In the countries where the West Africa Capacity-building and Impact Evaluation (WACIE) program works, the gaps in evaluation experience are stark, as the program's scoping study found. Accordingly, the use of evidence in policymaking is limited. But the barrier is capacity, not interest – the same study found that the desire among policymakers and evaluation professionals for support and capacity building was nearly-universal.
At 3ie, with our biggest offices in India and the United States, we're currently treading on both sides of a stark, life-and-death divide. On our regular video calls, our faces are intermingled on the screen. But right now, when we step away, we walk into different worlds.
With COVID still raging across the world, the topic of immunization is receiving more attention than it has in decades. Today, the world is waiting to see if immunizations will help turn the corner and end the biggest health and humanitarian crisis in a generation. Given this, policymakers and implementers need to know what works to increase immunization rates, for whom, and at what cost.
In the Ecuadorian Amazon, a highly biodiverse tropical rainforest, more than 3,000 active oil wells pose threats to both the people and wildlife who live there. In addition to accidental oil spills, these wells' operators sometimes intentionally discharge toxic byproducts of the oil production process into streams and rivers.
The world's development institutions collect lots of data – but do they learn from it? Perhaps not as much as they should. Between the challenges of quick timelines, rigid systems, and disconnects between implementers and evaluators, development agencies do not always walk the talk of evidence-informed decision-making, 3ie's expert panel agreed.
Given the variety of ways in which evidence is taken up and used, we found that ‘you will know evidence uptake and use when you see it’ is not a good enough standard. We are in the business of evidence, not anecdotes. So, we developed a detailed typology of the ways decision-makers take up and use research evidence, particularly findings and lessons from impact evaluations.
In 2019, as South African President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his State of the Nation address, one of his new policy announcements was the expansion of a program aimed at helping children learn to read.
In 2020, 23 per cent of the world’s population lived in fragile contexts, including 76.5 per cent of all those living in extreme poverty. While women comprise about half of the population in fragile and conflict-affected contexts (FCAS), there are often major gaps in how interventions in these settings consider their inclusion and empowerment.
The changes that research findings set in motion are often hidden from plain view. Evidence may inform the knowledge base for policies and programmes before decision makers make any concrete plans or contribute to small changes that they can push through.
Although aquaculture production has seen increased growth in recent decades, the evidence around the impact of aquaculture programmes on the welfare and health of participants in the aquaculture value chain remains scarce. If you know of any studies, published or unpublished, that evaluate aquaculture interventions with a gender lens, do share these papers and supplement our search.
