Policy research and advocacy in partnership: the UWS-Oxfam Partnership

With its focus on the partnership between the University of the West of Scotland and Oxfam Scotland, the paper critically reflects on over ten years of cooperation between the two organisations. For its interest in promoting a ‘more equitable and sustainable Scotland’, the UWS-Oxfam Partnership has sought to tie together policy research with policy advocacy in order to influence Scottish policy and policy makers. Key principles of the Partnership’s activities – for example, participatory research principles – will be outlined.

The paper scrutinises how differing organisational cultures, organisational priorities, and modi operandi can sometimes conflict and sometimes complement each other. This presentation will discuss the Partnership’s successful and unsuccessful attempts to influence the policy agenda and in doing so, consider the role and significance of policy research and policy evidence in achieving impact. In doing so, this presentation presents an innovative model for social policy research that seeks to create socially just futures.

The paper is based on the presenters’ long involvement in the Partnership as its co-chairs and will draw also from internal evaluations undertaken jointly with Oxfam Scotland and Oxfam GB.