Mobilising evidence to enhance the effectiveness of child well-being policies
The role of knowledge brokers
Despite the fundamental importance of childhood, countries tend to invest much less
in this area than in old age. Effective child well-being policies can bring high long-term
returns on early life investments and public interventions. However, these benefits
are not fully understood and thus do not always receive the necessary political attention
in public policy making. Mobilising evidence to support effective policies for child
well-being is crucial, especially as responsibilities for such policies tend to be
fragmented across government departments and levels of government. Therefore, organisations
such as knowledge brokers, which help ensure that evidence is shared with those responsible
for designing and implementing public policies, have a critical role to play in improving
the effectiveness of child well-being policies and practices. They can help make evidence
accessible, trustworthy, and understandable, so that it has the greatest impact on
policy. This working paper sheds light on the best practices identified for mobilising
evidence to enhance the effectiveness of child well-being policies, based on a stocktaking
of 81 knowledge broker organisations across 24 countries, complemented by a qualitative
survey carried out among senior experts operating at national and international level.
Published on May 25, 2023
In series:OECD Working Papers on Public Governanceview more titles