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

On World Food Day, think once more about food systems, instead of just deciding what to eat today

Charlotte Lane, Rike Riesmeier, Tina Koch, Thalia Sparling 14 October 2021 blog

Every time you sit down for a meal, you are part of a food system—the chain from production through distribution to your plate and disposal of leftovers. Most of the time, people only focus on the near end of that chain: what to eat today.

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

Meital Kupfer, Nkululeko Tshabalala, Promise Nduku, Laurenz Langer, Etienne Lwamba, Shannon Shisler 07 October 2021 blog

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.

Evaluation approaches to scaling – application and lessons

Johannes Linn 30 September 2021 blog

In the second blog of his two-part series, 3ie Senior Research Fellow Johannes Linn builds on the discussion in Part I around the factors that support and hinder the scaling process and pathway. In this piece, he writes about both quantitative and qualitative evidence-based evaluation of scaling efforts and the practical application of these approaches.

Evidence impact: informing better monitoring and measurement of interventions

Avni Mishra, Kirthi Rao 28 September 2021 blog

How helpful can an evaluation be if it shows an intervention had no effects on desired outcomes? The first evaluation of a community-driven reconstruction (CDR) program called Tuungane, implemented in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is one such study. The evaluation did not show positive effects on all desired social and behavioural outcomes, but it did help the implementer, International Rescue Committee (IRC), revamp some of its systems.

Evaluation for impact at scale – a need for interventions along the pathway

Johannes Linn 22 September 2021 blog

Impact at scale is the new mantra – whether it is for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, for the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement, or for realizing the goals of the Sendai Framework on disaster risk reduction. Achieving impact at scale, however, remains challenging and is the subject of much discussion

Developing evaluation capacity: a conversation with the head of World Bank's Global Evaluation Initiative

Developing evaluation capacity: a conversation with the head of Global Evaluation Initiative

Paul Thissen 09 September 2021 blog

It seems straightforward: producing and using high-quality development evidence requires evaluators and policymakers to have the capacity to do so. However, getting there is not always so simple. When funding decisions are made and evaluation programs assembled, capacity strengthening efforts often take a back seat to other priorities.

What do we know about the impacts of aquaculture?

Constanza Gonzalez Parrao, Shannon Shisler, Kirthi Rao 12 August 2021 blog

Our systematic review finds that aquaculture interventions improve productivity and income for fish farmers in most contexts. However, we need more and more rigorous measurement of impact, particularly on nutrition and women’s empowerment outcomes. While many aquaculture programmes target low- and middle-income countries, there is an overall lack of rigorous impact studies. The studies that could be included also had an overall high risk of bias and do not usually allow for subgroups analysis.

Evidence impact: Improving education worldwide through the use of systematic review evidence

Paul Thissen 05 August 2021 blog

With development evidence, as with many things, more is generally better. But there's a caveat: lots of evidence on a topic can easily be overwhelming unless there's a good synthesis to tease out the strong findings from the background noise.

What works to empower women in fragile settings?

Will Ridlehoover, Etienne Lwamba, Meital Kupfer, Shannon Shisler 29 July 2021 blog

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.

Evidence Dialogues: A new Evidence Gap Map shows what we know, and what we don't, about routine vaccinations

Paul Thissen 23 July 2021 blog

While the COVID pandemic may be what brought vaccinations to the forefront of global headlines, the public health community has been working for decades to make sure everyone gets the shots they need. Experts gathered for a 3ie Evidence Dialogues discussion to reflect on a new resource for those looking for evidence about how best to accomplish that aim: 3ie's new Evidence Gap Map on routine childhood immunizations.

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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.