Slides from the ESPA impact workshop held in Delhi 9/10th March 2016

1. Building Impact and Partnerships in South Asia
#impactasia
9-10 March 2016, New Delhi
Jyotiraj Patra
Regional Evidence Advisor- South Asia

2. Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA)
• An international and interdisciplinary research programme jointly
funded by UK’s DFID, NERC and ESRC. (2010-2017)
• Aims to deliver high-quality, cutting-edge research that will improve
understanding of the way ecosystems function, the services they
provide and their relationship with the political economy and
sustainable growth.
• Vision: ESPA’s excellent research is turned into impact that results in
significant improvements to the lives of poor people.

3. The ESPA Research Community
53
33
19

4. Why Impact?
Source:
http://www.nature.co
m/news/science-
must-prepare-for-
impact-1.18459

5. Research Needs
• Understanding + Addressing the Research needs
• Promoting the use of and demand for research evidence

6. ESPA Research Impact
• ESPA research in top 20 Global Impact of UK Research*
• The Mikoko Pamoja (mangroves together) project in Kenya
*http://www.ukcds.org.uk/the-global-impact-of-uk-research
Community-led planting of >10,000
mangrove trees
Trained of 46 African
scientists on mangrove
restoration and management
One of world’s first mangrove
carbon credit project
Contributed to Kenya’s
Mangrove Action Plan
Provided support to 3000 people in
the region for building schools,
water pumps and funds for
children's education
Facilitated the creation of
Community Forest Association
Helped to set up the charity
The Association for Coastal
Ecosystem Services (ACES)
Helped establish the East
African Forum for Payments
for Ecosystem Services
Swahili Seas Research on mangrove regeneration
(2010-2013, Prof Marx Huxham, Edinburgh Napier University)
,

7. Chennai Floods (2015): A Case in Point
• One of the fastest growing metropolis in India
• A massive/unprecedented flood in Nov/Dec 2015
• Loss and damage: 269 human lives + $3 billion (Aon Benfield)
• One of the underlying risks: Loss of urban wetlands + Damage in
the watersheds in and around the city
• Pallikaranai Marshland and Flood Mitigation: Research evidence
exists but little integration of this in to urban planning

8. The Impact Workshop
– Launch of the revised and new ESPA Impact Strategy
– Learn from others’ experiences (What works + What Doesn’t)
– Link them to individual research project’s impact pathways
– Leverage the above to amplify research impact in South Asia
and beyond
New PARTNERSHIP

9. Workshop Structure
Day-I
• Addresses: Welcome + Keynote
• Panel Discussions: Moderated +
Interactive
• Focus on exchange and
learning
Panel-I (WHAT?)
Understanding Research Impact
Panel-II (HOW, WHO, WHEN, WHY?)
Research Impact: Experiences and Insights
Day-II
• 4 ESPA projects sharing their
research + impact pathways
with other stakeholders
• Collective exercise to identify
key activities/opportunities to
maximize impact
• Plenary: Specific + Doable
Impact Agenda

10. #impactasia
@espadirectorate

11. Way Forward
• Impact : A Collective Endeavour + Context-specific
• ESPA Directorate:
– Facilitate thematic partnerships, Research Visibility (ESPA blogs, various
international/national/regional forums, Social Media)
– Fund: ESPA Synthesis Call (2016), ROF (ongoing)
• REAs:
– Interface with key stakeholders (Ministries, Research
Funders/Programmes) + Regional Digest (Snapshot of key opportunities +
Evidence needs)
– Promote the research (Public Lecture, Media Briefings, Meeting with
Policy Makers/Parliamentary Standing Committees, Private Sector)

12. Specific Examples
• The South Asia Water Initiative (SAWI), managed by the World
Bank, (funded by UK, Norway, Australia)
• The UK Water Partnership
• BCURE in South Asia (DFID funded- led by Harvard University)
• Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund (UCCRTF)-
Managed by ADB
• Asian Ministerial Conference on DRR (AMCDRR, New Delhi,
November 2016)
• ACCCRN
• 100 Resilient Cities