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

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,

Why we need qualitative evidence in systematic reviews: the case of the Gender SR

We recently completed a new systematic review, ‘Strengthening women’s empowerment and gender equality in fragile contexts towards peaceful and inclusive societies’. This systematic review, also called the Gender SR, examined 14 gender-specific and gender-transformative interventions focusing on women’s empowerment in fragile contexts.

What works to empower women in fragile settings?

Across the globe, women face tremendous challenges when it comes to equitable access to resources, exercising meaningful agency and decision-making power and aspiring to and accomplishing achievements. In fragile and conflict-affected settings, those challenges are often exacerbated, as women are particularly vulnerable and often left out of decision-making.

15 years after "Will we ever learn?": Well, did we?

Fifteen years ago, the Evaluation Gap Working Group published a report noting the absence of solid evidence on the effectiveness of development programming. This report, and the intellectual community behind it, drove a wave of work on impact evaluations in the development sector. So, did we learn?