Our expertise
3ie invented evidence gap maps to improve decision-making around where to make investments in producing more evidence or synthesising existing evidence. Since then, we have pioneered further advancements, including developing our interactive online map platform and innovating evidence mapping to broaden its use in development decision-making.

3ie funds and quality assures formative and impact evaluations of development programmes in low- and middle-income countries. These evaluations provide crucial evidence on what works, for whom, why and at what cost. On our website, we host the largest-of-its-kind impact evaluation repository that includes summaries of both 3ie-funded and other studies.

We are global leaders in producing and assuring the quality of theory-based systematic reviews of the effectiveness of development interventions. 3ie continues to innovate and improve synthesis and systematic review methodologies and the uptake and use of synthesised evidence.

3ie specialises in increasing access to, demand for and use of evidence by governments, parliaments, programme managers, civil society, programme participants and the media. We do this by emphasising the value of planning and engaging with stakeholders to ensure that evaluations and reviews are relevant and useful. We use robust and effective monitoring to measure evidence use so that we can convey evidence impact on programmes and policies with greater confidence.

We set up our replication programme to address the need for a freely available global public good that helps improve the quality and reliability of impact evaluation evidence used for development decision-making. Replication is the most established method of research validation in science, yet it has not been fully embraced by the research community or development donors, leading to this gap.

3ie’s evidence programmes and services help build technical capacity to commission and conduct rigorous evaluations, produce evidence gap maps, conduct evidence synthesis and use evidence. We also work with L&MIC governments to build effective monitoring and evaluation systems. 3ie’s bursary programme supports L&MIC policymakers, programme managers and researchers to participate in specialised training and international events.

3ie has always been strongly committed to research transparency and open access to data. We are proud to be a leader in the growing movement to improve global standards for research transparency.

On request, 3ie provides services to partners for supporting the generation and use of evidence to inform their development policies and programmes. We commission and quality assure evidence gap maps, evaluations and syntheses as well as provide training.

3ie plays a unique role in promoting collaboration among researchers, policymakers and development programme managers at country, regional and global levels. Our global advocacy for evidence-informed action helps ensure decision makers have quality evidence about what works when they need it.
Evidence hub
3ie’s Development Evidence Portal is the largest-of-its-kind repository of rigorous evidence on what works in international development. This portal includes evaluations and synthesis of studies conducted in low-and middle-income countries. It combines records from 3ie’s Impact Evaluation and Systematic Review repositories, as well as, evidence gap maps.

These provide a visual display of completed and ongoing systematic reviews and impact evaluations in a sector or sub-sector, structured around a framework of interventions and outcomes.

Evidence impact summaries briefly describe how 3ie-supported evidence has informed and influenced decision makers. Each summary highlights verified instances of evidence impact.

We provide funding for replications, conduct in-house replication research and publish guidance on replication methodology. We also provide funding to original authors of 3ie-funded for preparing their raw datasets.

As part of our mandate as a knowledge producer and translator for our main audiences, we publish a range of knowledge products. These include briefs, impact evaluation reports, systematic review reports and summaries, replication papers, evidence gap map reports, scoping reports and working papers.

3ie’s Registry for International Development Impact Evaluations (RIDIE) aims to enhance the transparency and quality of impact evaluation research before it begins.
Our work
3ie’s evidence programmes support studies to fill critical knowledge gaps in a sector, sub-sector or in an area with limited rigorous evidence. We fund studies under a specific theme or which address a particular question or set of questions in programme areas where our donors want to expand global public knowledge of what works and what does not.

To help address gaps in the understanding of what works and what does not, we fund a variety of studies across this programme area, including interventions focused on insurance, extension, land-use and forestry, and innovation and technology.

3ie supports impact evaluations, systematic reviews and evidence gap maps on education effectiveness that help answer the questions of what works, for whom, why and at what cost.

We fund the production of rigorous evidence on biodiversity and forest conservation programmes, environmental regulations, impact of sustainable fuels, climate change mitigation and adaptation.

3ie is supporting the generation of evidence in areas such as transparency and accountability in natural resource governance. We also fund the production of rigorous evidence on interventions to curb corruption, judicial and civil service reforms, land reforms, public financial management, conflict prevention and peacebuilding, decentralised governance and public service delivery.

We fund the production of rigorous evidence on interventions on HIV and AIDS, immunisation maternal and child health, nutrition and sexual and reproductive health through a number of evidence programmes. Evidence products from these programmes include replication studies, evidence gap maps, systematic reviews and impact evaluations.

We are supporting the generation of rigorous evidence in humanitarian contexts on interventions related to water, sanitation and hygiene, food security, multi-sectoral humanitarian programming and interventions targeting malnutrition.

We fund the production of rigorous evidence on the socio-economic and environmental impacts of public transportation by rail, bus and rapid transit systems, and essential services such as electricity and gas to expand access, foster inclusive growth, and combat climate change through sustainable systems.

3ie, in collaboration with India’s rural development ministry is working to generate rigorous evidence on the impact of the National Rural Livelihoods Mission.

We support policy-relevant studies that contribute to improving our understanding of public expenditure trends and improving the delivery of public goods.

