Knowledge to Policy: Developing Information Linkage in Afghanistan

Reported are conclusions from personal experience as an advisor to skeptical Afghan policymakers on the use of social science information in policy formation. An important need in such a context is an understanding of the structure of the administrative system. Informal constraints on officials generate a pattern of conservatism & elaborate formal procedures to avoid loss of livelihood or family honor. Few links exist between departments. Since the Kabul U Research Center (KURC) is under the Ministry of Higher Education, it has little communication with other ministries. Research is haphazard & has low credibility. KURC itself is not well organized & does not offer incentives for research. A brokerage role made it possible to put some research to use. Local research personnel should be developed to produce a native group favoring social change; anthropologists must become involved in the policy process to solve these problems. W. H. Stoddard.