Web2forDev: Web 2.0 for Development Gateway

Lieu :  Institut français du Cameroun, antenne de Douala (IFC-Douala)

Dates : Du lundi 16 au vendredi 20 avril 2012, de 9h00 à 17h30

L'innovation technologique évolue à un rythme effréné. Des applications internet simples, basées sur les logiciels libres, ainsi que des services conçus pour améliorer la collaboration en ligne sont maintenant disponibles pour le grand public à peu de frais ou gratuitement. Ces nouveaux services et applications en ligne sont connus sous le vocable «Web 2.0»; ils facilitent l’accès à l’information, la collaboration à distance pour la création, le partage et la publication de l'information.

Policy development is a complex process and there are many reasons why even the best arguments backed by solid research can fail to be heard or to be acted on. Decision makers are barraged with conflicting demands, often supported by contradictory evidence, making it difficult for independent researchers to even be heard. Low levels of public understanding of and interest in policy issues, lack of political will, bureaucratic inertia, and counter arguments promoted by interests with their own agendas in mind further complicate the scenario. Even when the importance of independent public-interest research in supporting policy development is widely-accepted and when the research is designed to help resolve the recognised problems of policymakers and advocacy groups, it faces significant challenges to being effectively introduced into policy debates.Communication difficulties between researchers and policymakers serve to compound the problem. A UNCTAD-WTO-ITC workshop on bridging the gap between researchers and policymakers noted that research findings will only contribute to national policy development “if researchers and policy-makers cooperate closely to understand specific needs, ensure relevance of topics, and improve communication, dissemination and implementation of the research recommendations.” However this kind of cooperation is difficult when "policy makers are not always informed about ongoing research and researchers often lack knowledge of the most pressing policy questions that they would need to make their research more relevant."