Spotlight
Global Evidence Commitment – bigger and better
Global Evidence Commitment

Each year, the Global Evidence Commitment continues to grow and grow stronger. At the second annual convening hosted by Norad in Oslo, the partners came together to reflect on progress and new approaches and to welcome three new organizations – the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) as signatories, and the German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval) as an observer.

At a time when uncertainty and resource-crunch have become the norm, representatives from leading development and multilateral organizations illustrated how critical it is to embed evidence into decision-making.

Gunn Jorid Roset, Director-General of Norad, emphasized that in a rapidly changing aid landscape, evidence and strategic knowledge are more important than ever. She said, “This is at the very core of our mandate. When funding becomes more scarce, it is crucial to ensure our efforts are as effective and impactful as possible.” Adding that using evidence well is not only efficient, but a moral imperative, 3ie Executive Director Marie Gaarder said, “The Global Evidence Commitment is not just about data or methods. It’s about shared values, collective responsibility, and solidarity in service of people’s lives.”

The public session included a high-level panel discussion on the future of evidence-informed decision-making. Participants discussed investing in evidence generation and championing cultures of cost-effectiveness and learning. The GEC partners also shared their experiences with testing new approaches, such as the TRIPS framework.

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Read about GEC’s origins

Watch the open session

 
 
Featured
Guatemala evaluation shows interventions help reduce conflict 


Measuring the prevention of conflict remains a complex challenge in peacebuilding contexts. 3ie is proud to contribute rigorous data and insights that can help sharpen future investments and strengthen peacebuilding strategies. We recently launched the findings of 3ie’s Guatemala impact evaluation at the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) advisory group meetings, which discussed PBF’s strategic positioning and priorities. These findings are already shaping the next phase of PBF investments in Guatemala, with lessons from the evaluation informing the scale-up of proven approaches.

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Call for papers - special issue of the Journal of Development Effectiveness on peacebuilding
We are inviting submissions for the 3ie Journal’s special issue on 'Rigorously measuring the effects of peacebuilding approaches'. This issue will bring together rigorous, innovative research on peacebuilding interventions, their effectiveness, how they work, which types offer the greatest return on investment, and which types might not perform as anticipated.

In particular, we welcome submissions that shed light on the key building blocks of international strategies for building peace and reducing conflict, as well as all stages of the conflict cycle, especially those that remain understudied and/or are ill-suited to the standard methodologies of rigorous impact evaluation.

Deadline: 12 December

Read full scope and submission guidance
Featured
Understanding the evidence on the ‘learning to earning’ transition


Our latest project with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) focuses on strengthening the evidence base around technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and skills programs. How do vocational training and employment intersect to support stronger livelihoods in low- and middle-income countries? We are mapping existing interventions to understand what works, where evidence is lacking, and which interventions can scale without losing effectiveness. This includes interventions that increase access to training services, whether that involves financial support or breaking down societal barriers, as well as interventions that improve service quality by aligning them with labor market needs.

3ie is pleased to invite researchers and the TVET community to contribute to this effort and share systematic reviews and impact evaluations that address this under-explored topic. If your research reveals how skills development contributes to meaningful and inclusive economic opportunities, we want to hear from you.

Read more and get in touch

Featured
What does evidence-informed policymaking look like?

Despite the increased focus on enhancing evidence use, there remains limited actionable knowledge about how to put it into practice. Through the FCDO Research Commissioning Centre (RCC), which 3ie leads in partnership with the University of Birmingham, we initiated a new program of research on evidence-informed policymaking (EIPM) earlier this year. In this blog, the RCC team outlines practical dimensions for assessing policy uptake of evidence and proposes metrics to track how effectively governments and institutions integrate research into decision-making. It lays out a framework to provide an overarching structure that can be adapted for different contexts, political systems and policy types.

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Featured
A resource and force driving rural livelihoods transformation in India


In rural India, change is being driven by women resource leaders—trained under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission—to mentor, mobilize, and uplift their communities. Steering transformations in agriculture and animal husbandry, these women bridge gaps in knowledge and services, build trust within communities, and strengthen institutional platforms. Through their work, we see how empowerment, social capital, and income growth are deeply intertwined. Their stories are a powerful reminder: sustainable rural transformation depends on women leading change from within.

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Featured
Building evidence on irregular migration


Irregular migration is a complex global challenge with far-reaching humanitarian, economic, and political consequences. Without the latest effectiveness evidence, resources may be wasted on policies that don’t work to address the root causes or that have unintended effects. We are updating and expanding our evidence gap map on interventions to address irregular migration—with support from the Policy and Operations Evaluation Department (IOB) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. Our inception report (protocol) sets out our approach—from defining the scope of interventions and outcomes to the systematic methods we will use—and how we will synthesize evidence.

Read blog and protocol

 
Events

3ie’s E4CA sessions at COP30

3ie shared global insights and lessons at the Evidence for Climate Action (E4CA) platform, organized by the German Institute for Development Evaluation on the sidelines of COP30. Our sessions focused on three key areas—biodiversity, sustainable energy, and the state of climate action. We collaborated with our close partners, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra UK) and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), to put together these presentations. 3ie has an extensive climate portfolio that includes groundbreaking evidence mapping and synthesis on biodiversity and sustainable energy. Read more about it here.


Read about the sessions
  



Evidence Dialogues | Making markets work: Evidence for smallholder impact | 30 October 2025

3ie hosted an Evidence Dialogues webinar titled ‘Making Markets Work: Evidence for Smallholder Impact’, spotlighting the most comprehensive systematic review ever conducted by 3ie on market access interventions—covering 289 studies. With nearly 80% of the world’s extreme poor living in rural areas, improving smallholder farmers’ access to equitable and efficient markets is key to boosting productivity, income, and food security.

It included a presentation of key findings from the review, a high-level panel discussion with experts from IFPRI, FAO and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The discussion looked at how evidence can inform smarter policies, more effective program design, and improved outcomes for smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries.

Watch the recording

 
 
Jobs
 
 
Featured
Senior Research Fellow

Sebastian Lemire3ie’s Senior Research Fellows Program includes experts from various sectors – including development, evaluation, policy as well as academia. This month, we feature Sebastian Lemire, who has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed publications in leading international journals and is the co-author of the IEG Methods Guide: Evaluation of International Development Interventions—An Overview of Approaches and Methods. Sebastian recently joined the editorial team of 3ie's Journal of Development Effectiveness, published by Taylor and Francis. He is currently a board member of the American Evaluation Association and serves on the editorial advisory boards of the American Journal of Evaluation and Evaluation. He is a former board member of both the European Evaluation Society and the Danish Evaluation Society. Read more


Since 2020, 3ie's Fellowship Program has contributed to achieving our mission by tapping into diverse expertise and experience across the world.
 
 

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