Hundreds of migrants remain missing and feared dead in one of the largest shipwrecks – on 14 June – in the Mediterranean in several years. This latest tragedy has revealed urgent policy needs to facilitate safe and orderly migration. Poverty, lack of economic opportunities, conflict and violence, political instability, and climate change force people out of their homes and countries – many of whom end up resorting to unauthorized movement that is outside the laws. While interventions seeking to address the root causes of irregular migration have grown, there is limited evidence of their effectiveness. Further, there is an absence of research that examines the existing evidence base, which means we do not know which interventions effectively address irregular migration and risk factors.

3ie’s ongoing research supported by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and International Organization for Migration (IOM) aims to map the evidence to fill essential knowledge gaps on the effectiveness of programs addressing the root causes of irregular migration and synthesize results so findings can be utilized by policymakers and practitioners in Guatemala and globally.

If you know of a study or have ideas that might be relevant to this EGM, please contact Daniela Anda (danda@3ieimpact.org). We are accepting study suggestions until 15 July 2023.

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Over the last 15 years, 3ie has continued to support, produce and advocate for the use of evidence in decision-making. To demonstrate the range and breadth of our work, to improve transparency and accessibility, and to showcase our approach, we’ve made a number of upgrades to our website:

• Snapshot of our work: Explore our interactive data visualizations to get a snapshot of how evidence supported and produced by 3ie has evolved over time, where the studies are situated, and where we have been able to document the impact of our work, among other things. View at a glance.
• Delivering customized services: From unpacking a development problem to understanding the effectiveness of your project or its impact, our experienced staff can deliver a variety of services to support evidence-informed action across the development programming cycle. Explore our suite of services to know how we can facilitate your evidence journey.
• Improving access to evidence: As part of our resolve to make evidence accessible and strengthen evidence-informed decision-making, we continue to expand and upgrade the Development Evidence Portal to respond to your evidence needs. A contribution from your side could help offset the considerable costs we incur in doing so. Here’s how you can support us.

We have launched our fifth update to 3ie’s living food systems and nutrition evidence and gap map (E&GM). It includes over 2,300 studies and presents a rich body of evidence, including the latest research. It reports on evidence from all key areas and intervention types and identifies potential primary and synthesis evidence gaps. The fifth update comes shortly after the publication of our mid-term report. Here are the key takeaways:

• Three additional evidence gaps identified based on interventions include cold chain initiatives, farm-to-market transport, and food safety regulation
• Of the five outcomes that are considered evidence gaps, some have not had any new studies identified during the living period
• Food loss and economic, social, and political stability are the least measured outcomes
• Most updates have identified some new women’s empowerment outcomes
• Few high- or medium-confidence systematic reviews have been published
• Only one systematic review focused on agricultural insurance products despite 31 evaluations of the intervention.

For a complete lowdown of the findings, read our latest blog. Starting with this update, the map will be expanded to include interventions and outcomes considering gender transformative approaches and social protection. We are also leveraging it to produce a series of evidence-synthesis products. Read more

View living EGM | Read note on update #5 (July 2023) | Read mid-term report