The first few months of this year have once again highlighted that in a world of growing complexity, volatility and vulnerability, we can strive for collective progress by ensuring our decisions are intentional and credible, i.e., informed by the best available evidence. Across regions and sectors, governments and development partners are focusing on the prioritization of high-impact, cost-effective interventions more than ever.

There is a growing push to rethink development pathways and move beyond traditional models of growth towards approaches that are more inclusive, locally grounded, and responsive to real-world challenges. Our recent engagements in this rapidly shifting global context have reinforced that the real challenge is not a lack of ideas, but ensuring that the right ones translate into meaningful, measurable impact.

At a recent global convening on innovation and entrepreneurship, I was struck by the energy, ambition, and ingenuity of entrepreneurs from across low- and middle-income countries and contexts. Technology, particularly AI and deep tech, is increasingly part of that conversation, alongside new approaches to financing and systems-level transformation.

But one question stayed with me: how do we know what is actually working?

We can describe what we do at 3ie as a form of “evidence entrepreneurship.” Like any entrepreneur, we identify a need or gap and work with partners to close it. In our case, the gap is between what we do and what we know works. Through collaborations such as the Egyptian Observatory for Evaluation and Policy Making (EOEPM), we are helping build systems that ensure evidence is not only generated, but also actively used.

When evidence is acted upon, whether to improve skills, expand economic opportunities, strengthen social protection, or save lives, the returns are profound—the first feature below, right after my message, is a testament to this. This is where partnership becomes central. The most meaningful progress happens when governments, researchers, funders, and practitioners align around shared questions and priorities. Funders of evidence public goods play a particularly critical role in this ecosystem, enabling the generation and use of knowledge that benefits society as a whole.

Another key takeaway from my recent conversations is the need to move beyond outputs to outcomes. Across sectors, we are seeing impressive innovations and solutions. Yet too often, the focus remains on what is delivered, rather than on the change it creates. Bridging this gap—bringing together those who design solutions with those who generate and use evidence—offers a powerful opportunity to accelerate impact.

 As we move further into 2026, this creates a clear agenda: to strengthen partnerships, to invest in evidence that answers real policy questions, and to ensure that innovation is matched by learning. These are not parallel efforts, but they are deeply interconnected. And together, they offer one of the most promising pathways to achieving lasting, large-scale impact.

Influencing policy and improving lives requires trust, long-term partnerships, and meaningful collaboration. Our experience across regions continues to show that sustained engagement with governments, local institutions, and global partners is what helps move the needle.


Marie Gaarder
Executive Director, 3ie

Partnership spotlight
From after thought to infrastructure: DEP at the heart of Latin American development finance 

Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) has made 3ie’s Development Evidence Portal (DEP) the mandatory starting point for every evidence assessment — a model of institutionalized evidence use that is now informing billions in public and private development investments across the region. DEP is free and open for all. Read more

Featured
From relief to resilience: what it takes to sustain gains against food insecurity 

Can humanitarian support create lasting change; or does it only hold hunger at bay? Drawing on evidence from food security interventions, the answer is cautiously optimistic, but not automatic.

Our latest blog tackles this question head-on, drawing on real evidence food security interventions across the world. The answer is cautiously optimistic: well-designed programs can do far more than meet an immediate need. They can help families stabilize meals, ease chronic stress, and lay the groundwork for genuine recovery.

But here's the catch: short-term support alone rarely sticks. Sustaining those gains means connecting emergency relief to longer-term pathways: livelihoods, stronger systems, and continued access to resources. Without that bridge, progress is fragile.

At a time when global food systems face mounting pressures from climate, conflict, and economic shocks, the message is clear: lasting wins require moving beyond emergency relief to integrated, evidence-informed strategies that support resilience over time.

Read blog | Read about our project

Featured
Making AI work for better evidence, not just faster research

As generative AI rapidly enters the research ecosystem, we ask a timely question: how can evaluators use AI to strengthen evidence generation rather than just accelerate it?

Our new blog moves beyond hype to highlight practical applications already in use. From analyzing satellite imagery to validate program implementation, to extracting structured insights from large volumes of documents and multilingual data, AI is expanding what evaluators can measure and understand. So, the message is not just about speed. AI’s real value lies in enabling richer data, better-designed evaluations, and more policy-relevant insights while maintaining rigorous oversight and human judgment. When used thoughtfully and responsibly, AI serves as a tool to deepen the evidence and its use.

