Research essential to influence decisions - A. Sawyerr

Accra, May 30, GNA - Professor Akilagpa Sawyerr, Secretary General of Association of African Universities, on Monday stressed the need for research-based evidence in all sectors

to enable people better appreciate government policies. He said Ghanaians would only make informed decisions on various national issues when they were fed with accurate information backed with research.

Professor Sawyerr was speaking at a convention to outdoor the Ghana Research and Advocacy Programme, a pooled funding mechanism to support the institutional development of Research and Advocacy organisations in Ghana.

The programme is a collaborative effort of a grouping of civil society organizations engaged in Advocacy, Parliament and Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.

It aims to promote research and advocacy work in support of public policy and national development issues. Professor Sawyerr underscored the importance of individuals involved in advocacy to be on top of the issues they dealt in so as not to misinform the society at large.

He urged research and advocacy organisations to assert their independence in the conduct of their research programmes. Mrs Grace Coleman, Chairperson Finance Committee of Parliament, said the inability of members of Parliament to conduct independent research to enhance their work in the House had greatly impaired their ability to deliver.

She asked for capacity building for members to enable them to deliver on their mandate.