Etienne Lwamba

Etienne Lwamba
Designation: Evaluation Specialist
Etienne supports the production of systematic reviews, evidence gap maps and contributes to the Development Evidence Portal. He is currently managing the production of a gender and peacebuilding systematic review.

Blogs by author

Improving women’s empowerment through food systems and nutrition interventions

Food insecurity, hunger, and malnutrition persist globally, with 783 million people facing chronic hunger in 2023. Women are particularly affected, making up 60 percent of the food-insecure population. Restrictive gender norms and inequalities further affect women’s food security, health, and rights.

Assessing the effectiveness of food security and nutrition interventions on gender transformative outcomes

In 2023, 735 million individuals worldwide experienced hunger, and 258 million people across 58 countries and territories faced acute food insecurity at crisis or worse levels. With 60% of them comprising women, the gender gap in food insecurity continues to widen.

What works to reverse democratic backsliding? It’s complicated

Many countries have faced democratic backsliding or autocratization, especially in the past 30 years. With a staggering 72 percent of the world population living in autocracies (according to the V-Dem 2023 report), we need more evidence to better understand what works to support democracy and freedom in backsliding contexts to reverse this trend. To support this effort towards evidence-informed decision-making in democracy programming, 3ie has gathered existing findings in an evidence gap map and rapid evidence assessment (REA), with support from the UK government's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

Strengthening democracy and freedom in backsliding contexts: mapping and synthesizing the evidence

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.

Mapping evidence gaps on good governance and political competition

Political decisions for the common good and political accountability are important drivers of development and stability. These are enabled by good governance and political competition. Although an increasing body of evidence highlights the importance of institutions and good governance for development, the number of free countries, according to the Freedom House Barometer, has reached its lowest level in 15 years,