Read blog

Featured
Informing more effective food systems and nutrition policies

Our latest synthesis work, supported by the German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval), brings together evidence on how development cooperation can improve food security and nutrition outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using a mixed-methods rapid evidence assessment, we examine the effects of interventions focused on information, capacity strengthening, and behaviour change (ICSBC) across food security, nutrition, and environmental resilience.

The findings highlight both what works and where gaps remain. While there is growing evidence on certain interventions, the research underscores the uneven distribution of studies across regions and approaches and points to the need for more robust and context-specific evaluations. The synthesis also reinforces the importance of combining technical support with behaviour change efforts to achieve sustained improvements in food security and nutrition.

As global food systems face increasing pressures—from climate risks to resource constraints—we offer policymakers and development partners timely insights to help guide smarter investments and more targeted interventions in the region.

Read the working paper | Read the brief

Featured
Featured | From livelihoods to enterprises: Women reshaping rural economies

Women-led enterprises are emerging as powerful drivers of change across rural India. The Ministry of Rural Development’s Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana–National Rural Livelihoods Mission is supporting women to move beyond traditional livelihoods into diverse non-farm enterprises—from tailoring and retail to food processing and handicrafts.

Insights from our field visits and case studies reveal that women often start businesses rooted in existing skills—low-cost, low-risk entry points that build confidence and income. But sustaining and scaling these enterprises requires more: better access to finance, stronger market linkages, and support to transition from household-based activities to more growth-oriented models.

As the program shifts toward economic transformation, our research highlights a critical opportunity—to move from enabling participation to unlocking sustainable growth, ensuring women-led enterprises can thrive at scale and deliver lasting impact.

Read the blog | Read about the study

Announcement | The International Development Coordinating Group is now the Sustainable Development Coordinating Group

3ie and Campbell Collaboration are pleased to announce the renaming of the International Development Coordinating Group (IDCG) as the Sustainable Development Coordinating Group (SDCG). SDCG will continue to be hosted by 3ie, supporting authors of systematic reviews (SRs) and evidence gap maps (EGMs), especially from low- and middle-income countries (L&MICs), through technical expertise, editorial services, and methodological guidance to strengthen the production and dissemination of high-quality evidence synthesis.

This name change reflects a broader shift in how development challenges are understood today. Persistent inequalities within and between countries, alongside transnational risks such as climate change, displacement, and pandemics, have shown that development is a shared, global challenge - not one confined to a subset of countries.

We invite prospective authors to reach out and learn more about SDCG. Please send your questions or requests to development@campbellcollaboration.org.

• Data Collection Firm: Quantitative Survey | Deadline: 19 May 2026
• Long-Term Impact Evaluation of Rural Preschools in Mozambique | Deadline: 27 May 2026

Featured | New editorial board members of Journal of Development Effectiveness 

We’re delighted to welcome Susan W. Parker, Maria Laura Alzua and Agnes Quisumbing to the editorial board of 3ie's Journal of Development Effectiveness. Their deep expertise across development economics, policy, evidence, gender, labor and health will strengthen the journal’s scholarly rigour, improve the quality and timeliness of reviews, and enhance the visibility of cutting-edge research that informs better development decisions.

Our Journal invites scholarly works on the generation and use of evidence on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of programs and policies that are meant to improve the lives of people in low- and middle-income countries. This includes, among other contributions, impact evaluations, systematic reviews, evidence gap maps and methodological papers that address attribution through a variety of techniques, including experimental, quasi-experimental and mixed-method approaches. Papers that help users of evidence learn from null results are also welcome. We also encourage papers that advance understanding of what it takes to ensure the use of evidence to inform decision-making.

To submit an article to the journal, please read the guidance here.

Read the latest issue here.

3ie’s Senior Research Fellows Program includes experts from various sectors – including development, evaluation, policy as well as academia. This month, we feature Sudhanshu (Ashu) Handa—Kenan Eminent Professor of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A trained economist, Ashu is one of the principal investigators of The Transfer Project, an initiative in partnership with UNICEF and FAO to document the wide-ranging impacts of government-sponsored cash transfer programs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sudhanshu is also one of the chief editors of 3ie’s Journal of Development Effectiveness. Read more

Since 2020, 3ie's Fellowship Program has contributed to achieving our mission by tapping into diverse expertise and experience across the world.