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Strengthening Policy Research: Role of Think Tank Initiative in South Asia is a vivid presentation of the diverse journeys of think tanks under the aegis of the Think Tank Initiative (TTI) programme managed by the International Development Research Centre in South Asia. The book extensively discusses the three areas of TTI support to strengthen think tanks, viz., organizational performance, research quality and policy engagement. It emphatically demonstrates the crucial role of long-term core support in strengthening think tanks for more rigorous research quality as the basis for public policymaking. It presents a rich tapestry of complex pathways that each think tank adopts to engage in policy outreach in their respective domains. The book makes a strong, evidence-based case on how even limited yet assured funding to think tanks leads to enhanced organizational capacities for good quality research, effective policy outreach and improved sustainability. It firmly puts forth the view that governments need to work jointly with private funding organizations to strengthen think tanks, which is in the best interest of evidence-informed and effective public policymaking.

Contents: Foreword. Preface. I. Introduction: 1. Think Tank Initiative: A Bold Experiment in Strengthening Think Tanks/Andrew Hurst, Seema Bhatia-Panthaki and Samar Verma. II. The Journey of Think Tanks: Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka: 2. BRAC Institute of Governance and Development/Sultan Hafeez Rahman and Kaneta Zillur. 3. Centre for Policy Dialogue/Fahmida Khatun. 4. Centre for Poverty Analysis/Udan Fernando. 5. Institute of Policy Studies/Dushni Weerakoon. 6. Institute for Social and Environmental Transition-Nepal/Ajaya Dixit. 7. Sustainable Development Policy Institute/Abid Q Suleri. 8. Social Policy Development Centre/Khalida Ghaus. III: The Journey of Think Tanks: India: 9. Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability/Subrat Das and Happy Pant. 10. Centre for Policy Research/Yamini Aiyar. 11. Centre for the Study of Developing Societies/Sanjay Kumar. 12. Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy/Anshu Bharadwaj. 13. Indian Institute of Dalit Studies/G. C. Pal and Sanghmitra S Acharya. 14. National Council of Applied Economic Research/Shekhar Shah. 15. Public Affairs Centre/Meena Nair and Gurucharan Gollerkeri. IV. Social Science Research and TTI: Country-Level Synthesis: 16. Social Science Research and TTI: Bangladesh/Fahmida Khatun. 17. Social Science Research and TTI: India/Sanghmitra S Acharya, Chandrani Dutta and G. C. Pal. 18. Social Science Research and TTI: Nepal/Ajaya Dixit and Ashutosh Shukla. 19. Social Science Research and TTI: Pakistan/Abid Q Suleri. 20. Social Science Research and TTI: Sri Lanka/S Sirimevan Colombage and P. R. M. P. Dilrukshi Ranathunge. V. The Role of Think Tanks in South Asia: A Synthesis: 21. The Role of the Think Tank Initiative in South Asia/Sukhadeo Thorat, Ajaya Dixit and Samar Verma. VI. Life after TTI: Challenges and the Way Forward: 22. Life after TTI: Challenges and the Way Forward/Ajaya Dixit, Samar Verma and Sukhadeo Thorat. Bibliography.