CDKN is delighted to present the findings of our annual survey.  The survey was sent out to members of CDKN’s Roster of Experts, Action Lab participants, and subscribers to CDKN’s newsletter in November and December, 2011. It reviews our products and services, such as policy reports and website, performance across our different strands of work, and experiences of working with CDKN.

Here are some of the headline findings:

• CDKN’s newsletter was used ‘sometimes’ or ‘frequently’ by over 67% of respondents, with the website used at least ‘sometimes’ by 60%.
• CDKN publications and policy briefs received the highest approval rating, with 88% of respondents who ventured an opinion saying they were good or excellent. This was closely followed by the newsletter, with 84% of respondents saying it was good or excellent. Over 80% of respondents also said the website was good or excellent, and less than 2% thought it was poor.
• In general, the proportion of respondents from the South who thought that CDKN’s services or products were ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ (88% for each of the website, newsletter and publications respectively) were higher than in the North.
• Over 83% of respondents said the CDKN was effective or very effective at facilitating knowledge sharing.
• Around 74% of respondents thought the CDKN was very effective or effective at facilitating partnerships between different organisations, although this figure was higher (83%) amongst Southern respondents and much lower (56%) amongst Northern respondents.
• CDKN was reported as having significant influence over organisations’ ideas, visibility and linkages/networks, but relatively less influence over capacity, practices and policies.
• 83% of respondents said CDKN supported their need for up-to-date and/or cutting edge information. NGOs and research institutes were the most positive of the respondent groups in this area.
• NGOs and research institutes viewed CDKN as particularly good at developing partnerships – over 80% rated it as good or very good. By contrast, more individuals rated CDKN as ‘poor’ or ‘average’ at developing partnerships than ‘good’ or ‘very good’.
• Overall, individual consultants, many belonging to the CDKN Roster of Experts, were more likely to rate CDKN as performing poorly than organisations such as NGOs and research institutes.
• Approval ratings were generally higher from individual respondents and organisations based in the South, which accounted for about 60% of all respondents.
• Several respondents made critical comments about CDKN systems and procedures – particularly concerning how CDKN uses its Roster of Experts.

Read the report here.

Image: Young boys studying. India. Courtesy of World Bank - Curt Carnemark.