We support impact evaluations to build the evidence base on the effectiveness of interventions that reduce the risks faced by the poor through participation in public works and employment programmes.

3ie’s has two major evidence programmes that support the generation and use of high-quality evidence for informing decision-making in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector

In alignment with our mission, 3ie promotes rigorous, efficient, and ethical use of innovative data sources for impact evaluations, including in those conducted by 3ie, by 3ie research partners, and in the global development community more broadly.

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We work with various departments in the Philippines government to develop and fund rigorous evidence useful for policymakers. We also support capacity-building activities for Philippine researchers and support the impact evaluation management framework of the National Economic and Development Authority.

Working in collaboration with the Office of the Prime Minister, the primary aim is to improve developmental outcomes through evidence-informed decision making in Uganda. 3ie is currently supporting evaluation of government programmes around youth livelihood, family planning, public service delivery and local governance, and universal primary education.

3ie and the government of Benin are working on a a multi-year regional initiative that aims to promote the institutionalization of evaluation in government systems across eight countries in West Africa, including: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

This is a five-year programme (2019-23) that is working on increasing the use of evidence by policymakers in Ghana, Pakistan and Uganda. In partnership with country governments, this programme aims to develop capacity and promote innovation in increasing evidence-informed decision-making. SEDI is funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

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3ie funds internal replications of influential or innovative impact evaluations of financial interventions on mobile money, cash transfers, bank deposits, and other financial service interventions targeted towards underserved and unbanked populations in developing countries.

3ie funds internal replications of influential or innovative impact evaluations of biomedical, behavioural, social, and structural HIV prevention and treatment interventions to improve the evidence base in low- and middle-income countries.
Funding
- Open opportunities
View our current funding opportunities for evaluations, systematic reviews and internal replication studies.

About 3ie evidence impact summaries

Read how 3ie verifies and classifies evidence impact

Highlights

Evidence impact

The impact evaluation helped Jhpiego identify supply and demand barriers associated with the use of voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC). The organisation drew from the findings when designing a subsequent project to increase the uptake of VMMC among adults.

Factors that contributed to impact

AIDSFree, the implementing partner of the amended project, has a consortium under which it hosts several partners. Jhpiego is one of these partners. Jhpiego was able to leverage this relationship in disseminating evaluation findings and encouraging their uptake.

Title: Using smartphone raffles to increase demand for voluntary medical male circumcision in Tanzania

Authors: Hally Mahler, Eva Bazant

Status : Completed March 2016

Improving programming to encourage voluntary medical male circumcision in Tanzania

Context

Numerous countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have made tremendous efforts to scale up evidence-based HIV-prevention efforts, especially voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC). In 2009, Tanzania's Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (now called the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children) initiated pilot programmes to encourage VMMC in three regions, with plans to scale up to 12 regions in 2010. The ministry adopted various communication approaches to increase the demand for VMMC among its male citizens, but challenges remained. Official data (2010–2014) on regions with low VMMC uptake show that men aged 20 and above have not made use of the VMMC services provided to them. The VMMC programme reached only 21 per cent of the target population of men aged 25–34. Stigma attached to VMMC after adolescence was identified as one of the main reasons for low demand.

In 2013, 3ie collaborated with researchers from Jhpiego to implement and evaluate an intervention that offered a smartphone raffle to encourage uptake of VMMC services by men aged 20 and above. Participants were entered in the raffle if they referred a man for circumcision. The study, a randomised controlled trial, compared uptake at facilities that offered the smartphone raffle with those that did not.

Evidence

The study's findings showed that the treatment groups had a higher uptake of VMMC, but the difference was not statistically significant.

The focus group discussions held during the study revealed that men had significant exposure to the VMMC programme and were well aware of it. However, their opinions about the benefits of a smartphone raffle were mixed. Though some clients believed that raffle promotions led them to act on circumcision, for others it created suspicions and failed to address the reasons why adult men do not adopt VMMC.

Evidence impacts

Improving programming to increase VMMC uptake among older men

The mixed results from the impact evaluation of the smartphone raffle incentive in terms of increased uptake of VMMC by adult men suggested a need to identify the barriers keeping the male population from using VMMC services. As a result, Jhpiego, the implementing agency for the VMMC programme in Tanzania, designed a VIP card for adult men that took into consideration the study’s recommendations. This work was done in collaboration with Jhpiego's partners: the health ministry, AIDSFree, the National AIDS Control Programme and FHI360. The card included a menu of 10 adult-friendly service options to increase uptake of VMMC service among adult men.

The recommendation from the evaluation to identify barriers to VMMC use led Jhpiego to engage local volunteers, who have intimate knowledge about their communities and the barriers to VMMC uptake by adult men. The volunteers recruited adult VIPs, assisted them to select desired options on their VIP cards, and pre-arranged clinic visits with health facilities.

Suggested citation

International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), 2020. Improving programming to encourage voluntary medical male circumcision in Tanzania [online summary], Evidence Impact Summaries. New Delhi: 3ie.

If you have any suggestions or updates to improve this summary, please write to influence@3ieimpact.org

Last updated on 13th November 2020