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 evaluation showed that farmer-to-farmer knowledge-sharing yielded positive results. These results informed two Ugandan policies: the Extension Guidelines and Standards in 2016 and the National Agriculture Extension Policy issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries in 2019.

Factors that contributed to impact

Early engagement with the Ministry allowed the research team to obtain buy-in for evaluation findings.
One of the principal investigators of the study had strong working relations with the Ministry, enabling her to effectively communicate study findings. She was also the chairman of the working group at Uganda Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services, the organisation that provided technical expertise in developing the guidelines for the ministry.
The evaluation findings were available in time for the Ministry to consider researchers’ recommendations for modifying Uganda’s agriculture extension guidelines and standards.

Title: Dissemination of new agricultural technologies in Africa: making extension work

Authors: Luc Behaghel, Jérémie Giginoux, Monica Karuhanga Beraho, Jane Kugonza, Karen Macours, Margaret Najjingo Mangheni, Judith Oduols

Status : Completed June 2018

Study findings shape agricultural extension guidelines in Uganda

Context

Public extension services have been used to tackle low agricultural productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa since the 1990s. However, traditional extension services have often been identified as expensive and ineffective. Similarly, there is limited coverage of the services, partly due to information problems and administrative challenges.

New approaches, such as farmer-to-farmer extension services, have spread rapidly in recent decades. In this approach, farmer-trainers are trained under the extension programme, and in turn they share knowledge and train other farmers on agricultural innovations. Though the approach has been widely adapted across Africa, there is limited rigorous empirical evidence on its impact, adoption of technology, farm productivity, and profitability and cost-effectiveness.

World Agroforestry Centre (earlier called the International Council for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF)) has been training volunteer farmer-trainers in Uganda on how to improve the feeding of their dairy cows, with the farmer-trainers then sharing this knowledge with their fellow farmers.

In 2013, 3ie collaborated with researchers from Makerere University, the Paris School of Economics National Institute of Agronomic Research (PSE INRA), ICRAFand National Agricultural Research Organisation, Uganda to evaluate the impact of ICRAF’s farmer-to-farmer extension on smallholders in dairy projects in Uganda through a randomised controlled trial. The evaluation provides results on an intervention that seeks to address some of the shortcomings in other approaches, such as elite capture, exclusion of disadvantaged groups and lack of farmer control of priority-setting for trainings.

Evidence

The evaluation found significant and positive effects of imparting knowledge through farmer-to-farmer training. The farmers in the treatment group reported an increased use of feeds, improved feeding practices and planting of more feeds on their farmlands. Milk production also increased by 20 per cent for the farmers who received training.

Qualitative findings suggested that the effect on profit was also positive.

Evidence impacts

Evaluation findings inform Agriculture Extension Guidelines and Standards

The government of Uganda passed an extension policy in 2016 that included the use of farmer-trainers as a strategy to improve extension service delivery. The evaluation also influenced the extension guidelines and standards in the National Agriculture Extension Policy published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries in 2019. The guidelines aim to establish a high-quality, well-coordinated agricultural extension delivery system to promote application of appropriate information, knowledge and technological innovations. These innovations are designed to promote food security, economic growth, the commercialisation of agriculture, the expansion of exports and the welfare of the population.

Suggested citation

International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), 2020. Study findings shape agricultural extension guidelines in Uganda [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