Our vision is a world in which poverty does not exist, social justice prevails and the voices of all people are heard in national and international institutions. We believe that generating, mobilising and sharing knowledge, through research, teaching and communications, plays a key part in realising this vision. Our mission is to work with a network of partners to:

•	Develop dynamic ideas and analysis on the global issues that shape our world
•	Provide practical solutions that accelerate sustainable poverty reduction, promote social justice and ensure that all people’s voices are heard
•	Use authoritative research, innovative teaching and cutting-edge communications to influence key audiences in order to achieve our vision.

Initiatives under the R&AP have show a way forward to the communities to use ‘voice’ and R&A as a medium of communicating their needs, demands and desires. Simultaneously, it also provides them an opportunity to build and enhance their capacities; thus giving them an opportunity to explore alternative sources of employment that had been, so far, the prerogative of the middle and the higher classes. The use of ICTs enabled them to develop self-esteem among themselves and has enabled them to sit across with other stakeholders to design their own programmes and strategies for their own development.

By the effective implementation of R&AP activities the community would become more empowered on the development aspects. The activities under this programme have learned that the use of ICTs will help them raise their ‘voices’ at various platforms. The community togetherness and involvement will enable them to strengthen their ‘voice’ and joint initiatives will help them to showcase the best practices for replication elsewhere. The collective approach will definitely bring and reflect the changes in Knowledge, Attitude, Practices and Behavior of the community and may help the research in bringing out that community empowerment with bottom-up approach helps to bring out some tangible changes. Distribution of publications, reports and organization of workshops, meetings to enable the beneficiaries, service providers, CSOs and donors to discuss relevant outcomes of the development project, its strengths and weaknesses and suggest ways to further improve the programs.

The impact of the advocacy activities under R&AP can be assessed through all kinds of participatory approaches, such as ‘peer to peer appraisals’, ‘open space methodology’, etc. A deeper understanding of best practices advocacy would require the development of appropriate indicators and measures. The impact could be assessed by designing the qualitative analysis. A few of the quantitative indicators in some areas would help to measure the impact and the change that the interventions has brought in relation to health, gender, education, livelihood etc. In nutshell, the impact assessment would be designed in a manner that the community voices themselves speak about the change supported by the qualitative and quantitative assessment. When R&AP was planned in 2002, it was one of the first institutes of its kind. Now there are many more research organisations and think tanks. However, R&AP or Open Forum remains distinctive in its commitment and approach to development. We see our current strengths relying primarily on our:

•	People-centred perspective on development which recognises the many faces of poverty, and the way that power differentials can mediate progress towards equity, justice and poverty reduction
•	Integrated ways of working, combining research, teaching and communications work. Open Forum is one of the only development organisations that is a world leader in all three spheres. We work hard to integrate these elements as we recognise the positive synergies that their interaction generates
•	Multidisciplinary approach which we see as essential in tackling the complex and multifaceted challenges of development
	Unique network of partners and contacts which stretches from international agencies to grassroots activists and spans civil society, governments, the business sector and the media
	Reputation and credibility. Built up over 8+ years, this provides Open Forum with the convening power to bring together leading players in development policy and practice and to capture the attention of a wide audience.