Does usable research-to-policy inform policy and decision making processes in Tanzania?

This study sought to explore the extent to which usable research-to-policy does, or does not, inform policy decision-making processes in Tanzania, and factors that enhance or hinder utilization of existing research findings. The study was influenced by the fact that despite the existence of policy-oriented research institutions in Tanzania policy/decision-making processes seem not to benefit much from usable research outputs. Health, education and agriculture research events come out with some outputs which are useful in the policy and decision-making process, but they do not seem to attract the attention of policy decision makers. A cross-sectional study design or approach and purposive sampling technique were employed in this study. The data were collected through questionnaires, interviews and documentary search. The findings from both primary and secondary data reveal that there is low utilization of research outputs to inform policy decision-making in the health, agriculture and education sectors. The poor research-policy linkage does not create an optimal propensity for research use in policy and decision-making. The study proposes that in order to build a culture of linking research to practice, an approach to effectively lead to the utilization of existing research findings in policy formulation and programme decision making should be established. The government must establish and foster close cooperation between researchers and policy decision makers and all other stakeholders in policy formulation. This would in the long run transform the policy decision-making process to be more informed by relevant researches, thereby becoming more responsive to the environment or country’s development needs.