By Philip Tengzu, GNA
Wa (UW/R), Sept. 25, GNA – Professor Saa Dittoh of the Department of Food Security and Climate Change, University for Development Studies (UDS), has called on researchers to ensure that their research products are relevant to national development priorities and address the community problems.
He said research must move beyond academic publications and shelves to influence policy planning and implementation, to contribute meaningfully to Ghana’s socioeconomic transformation.
Prof. Dittoh made the call when he delivered a keynote speech on the critical role of research in shaping effective policies and advancing Ghana’s socio-economic transformation at the opening of the Sixth Research and Development Conference in Wa.
The conference, organised by the University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS), was held on the theme; “Research for Policy: Strengthening Evidence-Informed Policymaking for Ghana’s Development.”
Prof. Dittoh said though the importance of research to development was widely recognised, a significant amount of it had failed to translate into tangible development outcomes, partly because of the weak connection between research, policy and implementation.
He raised concerns about the lack of strong national and sectoral research agendas, dedicated funding, and accountability mechanisms for researchers.
He said Ghana needed clear research priorities backed by dedicated funding, timelines and expected deliverables, to ensure that researchers and institutions could be held accountable for the outcomes of their work.
Prof. Dittoh, therefore, emphasised the need for the government to take greater interest in funding research to ensure that research products reflected national priorities, informed policies and development.
The Professor noted that the heavy reliance on donor funded-research could influence the direction of research, particularly when donors determined the research areas.
Prof. Dittoh also stressed the need for local authorities to take an active interest in research conducted within their jurisdictions.
He said the leadership of districts and regions where research was conducted should be aware of such studies and have access to the findings to enable them to use the research outcomes in planning and implementing development programmes in their localities.
He said researchers should not collect information from communities without ensuring that the communities and local authorities benefited from the knowledge generated.
He urged universities, researchers, and policymakers to work together to ensure that research addressed real development challenges and contributed to improving the physical, social, and economic conditions of citizens.
The Professor also cautioned researchers against overreliance on artificial intelligence (AI) for their work, particularly when seeking information to address local research and development problems.
He said AI systems depended heavily on the large volumes of information available to them and warned that the limited availability of locally generated and published research,ch, could make AI less useful for addressing Ghana-specific challenges.
He therefore called for greater investment in local research and the publication of findings, to increase the volume of locally generated knowledge available for future research and AI applications.
GNA
Edited by Christabel Addo
Reporter: Philip Tengzu
Reporter’s email: [email protected]