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June 2017   Making Evidence matter
Evidence uptake and use from 3ie-funded studies
Impact evaluation of a Zimbabwe intervention to increase demand for voluntary medical male circumcision informs pilot intervention in Uganda: Grassroot Soccer’s sports-based intervention, Make the Cut Plus (MTC+) aims to increase demand for voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) among adolescent students (aged 15 to 19 years) in secondary schools in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. MTC+ consists of a combination of initiatives led by a circumcised male coach. This includes a 60-minute soccer-themed educational session, referrals, follow-up phone calls with interested participants, and soccer-based incentives to adolescent men who undergo circumcision. A 3ie-supported impact evaluation of this intervention provides strong evidence on the effectiveness (and cost effectiveness) of MTC+ in increasing VMMC uptake. This evaluation helped Grassroot Soccer refine the programme design, especially the components around training of coaches, follow-up phone calls, accompaniment to clinic, and establishing rapport between coaches and participants. After incorporating these changes, Grassroot Soccer is now piloting the redesigned programme in collaboration with the Uganda Virus Research Institute.
3ie Washington Evidence Week, 24-27 April 2017
3ie hosted a series of internal and external events as part of Washington Evidence Week 2017. Events included the bi-annual board meeting and ninth annual members’ conference. Representatives from 31 member organisations shared information about their evaluation successes and challenges. Notably this year, members participated in an organised discussion about the 3ie membership structure and functions. Board and organisational members enjoyed learning about work that the 3ie Washington office is doing. Everyone showed their appreciation for Richard Manning’s exemplary tenure as the board chair by organising a quintet ensemble performance and dinner.

Evidence for whom: Do decision makers have the evidence they need to address inequalities?
3ie also organised a one-day conference, Evidence for whom: Do decision makers have the evidence they need to address inequalities, More than a 100 people attended four sessions that addressed how to ensure that high-quality evidence production and its use helps us address inequalities. Highlights from the four sessions are listed below.

Whose impact? Inequality, gender and disadvantaged groups in impact evaluation
Edoardo Masset, deputy director and head of the Synthesis and Reviews office, led a discussion on inequality, gender and disadvantaged populations in impact evaluations. Panellists talked about the need to build the evidence base for women by collecting sex-disaggregated data and conducting gender analysis, increasing the sample size of surveys and the need to include men and boys in the discussions around gender.


HIV evidence for whom? What it means for 90-90-90
Anna Heard, 3ie senior evaluation specialist, led a panel on HIV evidence. The panellists explored barriers that keeps young women and men from seeking testing or care. Sanyukta Mathur (Population Council) shared learning from the DREAMS partnership that seeks to reduce HIV infections amongst adolescent girls and young women in Sub-Saharan Africa. She emphasised the need to collect behavioural and sociological information related to HIV. She called for capitalising on the ‘evidence cascade,’ or the idea of encouraging researchers to build on evidence they have instead of waiting for the ‘perfect RCT to give us results’. Stella Babalola (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) called for building the capacity of an affected community, giving them ownership over the data.

Evidence for populations that need it most: impact evaluation in humanitarian crises and conflict-affected countries
Mario Picon, 3ie senior evaluation specialist, chaired a panel on impact evaluation in humanitarian crises and conflict-affected countries. Panellists discussed the various challenges faced and the approaches adopted. Panellists shared the various tools they used to collect data, including collecting data from children through drawings and using technology, including social media to monitor hate speech.

Promoting evidence use for all
Deputy director and head of 3ie’s policy, advocacy and communication office, Beryl Leach, led a talk-show style discussion on promoting evidence use. Gonzalo Hernandez Licona shared CONEVAL’s leverage in promoting the use of evaluation results by national and state officials because, by law, they are all made public. Silvia Diazgranados Ferrans shared IRC’s groundbreaking internal tool, the outcomes and evidence framework. IRC developed this tool to integrate and ensure that staff use rigorous evidence in designing, implementing and evaluating their work. Norma Altshuler from Hewlett focused on the foundation’s global strategy for promoting evidence use by building capacities in priority regions and actors, with a focus on the importance of linking evidence producers and users organically around evidence use at the national level.

