The evidence-to-policy conundrum and how to solve it

Does better evidence lead to better policies and programs? Massive amounts of reliable evidence, drawing on scientifically strong methods, including randomized controlled trials, mixed-methods approaches, and more, have been generated and disseminated in recent decades. A Nobel Prize has been awarded for that pathbreaking work. Yet the impact of that evidence – on what policymakers and program implementers think and do – has been far below expectations, even pitifully tiny according to some accounts. billion people.

Insights from the Development Evidence Portal – the Middle East and North Africa

Our latest piece in the ‘state of the evidence’ series – which interprets data by unpacking the studies in our Development Evidence Portal (DEP) – focuses on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. . The DEP currently includes 740 impact evaluations (IE) and 352 systematic reviews (SR) from the region, which is the second smallest amongst regions containing low- and middle-income countries (L&MICs). Interested readers are encouraged to further explore the DEP for additional data not covered in this blog.

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Latest blogs

It’s time to take note of the Self Help Groups’ potential

Bidisha Barooah, Ritwik Sarkar, Zeba Siddiqui 02 June 2020 blog

As the world is scrambling for resources to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak, India is fortunate to have a motivated cadre of women assisting the fight at the community-level. Rightfully called the ‘silent soldiers’, the 690 lakh or so women members of around 63 lakh Self Help Groups (SHGs) across the country formed under the Indian government’s flagship Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) have come to the forefront.

Building roads where few exist can pay big dividends by raising people's incomes

Paul Thissen 02 June 2020 blog

Roads are one of the most basic forms of infrastructure. More than half of all official development assistance for economic infrastructure between 2005 and 2013 – at least $60 billion worldwide – went to road projects. Is all that investment worthwhile?

Scaling up development interventions requires planning from the beginning, 3ie's expert panel says

Paul Thissen 29 May 2020 blog

Even if development projects are highly effective at a small scale, many are abandoned before they can have the type of large-scale impacts needed to alleviate poverty. To learn more about how projects can grow past the pilot phase, nearly 300 people joined 3ie’s expert panel on scaling up interventions, the last of its Virtual Evidence Weeks events.

Cost analyses should be required by donors and get more respect from researchers, 3ie’s expert panel says

Paul Thissen 22 May 2020 blog

There is plenty of interest from policymakers in having cost analyses accompany impact evaluations, as we learned in last week’s Virtual Evidence Weeks panel. Our expert panelists agreed that overcoming these barriers will require pressure from funding organizations.

Implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on impact evaluation activities in East Africa

19 May 2020 blog

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has affected virtually every sphere of life across the world, including impact evaluations. To better understand these effects, we conducted a rapid informal survey of evaluation researchers in East Africa via email.

Which ways to improve maternal and newborn health are cost effective?

Paul Thissen 19 May 2020 blog

More than one third of countries in the world – including nearly all of Sub-Saharan Africa – will fail to meet the Sustainable Development Goals’ benchmarks for maternal and newborn health if current trends continue, according to Duke University researchers.

Can transparency and accountability initiatives improve natural resource governance?

Francis Rathinam , Zeba Siddiqui 18 May 2020 blog

Resource-dependent countries often fail to benefit from their natural resource wealth. Countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria have vast quantities of natural resources, yet their per capita incomes are among the lowest in the world.

Addressing the need for timely and reliable evidence in the time of COVID-19

Birte Snilstveit, Laurenz Langer, Tamara Lotfi 18 May 2020 blog

The COVID-19 pandemic brings the importance of high-quality, timely and relevant evidence to the fore. Governments all over the world justify radical policies to control and manage the pandemic with reference to evidence.

Cost evidence in development evaluations: Demand is there, but supply is not, 3ie’s expert panel says

Paul Thissen 15 May 2020 blog

Despite the key role of costs in determining which development interventions are implemented, cost analyses have not seen the same rise in prominence in the last decade as impact evaluations.

3ie’s new Development Evidence Portal: Our expert panel walks you through its features

Paul Thissen 13 May 2020 blog

While we’re not yet in a world where finding the best development evidence is as easy as asking Alexa or Siri a question, 3ie’s new Development Evidence Portal gets us one step closer to that goal. The newly revamped repository of development evidence includes powerful search and filtering functions for its 3745 impact evaluations, 730 systematic reviews, and 20 evidence gap maps.

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Evidence Matters is 3ie’s blog. It primarily features contributions from staff and board members. Guest blogs are by invitation.

3ie publishes blogs in the form received from the authors. Any errors or omissions are the sole responsibility of the authors. Views expressed are their own and do not represent the opinions of 3ie, its board of commissioners or supporters.