Inclusion as societal impact: Lessons from post legislative participatory research on disability‑inclusive policymaking in Kenya

This paper examines how societal impact can be generated through research conducted after formal policymaking decisions, by shaping inclusion, evidence practices, and readiness for implementation and future governance. Building on definitions of societal impact that extend beyond direct influence on policy decisions, the paper conceptualises impact as observable changes in capabilities, relationships, and practices within policy systems. It draws on a participatory qualitative research project undertaken following the enactment of Kenya’s Persons with Disabilities Act of 2025, which concluded a policymaking process spanning more than a decade. Rather than contributing to legislative drafting, the research examined the policymaking process retrospectively and treated inclusion as a form of societal impact generated through the research process itself. Persons with disabilities and their representative organisations (OPDs) were embedded across the research lifecycle as co-investigators, members and leaders of a multi-stakeholder steering committee, co-analysts in a participatory analysis workshop, and participants in interviews and focus groups. The paper shows that participatory research conducted after policy formulation can generate societal impact by strengthening OPDs’ analytical capabilities, relationships with policymakers and researchers, and evidence practices relevant to implementation and future engagement. The findings suggest that inclusion can function not only as a pathway to impact, but as a form of societal impact in its own right, observable through changes in how knowledge is produced, interpreted, and used in governance processes.