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

Toward evidence-informed policies for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

Howard White 04 August 2015 blog

So, 2015 has arrived and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are to be replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But shouldn’t we stop and ask how we have done on the MDGs first? “How we have done” can be seen an outcome monitoring question: have the targets been reached? But since we have fallen far short on some targets, such as access to improved sanitation, we need to dig deeper and ask which policies have been successful in helping achieve the targets.

Collaborating with communities to improve vaccine coverage: a strategy worth pursuing?

Jyotsna Puri, Shagun Sabarwal 29 July 2015 blog

It is unfortunate but distrust of vaccines remains widespread in the world today. In August 2003, a polio vaccination boycott was declared in the five northern states of Nigeria. Political and religious leaders argued that the vaccines could be contaminated with anti-fertility agents, HIV and cancer-causing agents. It took a full year to resolve the boycott but the one year period wreaked havoc on the status of polio across the world.

Replication research promotes open discourse

Benjamin DK Wood 23 July 2015 blog

The just-released International Journal of Epidemiology (IJE) suite of publications reexamining the effectiveness of deworming in Kenya demonstrates the potential impact of replication research. The headline publication is a 3ie-funded replication study.

Tackling radicalisation through sports

Howard White 13 July 2015 blog

Ten years ago, on 7 July, four suicide bombers killed 52 people in London. This included the bombing of the number 30 bus at Tavistock Square, just yards away from the building that now houses 3ie’s London Office. Today, ten years on, in the town of Dewsbury, home to the mastermind of the 7/7 bombings, cricket is being used to combat radicalisation. The NGO Chance to Shine has put together three cricket teams for getting the youth to mix with each other.

Do communities need funds or facilitation?

Howard White 06 July 2015 blog

A group of villages in Haryana, India came together to build a much-needed bridge to reduce travel time to the nearest town. This sounds like the sort of community initiative that donors have been supporting for more than a decade with community driven development (CDD) programmes. Except it isn’t.

Trends in impact evaluation: Did we ever learn?

Jorge Miranda , Drew Cameron 29 April 2015 blog

In 2006, the Evaluation Gap Working Group asked, “When will we ever learn?” This week, 3ie’s Drew Cameron, Anjini Mishra, and Annette Brown (hereafter CMB) have published a paper in the Journal of Development Effectiveness that uses data on more than thirty years of published impact evaluations from 3ie’s Impact Evaluation Repository (IER) to answer the question.

On target? Why participant selection matters for development programmes

Daniel Phillips 13 April 2015 blog

Many development programmes reach only a fraction of the people they aim to include. One reason for this is that attrition erodes target group participation at various stages between programme conception and completion. Programme targeting using selection criteria, eligibility assessment and participant registration is one of the ways this problem can be addressed. But how far does targeting address this issue?

MDG for water: is the job done?

Hugh Waddington 26 March 2015 blog

Water provision remains high on the global development agenda including political commitments such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and associated post-2015 targets.

Reversing the resource curse through impact evaluations

Jyotsna Puri, Francis Rathinam 19 March 2015 blog

Countries such as Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria have large reserves of natural resources. They are also countries that have suffered extended periods of political violence, authoritarianism, corruption, inequality and poor growth. What causes this imbalance of high wealth on one side and extreme poverty on the other? The correlation between the quantity of natural resources reserves and poor economic growth is generally considered to be proof of a natural resource curse.

Not all ‘systematic’ reviews are created equal

Birte Snilstveit, Daniel Phillips, Martina Vojtkova 10 March 2015 blog

In a recent World Bank blog based on a paper, David Evans and Anna Popova argue that systematic reviews may not be reliable as an approach to synthesis of empirical literature. They reach this conclusion after analysing six reviews assessing the effects of a range of education interventions on learning outcomes. The main finding of their analysis: While all these reviews focus on the effects of learning outcomes based on evidence from impact evaluations, there is a large degree of divergence in the studies included in each review, and consequently the conclusions they reach.

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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.