Open defecation poses significant health risks for individuals and communities across the globe. The practice affects vulnerable populations through diseases such as diarrhoea, schistomiasis and trachoma, which often lead to stunting and malnutrition in children. It is particularly prevalent in India, which is home to 59 per cent of the 1.1 billion people in the world who practice open defecation.

With climate change becoming a reality, agricultural productivity has suffered considerably. This has put at risk the livelihood of the majority of the world’s poor, who are dependent on agriculture and related activities. Various risk mitigation solutions such as improved seeds and drought irrigation have shown promising results, but the role of transferring risk via agricultural insurance demands deeper exploration.

When the authors of a huge study with a sample size of 1.1 million people of European descent were asked about policy lessons gleaned from their study, they said: ‘None whatsoever’. At a time when funders insist that researchers show the impact of their studies on policies and programmes this blunt answer seems rather baffling. That this exchange is in a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) longer than the study itself is another surprise.

After 6 years, 3ie’s replication programme is finishing its fourth round of 3ie-funded replication studies. In recognition of this round’s completion, 3ie and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) recently hosted a joint engagement event, Financial services for the poor programmes – verifying evidence for policymaking. Ben (3ie) and Michael (IFAD) co-hosted the event. At the event, 3ie’s current replication researchers presented their draft results.

Learning from one’s past mistakes is a sign of maturity. Given that metric, 3ie is growing up. We now require pilot research before funding most full impact evaluation studies. Our pilot studies requirement was developed to address a number of issues, including assessing whether there is sufficient intervention uptake, identifying or verifying whether the expected or detectable effect is reasonable and determining the similarity of participants within clusters.