How can impact-assessment knowledge move beyond reports to reach communities, enable dialogue, incorporate local knowledge and contribute to better decisions?
Impact assessment has developed sophisticated methods for identifying and managing environmental and social impacts, with growing attention to participation. Yet an question remains: what happens to knowledge once it leaves the assessment report?
This poster examines the gap between knowledge production and use. Technical information may be shared without being understood, while consultation may occur without ensuring that community experience influences decisions.
Drawing on 15+ years of professional experience in Burundi in communication, media, marketing, customer relations, distribution and stakeholder engagement, the analysis explores how knowledge can move from technical production to public understanding, dialogue and decision-making.
Two lessons guide the analysis. First, reach is not the same as understanding: information can reach diverse audiences but be interpreted differently because of language, context, trust and opportunities for clarification. Second, communication creates value when it enables feedback, allowing questions, concerns and local knowledge to reach decision-makers.
The poster proposes a Knowledge Journey: Impact Assessment → Knowledge Production → Accessible Communication → Understanding → Dialogue ↔ Community and Local Knowledge → Participation → Decision-Making → Monitoring → Future Impact Assessment.
A six-step diagnostic—Reach, Understand, Contextualise, Dialogue, Consider and Learn—identifies where this journey succeeds or breaks down. Stronger pathways can help knowledge be understood, exchanged, used and transformed into learning.
Bizimana Longin is a Burundian media and business executive with 15+ years in media, marketing, communication, distribution and management, connecting information with communities.