From Knowledge to Action: University-Third Sector Knowledge Network Frontiers
by
Janet M Lum
Ryerson University
Coauthors: A Paul Williams Raisa B Deber

Third sector community organizations in Canada and internationally have historically recognized the importance of accumulated experiences to address social and economic problems. Recently, organizations in the third sector are increasingly drawing on academic research findings and “evidenced-based” best practices, in part, to increase the efficacy of their service and program delivery, and, in part, to demonstrate to governments through systematic studies and measurable outcomes, the importance of a viable third sector to vibrant and sustainable economies and societies.

At the same time, in Canada, major national funding councils such as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, frustrated by the often slow and haphazard transfer of research findings into practice, have moved toward supporting initiatives that get knowledge into the right hands, at the right time, in the right format to accelerate the benefits of research.

This paper argues that knowledge exchange networks transform the role of the third sector from being primarily the object of research to partners in the research process. It suggests that knowledge exchange networks can increase the capacity of the third sector to catalyze social change in health care as well as in other areas including addressing poverty, inequality and security.

It draws on two case studies of university-third sector knowledge exchange initiatives involving multi-universities and numerous non-profit organizations. The first focuses on a SSHRC funded “Canadian Research Network for Care in the Community”, an international knowledge exchange network of over 350 providers, citizen groups and non-profit organizations involved in community and social supports and researchers from Ryerson University and University of Toronto. The network’s mission is to exchange knowledge about the crucial role of home and community care in the broader continuum of care. Recently, it has moved to a stronger position, pointing to the importance of community supports for the sustainability of the broader health system. The second case study focuses on an innovative community-academic partnership in a United Way funded research project that examined the role of community supports provided to low income, mostly female seniors with multiple health issues by non-profit agencies in Toronto, Canada. It was conducted by university-based researchers at Ryerson University and the University of Toronto, in collaboration with community researchers in 7 non-profit organizations, including Canada’s largest provider of non-profit rent-geared to income housing for over 164,000 residents.

In both cases (authors are lead investigators), the research process was designed to develop new, more accessible means of knowledge transfer and to test tools and techniques that build capacity among stakeholders to participate in research and use research knowledge to advance practice and improve decision-making.

Based on the experience of these cases, this paper aims to: 1) discuss the extent to which knowledge exchange can affect third sector capacity; 2) examine the key challenges of academic and third sector organizations working together; 3) investigate the structural arrangements that can maximize collaborative decision making and the strengths of both sectors; 4) explore the mechanisms that can best move knowledge systematically out to other third sector organizations; 5) outline how to support reciprocal relationships and build sustained connections and interactive relationships between researchers and third sector participants; 6) analyse what tools can be used to assess the effectiveness of knowledge mobilization strategies.

We suggest that knowledge exchange and the networks that support it are increasingly vital for third sector organizations. Such networks are crucial for evidence-based decision-making and best practices and build capacity in the third sector while leading to joint discovery, development and application of research knowledge. This is especially important given the substantial erosion of the internal capacity of third sector organizations in the last several decades under neo-liberal government agendas.

References

Canadian Health Services Research Foundation. Network notes I: What's all this talk about networks? Ottawa: Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, 2005.

Lomas J. Connecting research and policy. Canadian Journal of Policy Research. 2000; 23(2):140-144.

Lum JM, Ruff S, Williams AP. When home is community: Community support services and the well-being of seniors in supportive and social housing. Toronto: United Way of Greater Toronto, 2005.

Date received: October 14, 2007