When policymakers come to us for rapid response evidence, they want it to be immediate, actionable, and reliable, drawing on findings from high-quality evaluations. These requirements can sometimes seem to be at odds – often there are details of a specific policy situation that have not yet been addressed by rigorous research. So how do we balance the competing needs to be both actionable and rigorous?
In May 2021, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and 3ie began a partnership to advance the learning and knowledge base around the evaluation, design, and implementation of policy and institutional reform (PIR) interventions. We conducted a scoping review that identified gaps in the way PIR interventions are studied and evaluated, and we are now ready to launch an interactive ‘Methods Menu’ that aims to address many of those gaps. The menu aims to increase awareness and uptake of complexity-informed and mixed-methods approaches to strengthen the way PIR is evaluated and implemented.
With the slowing down of progress towards SDG 7, we move into the second phase of the 2030 agenda with more urgent questions about what interventions are effective to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with the war in Ukraine aggravated the global energy crisis resulting in the scaling back of even basic electricity access around the world
In 2019, 269 million children under five, 32 million pregnant women, and over half a billion women of reproductive age were reported to be affected by anaemia. The condition causes adverse health outcomes, delayed cognitive and physical development in children, and reduced productivity which may lead to economic losses
Sexual and reproductive rights are human rights, and the right to make sexual and reproductive decisions affects sexual and reproductive health. To understand the extent of the evidence on sexual and reproductive health and rights, and inform decision-making, 3ie is developing an evidence gap map (EGM).
3ie has now been engaging in its ambitious living evidence mapping process for three years. The mid-term report showed a mixed message: although we have added 267 impact evaluations and systematic reviews of impact evaluations to the map in the last two years, the rate of expansion in the evidence base has slowed since 2019.
The COVAX Facility aimed to accelerate the development, production and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide. To ensure equitable access for 92 low-income (LICs) and lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) within the COVAX Facility, Gavi created a separate funding mechanism — the Advance Market Commitment (AMC). By the end of 2021, the COVAX Facility and AMC had provided close to 1 billion doses to 144 countries. While this vaccine supply was broadly equitable (prioritizing LICs and LMICs), vaccine coverage rates across countries were inequitable.
Almost a year ago, we announced in this blog 3ie's collaboration with USAID’s Bureau of Resilience and Food Security (RFS) to map the existing evidence and gaps in four technical areas: agriculture-led growth, resilience, nutrition-sensitive agriculture and water security, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). While these maps are intended to help guide RFS’ programmatic and strategic investments, they have much broader applications for the international development community as they reveal key insights into priority evidence gaps.
In recent years, international observers such as the V-Dem Institute have highlighted an alarming crisis of democracy with a decline in competitive elections, political participation and public accountability. For the first time in two decades, the Institute’s 2023 Democracy Report found more closed autocracies than liberal democracies in the world.
