Stay in Your Lane

"Stay in Your Lane": Euphemism used in technical forums and websites to indicate a user has strayed into an area in which they clearly have no expertise. —Urban Dictionary

The Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes (ReNAPRI) is a relatively young network, established in 2012 at the initiative of African-led agricultural policy research institutes. 

Since its inception, ReNAPRI has wrestled with the question of its mandate — finding our lane so to speak. The prevailing tendency of the donor world has been to measure impact according to the number of policy changes implemented, creating the temptation for us to “change lanes.” After much soul-searching, the ReNAPRI leadership determined at the 11th Board and Technical Meeting in March 2018 that it is not for us to change policies; rather, our mandate is to support and engage with decision-makers by providing timely, accurate and policy-relevant evidence. We found our lane!

The development ecosystem is best viewed as a complex adaptive system composed of various actors, each with their own unique set of incentive structures (forthcoming MSU-AAP & ReNAPRI thought-piece). The complexity stems from the dynamic networks of interactions that are not merely an aggregation of the individual static entities, but rather an emerging pattern within the system that cannot be directly linked to the individual behavior of its components (Mitleton-Kelly, 2003; Ramaligam et.al, 2008; Barder, 2012). The development ecosystem in which we all work functions better when there is a clear delineation of the roles and responsibilities of each of the players within the system. 

One of the most important roles of governments is to create an enabling environment that supports rising living standards. Doing so requires evidence on what works, what doesn’t, and why. The role of ReNAPRI and its member institutions is to generate and translate that evidence into policy recommendations and/or programs as well as to engage in continual dialogue with policy-makers. As Dr. Akin Adesina, president of the African Development Bank, pointed out: our relevance, impact and sustainability depend on how often policy-makers call upon us to guide them. Table 1 demonstrates how ReNAPRI is operating within its role.

This table shows how we interact with policy-makers and other stakeholders to provide options for their consideration and to tease out the benefits and costs, and who wins and who loses, from alternative policy options. We do not believe that it is our role to force policy-makers to change policies in particular directions. That is for civil society, and for society as a whole, to decide. This delineation clarifies the roles of the respective agents within the system (our lanes). If we stray into areas that are not within our mandate we change the incentive structures and create the potential for corruption and erosion of the system — in short, we are in danger of a pile-up.

The expectation by external organizations that ReNAPRI demonstrates impact by the number of policy recommendations adopted will force us into the political arena where decision-making is dependent not only on evidence but also internal political mechanisms — a “lane” which we are not equipped (and neither should we be) to handle. On this road to development, it is important to stay focused and play to our strengths thereby ensuring safe arrival at our destination.    

References:

1. Barder, O. (2012). The Implications of Complexity for Development. Lecture. Centre for Global Development. Available online at: http://www.cgdev.org/doc/CGDPresentations/complexity/player.html.
2. Mitleton-Kelly, E. (2003). Ten Principles of Complexity and Enabling Infrastructure. Complex Systems and Evolutionary Perspectives on Organizations: The Application of Complexity Theory to Organizations. Elsevier Science Ltd, Oxford, UK. ISBN 9780080439570.
3. Ramalingam, B.; Jones, H.; Toussaint, R.; and Young, J. (2008). Exploring the Science of Complexity: Ideas and Implications for Development and Humanitarian Efforts. Working Paper 285. Overseas Development Institute (ODI), London, U.K.