory tower but also to become smarter development agents with greater potential to bring about changes.

More photos from the event: Flickr