Closing remarks
Richard Manning spoke extensively on the need for rigorous evaluation, and how we could work better to generate and deliver useful evidence for policymakers. He emphasised the need for high-quality studies, stating that methodologically poor work was unlikely to be useful. He also stressed the importance of country ownership and collaboration in conducting evaluations, more work with international communities of practice and argued for ‘better designed feedback loops’. Read the transcripts of his closing remarks here.
Catching up with our new board chair, Ruth Levine

We announced Ruth’s new role in an earlier mailing. Since then, Manny Jimenez has been able to engage her in a Q&A over email to share her early thoughts on serving as board chair during a time when impact evaluation is evolving quickly. Read the edited version of the conversation here.
New 3ie publications
Impact Evaluation reports: Impact of free availability of public childcare on labour supply and child development in Brazil and Estimating the effects of a low-cost early stimulation and parenting education programme in Mexico

Systematic review summary report: Effectiveness of agricultural certification schemes for improving socio-economic outcomes in low- and middle-income countries

Systematic review brief: Does agricultural certification improve well-being?

Systematic review technical reports: Incorporating the life cycle approach into WASH policies and programmes: A systematic review
Peer-reviewed publications of 3ie-funded studies
Click here to access a list of the recent peer-reviewed publications of 3ie-funded research.
3ie @ events
3ie Delhi seminar, 28 April
Arnaud Vaganay from the Berkeley Initiative for Transparency in Social sciences (BITSS) discussed research transparency and reproducibility of impact evaluations. He spoke about how transparency and scientific credibility of applied social sciences is measured. Kiran Bhatty from the Center for Policy Research was the main discussant. Read more here.

3ie-LIDC seminar, London, 17 May
Dr Joanna Murray, director of research at Development Media International, talked about the impact on all-cause post-neonatal under-five child mortality of a radio campaign addressing child health and behaviours in Burkina Faso. Dr Murray collaborated with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine to conduct this evaluation. Read more here.

3ie-IFPRI seminar, Washington, 25 May
Sebastian Bauhoff and Roxanne Oroxom from the Center for Global Development discussed their work on the 2001 Uganda Yellow Star Programme. The reanalysis examines if public reporting improves the quality and performance of health care facilities. Read more here.

3ie-LIDC seminar, London, 9 June
Carlos Oya and Florian Schafer, authors of the new 3ie systematic review on the impact of agriculture certification schemes on improving socio-economic conditions for farmers and workers in low- and middle-income countries presented. The seminar also marked the launch the review’s summary report and brief.
Job opportunities at 3ie
3ie’s New Delhi office is seeking a finance officer to work on expense management, payroll management, financial reporting, audit coordination and submission of financial and donor reports. 3ie is also inviting applications for the post of finance assistant. The deadline for both positions is 18 June. Please follow the links or visit our website for more information.
Job opportunities at other organisations
Consultant, Gates Foundation, Doha, Qatar
The foundation is seeking a consultant to help the Qatar Development fund set up their monitoring and evaluation department. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Read more about how to apply for this position here.

Consultant, Global Learning Centre, Budapest, Hungary
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees Global Learning Centre, is seeking applications from interested and qualified consultants for the conduct of an external impact evaluation of one of its flagship learning programmes. For more information, including consultant's profile and on how to apply, please refer to the Terms of Reference. Deadline for submissions is 22 June 2017.

Analyst, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, London, UK
CIFF is looking for an analyst to provide research, programme management and administrative support to the evidence, measurement and evaluation team to better enable the team’s efficient and effective delivery of philanthropic programmes. For more information on the terms of reference and how to apply, please visit the CIFF website. The deadline for applying is 30 June 2017.
   
 

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3ie is an international grant-making NGO promoting evidence-informed development policies and programmes. We are the global leader in funding and producing high-quality evidence of what works, how, why and at what cost. We believe that better and policy-relevant evidence will make development more effective and improve people’s lives.
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