Over 50 top level policy practitioners at the level of undersecretaries, directors and commissioners from various government ministries, agencies and departments have completed training in use of evidence in policy development.

The one day master class course was organized by EPRC in collaboration with the Uganda National Council of Science and Technology (UNCST) and the Civil Service College of Uganda. The master class training specifically aims at enabling participants to: 1) Conceptualise research uptake; 2) Describe the role and importance of research evidence in policy and decision-making; and 3) Demonstrate how research uptake works in practice.

Speaking at the opening of the training, Ismail Barugahara the Assistant Executive Secretary at the Uganda National Council of Science and Technology said that the course was condensed into one day to cater for the tight work schedules of top policy officials.  He encouraged the participants to actively engage with EPRC’s extensive research on various policy issues in Uganda. Barugahara also requested the policy practitioners to always encourage and grant permission to their subordinates to participate in such targeted refresher trainings.

The participants appreciated the training and recommended that it be extended to at least two days to enable them comprehend and relate the training with real life policy situations.

The training was conducted as part of the professional development course on handling science and evidence for senior policy advisors under the Development Research Uptake in Sub-Saharan Africa (DRUSSA) project.

The professional development component consists of two courses: the Executive and Masters Class Courses in evidence based policy making. The programme has so far conducted two Executive training workshops attracting about 50 middle level civil servants from Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies in addition to this first Master Class course.