Paul Thissen

Paul-Thissen
Designation: Senior Evaluation and Communication Specialist
Paul provides technical and management leadership of and support for impact evaluations, synthesis, and other evidence programs. He is the lead author for 3ie’s 2020 Hindsight campaign blogs. Paul also supports the production of communication materials to effectively convey research findings and 3ie accomplishments to a wide variety of audiences.
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Blogs by author

Seven ideas for rapid evidence that is both rigorous and actionable

Anca Dumitrescu, Paul Thissen 20 September 2023 blog
 
When policymakers come to us for rapid response evidence, they want it to be immediate, actionable, and reliable, drawing on findings from high-quality evaluations. These requirements can sometimes seem to be at odds – often there are details of a specific policy situation that have not yet been addressed by rigorous research. So how do we balance the competing needs to be both actionable and rigorous?

15 years of 3ie: "We need an effectiveness culture," panelists say

Paul Thissen 31 May 2023 blog
 
Opening the expert panel which convened last week in Washington to mark 3ie's 15th birthday, Inter-American Development Bank President Ilan Goldfajn made a pitch that would be echoed throughout the morning.

New resilience Evidence Gap Map shows some key evidence, many gaps

Paul Thissen 19 May 2023 blog
 

Interventions that aim to improve resilience, either for households or communities, have become increasingly common in recent years. Yet there are big knowledge gaps regarding what works, as shown on 3ie's new evidence gap map on building resilient societies.

Wrapping up USAID's Evidence Month: Panelists discuss pathways to build an evidence culture

Paul Thissen 01 May 2023 blog
 
As we've discussed on this blog before, the development community has made tremendous strides in producing and using rigorous evidence, and it also still has a long way to go to build a strong evidence culture. The closing plenary for USAID's Agency Learning and Evidence Month on 27 April reflected recent years' progress and the remaining challenges.

Evidence Dialogues: Building connections between researchers and policymakers to eliminate hunger

Paul Thissen 05 August 2022 blog
 
Sustainable Development Goal 2 – eliminating hunger – is breathtaking in both its simplicity and its scope. We all know how to avoid hunger in our own lives, but on a global scale, the task brings together a dizzying array of potential policies: agricultural support, cash transfers, school lunches, or taxes on sugary sodas, to name just a handful.