While Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) increasingly recognise the need to engage with policy processes more effectively, there is also prevailing thinking that what is considered to be 'evidence' by them is frequently seen to be lacking in rigour and credibility by the policy makers, the very people who are meant to use this to inform policy. It is therefore crucial for CSOs to build their capacity to generate and use evidence in the most constructive and compelling manner.

Objectives
Against this background this workshop aims to exploring the following questions: What do we mean by evidence? What are the characteristics of 'credible' evidence? Is it possible to rank these characteristics in relation to making evidence convincing? The workshop is expected to enable CSO participants to: (a) discuss the characteristics of credible evidence, (b) Rank them in order of importance and based on that, (c) Develop a common understanding on what is 'convincing evidence'.

Process
The workshop will be facilitated by Naved Chowdhury and Enrique Mendizabal of the Overseas Development Institute, London. Active participation is the cornerstone of the approach in the workshop with emphasis placed on participants' own knowledge and experience.