Dear colleague,

We seek a world where decisions and policies intended to improve the lives of people are informed by timely and relevant evidence of what works, how, for whom, and at what cost.

As a mission-driven, non-profit organization dedicated to evidence-informed decision-making, we believe there is an ethical imperative that calls on decision-makers across development organizations, governments, and funders to holistically adopt evidence-informed practice and learning. What I wrote in 2010 – in this article in Journal of Development Effectiveness – still holds true: ‘Policy-makers are experimenting with billions of people’s lives on a daily basis without informed consent, and without rigorous evidence that what they do works, has no substantive adverse effects, and could not be achieved more efficiently through other means.’ What has changed since then is that the amount of evidence readily available has grown exponentially, the methods have increasingly been adapted to the policy questions, and the available evidence partners have become more numerous. In other words, the excuses for not informing policies and programs with relevant evaluations and evidence are disappearing fast.

As we continue to grow our network of collaborators, our new Strategy 2024-2026 outlines the vision and mission of 3ie, a trusted long-term evidence partner globally. We have refined and reinforced our approach to working with governments and development institutions to understand and meet their evidence needs where they are. Our three strategic objectives are aligned with the core principles of the pathways to impact. 

Our commitment to improving the culture of evidence use grows stronger with every new partner that joins the Global Evidence Commitment which 3ie initiated. As we take the pledge forward, I am pleased to share that we will soon have 3ie’s long-standing partner, USAID, on board as a signatory (more on that below).

Whether it is through our public goods like the Development Evidence Portal, evidence gap maps, or Journal of Development Effectiveness, our expertise in impact evaluations and systematic reviews, our trainings and guidance materials in transparency, reproducibility, ethics and cost analysis, or our expert advice in how to use evidence for policy and learning, we intend to work with and share more capacity with organizations and governments – especially in critical sectors based on key challenges of our time.

Read this strategy document to know more about our mission and how we plan to achieve our goals.

Regards,

Marie Gaarder
Executive Director, 3ie

Featured 
USAID to join the Global Evidence Commitment 



We are excited to announce that USAID is all set to join forces with leading development institutions as a signatory to the Global Evidence Commitment (GEC). The GEC is a pledge to improve the evidence culture and use in development organizations. As the convenor of this pledge drawn up last year, 3ie has been privileged to facilitate our development partners and encourage more organizations to join us for mutual learning and support in making better use of rigorous evidence to improve the cost-effectiveness of projects.

Join us and other signatories as we welcome USAID at the official signing as part of the opening session of the Agency Learning and Evidence Month in May.

Agency Learning and Evidence Month 2024: USAID’s Commitment to Evidence | 2 May 2024 | 09:00 - 10:30 AM EDT 

The learning month’s opening panel will feature signatories of the Global Evidence Commitment speaking to why we have signed on and how we can work in concert to improve development effectiveness. As a signatory and convenor of the global pledge, 3ie facilitates mutual support and the implementation of commitments made. 3ie Executive Director Marie Gaarder will be moderating this session.

• Isobel Coleman, Deputy Administrator, USAID (to be confirmed)
• Michele Sumilas, Assistant to the Administrator, USAID Bureau for Planning, Learning and Resource Management
• Alicia P Mandaville, Vice President, Department of Policy and Evaluation, Millenium Challenge Corporation
• Jochen Kluwe, Director, Evaluation Unit at KfW Development Bank
• Håvard Mokleiv Nygård, Director, Department of Knowledge, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation
• Marie Gaarder, Executive Director, 3ie (Chair)

Additional speakers to be announced.

Register for the session

For any queries about the GEC, please reach us at globalevidencecommitment@3ieimpact.org.

Featured | International Women’s Day round-up



With local partners, 3ie is collaborating on several projects and programs across sectors to produce and use evidence on women's empowerment and gender equality. Here’s a peek into the latest evidence from these:

• Our recent study of multi-generational weaving businesses in India assesses the relationship between family ownership, weaving productivity and women’s agency. In this learning note, we provide insights into the workings of family-owned weaving businesses and understand their economic or commercial productivity when multiple or single generations are involved. This brief is a part of the Swashakt Evidence Program, which is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 
• Our latest evidence gap map curates existing evidence on sexual and reproductive health and rights. Our analysis finds that only 57% of women across the world report having autonomy over sexual and reproductive health and rights-related decisions. This map was commissioned by the German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval) with funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and Co-Impact.
• For every SDG apart from SDG 5 (gender equality), over 65 % of studies do not account for gender or equity in their research design. We find this in our recent analyses of studies available in 3ie’s Development Evidence Portal published between 1990 to 2022. The report provides an overview of state of effectiveness evidence across all the 17 Goals. 3ie produced the report with funding from the German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
• Maternal nutrition has life-altering effects – both for a woman and her child. 3ie, in partnership with the Government of Benin, recently launched an impact evaluation of a groundbreaking initiative: a practical, scalable nutrition program to improve maternal and infant health outcomes. We will measure the degree to which the program achieves its goals. This evaluation is a part of 3ie's West Africa Capacity-building and Impact Evaluation (WACIE) program.

Funding | FCDO Research Commissioning Centre

The FCDO Research Commissioning Centre has an open call for funding. We have also published responses to queries submitted for the call. You can find the details by clicking on the link below. If you want to receive updates directly in your inbox, please sign up to our mailing lists, or if you’re interested in a specific upcoming funding call, you can sign up for alerts.

• Call for proposals: Systematic review on the impact of climate change on rail operations in Turkey

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