Les sciences sociales au service du débat démocratique au Sud : enjeux, supports, retombées. Résultats d'expériences dans le champ de l'économie et de la statistique

While researchers are increasingly encouraged to refocus their publishing activities towards so called “excellence” academic journals, the question of knowledge dissemination and its role in developing countries becomes more acute. This dilemma, whereby any scientist is confronted, affects even more social sciences since they bear directly on topics and social issues where social demand is huge and unsatisfied, especially in the South. This contribution proposes to make explicit the foundations of this contradiction and discuss the potential role of communication strategies of research results and practical consequences which they generate. It addresses, inter alia, the question of media, targeted audiences, communication language, its effects and risks for the researcher when it deals with politically sensitive issues (corruption, discrimination, evaluation of public policies, etc.). This contribution feed on author’s experiences over the past 20 years in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia.