Making evidence accessible

While there is evidence on the positive short-term impacts of conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes on education, health and poverty reduction, little is known about their long-term effects.

Since the late 1980s, support to agriculture has moved from top-down agricultural extension towards more participatory approaches which better suit smallholder farmers. One such approach is the farmer field school (FFS), an adult education intervention which uses intensive discovery-based learning to promote skills. Although FFS has been used to train 12 million farmers in over 90 countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America, the effectiveness of this approach has long been a subject of debate.

Is there enough evidence to show that increased household income and a better diet can improve children’s nutritional status?

Contaminated water is bad for health, resulting in thousands of premature deaths around the world each year. There is strong evidence that household water treatment has the biggest impact and is the most costeffective method in reducing risks of diarrhoea.

The world is falling behind its targets to improve people’s access to sanitation, with major health costs. There is strong evidence that both sanitation and hygiene interventions are highly effective in reducing risks of diarrhoea, however public health promotion appears more cost-effective.