Five lessons from our Transparent, Reproducible, and Ethical Evidence (TREE) reviews

We have been consolidating our efforts to develop stronger systems for producing transparent, reproducible, and ethical evidence (TREE). We have emphasized asking ourselves the right questions at the right times, even when there are no easy answers. We’ve examined very specific questions such as: Does a state of scarcity or equipoise make it ethical to withhold an intervention from a control group?

Martin Ravallion, poverty researcher and impact evaluation pioneer: 1952-2022

Martin, regularly ranked amongst the world’s leading development economists, played a central role in the mainstreaming of poverty in the development agenda. In these days of the SDGs, younger people may not be aware that there was a time when poverty was at best a marginal concern in most development discourse. Modernization and growth held sway.

3ie Living Evidence Gap Map: New food systems evaluations focus on the big picture

Food systems transformation is a global problem, and increasingly evaluations of food systems interventions are considering national and transnational solutions. The world's food system is under threat from the “three Cs” – COVID, climate, and conflict. As the Food and Agriculture Organization notes, the war in Ukraine brought these threats into sharp focus in 2022, pushing the already high global food prices even higher. To mitigate the effects of, and eventually recover from, these shocks, we need to know what interventions are effective at improving food security and nutrition, who they work for, and what they cost. In our newest update to our living Evidence Gap Map we've added 72 new studies, some of which show positive effects of nation-wide plans to shift land ownership policies.