Organisations Aiming to Inform Policy
HLSP Institute (Institute for Health Sector Development)
The HLSP Institute aims to inform debate and policy on global health issues and national health systems, in order to reduce inequalities in health.
The Institute assesses new and emerging issues in international health and development practice. It addresses how best to strengthen the national response to HIV and AIDS, both within the health sector and taking account of HIV in other sectors.
The HLSP Institute is part of HLSP: a health consulting and project management company. HLSP works for international agencies, national governments and health authorities.
The HLSP Institute was established to enhance HLSP's capacity to contribute to international debate and influence policy. The Institute was formed when the Institute for Health Sector Development ( IHSD ) was merged with HLSP, in April 2005.
The Institute draws on HLSP experience and expertise in health, HIV and AIDS policy and practice, health systems and aid management. The Institute ensures that this experience is shared and used to maintain the quality of all HLSP's consulting work.
HLSP is part of the Mott MacDonald Group, a worldwide consultancy firm with specialists in education, water, sanitation, infrastructure and the environment operating from an extensive network of offices.
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MedAct
Medact is a global health charity tackling issues at the centre of international policy debates. Led by its health professional membership it undertakes education, research and advocacy on the health implications of conflict, development and environmental change, with a special focus on the developing world.
Medact speaks out for countless people across the globe whose health, wellbeing and access to proper health care are severely compromised by the effects of war, poverty and environmental damage.
It campaigns and lobbies governments, international bodies and other influential organisations. It calls on them to take positive action on preventing violent conflict, improving health and on raising the standards of health care worldwide.
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Overseas Development Institute ( ODI )
ODI is an independent think tank on international development and humanitarian issues. Its mission is to inspire and inform policy and practice which lead to the reduction of poverty, the alleviation of suffering and the achievement of sustainable livelihoods in developing countries. It does this by locking together high quality applied research, practical policy advice, and policy-focused dissemination and debate. They work with partners in the public and private sectors, in both developing and developed countries.
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Oxford Policy Management
OPM was established in 1996 as an independent research-based consultancy, having previously been part of the University of Oxford. It has aims to provide an independent approach, rigour and informed analysis together with the ability to provide practical assistance in solving clients' problems.
It provides analysis, advice and support in the design and implementation of economic and social development policies primarily in poor and middle income countries. It aims to strengthen the public institutions in charge of those policies and, through them, to contribute to improved economic and social outcomes.
OPM has a core group of full-time staff and Associates and a back office administration team to support project management.
From its original focus on sub-Saharan Africa, over the years OPM has progressively expanded its geographic reach to include South Asia and more recently the Caribbean and Latin America, Central Asia, East and South East Asia, East Europe and the Former Soviet Union, the Middle East and the South Caucasus.
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UN Research Institute for Social Development
The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development ( UNRISD ) is an autonomous UN agency engaging in multidisciplinary research on the social dimensions of contemporary problems affecting development. Through its research, UNRISD stimulates dialogue and contributes to policy debates on key issues of social development within and outside the United Nations system.
UNRISD was created in 1963 as part of the first United Nations Development Decade. The Decade emphasised a "new approach to development", in which "purely economic indicators of progress were seen to provide only limited insight and might conceal as much as they indicate". UNRISD thus became a pioneer in developing social indicators and broadened the development debate. Since then, the Institute has sought to promote a holistic and multidisciplinary approach to social development by focusing on decision-making processes, often conflicting social forces, and the question of who wins and who loses as economies grow or contract and societies change.
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