Stakeholder Dialogues

Stakeholder Dialogues are one of the Forum’s two core programs and build around a deliberative dialogues approach. Dialogues consist of a multi-stage process that aim to ensure relevant evidence on pressing health concerns is used to fuel action for improving health outcomes through collective problem solving. The innovative program developed by the Forum focuses attention on a health challenge by marshalling research evidence, and convening stakeholders for an off-the-record discussion that will inform future actions and policymaking. The dialogues involve representation from many groups who would be involved in or affected by decisions on the issue, including policymakers, researchers, medical personnel and other stakeholders. The entire group learns from the different views and experience at the table. This mixing can uncover unique understandings of the underlying problem, and spark insights for viable solutions and key implementation considerations that can only come about when all of those involved in or affected by future decisions related to the issue can work through it together.

Steps in a Dialogue

• Preparatory consultations help to frame and characterize the challenge and the possible ways to address it.
• Before the event, we prepare and circulate an evidence brief that mobilizes relevant research evidence. Evidence briefs are made publicly available after the event has taken place.
• We convene 18 to 22 officials, leaders, citizens and researchers for an off-the-record dialogue that prepares each participant to champion efforts to address the challenge.
• After the event, we prepare and circulate a dialogue summary (as one type of event 'footprint' that will benefit others around the world). This document is made publicly available on the Forum's website. We also provide customized post-event briefings to dialogue partners to further prepare them to tackle the challenge.
• We provide a year-long evidence service that highlights newly published or identified research evidence that can add momentum to change efforts or suggest the need for a change in direction to address the challenge.
• We evaluate the key features of both the evidence brief and Stakeholder Dialogue to ensure that the process contributes to our collective understanding about how insights can best be stimulated and action generated.

Stakeholder Dialogues address some of the factors that have been identified as ways to increase the use of research evidence in policymaking and support the translation of research evidence into action. First, dialogues increase interaction among policymakers and researchers and build the informal relationships that have been shown to increase the use of research evidence. Second, dialogues can be organized on short notice in order to respond in a timely way to a 'window of opportunity.' Third, dialogues enable all participants to understand how the existing research evidence does or does not align with the existing beliefs, values, interests or political goals of key stakeholders (including within their own stakeholder group), and therefore where opportunities for synergy can be capitalized upon and tensions can be addressed more openly.