Ethiopian Practitioner KIIs

The LASER PULSE consortium conducted key informant interviews with eight Ethiopian practitioners virtually in June and July 2020. Representatives from Catholic Relief Services and The University of Notre Dame were unable to visit Ethiopia due to the pandemic, and instead conducted the interviews via videoconference. The individuals interviewed represented four INGOs, two government institutions, and two local NGOs. The overall aim of the interviews was to understand the context of research from the perspective of Ethiopian practitioners and how it contributes to the work of international development. Discussions focused on the practitioners experiences with research translation. The key takeaways from the interviews were that practitioners value research and want research findings that can be applied to projects. Furthermore, they want to work with researchers so that research includes practitioner perspectives from the beginning of the research. Finally they are interested in research partnerships in which there is an agreed objective and in which the findings are readily disseminated. Findings from these interviews will shape the sessions on research translation at the Ethiopian R4D conference and LASER PULSE strategy.