evidence-based policy

eldis - What is the evidence on the impact of research on international development?

K. Newman — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 09:52:25 +0000

Governments of low-income countries and international development donors are increasing their funding for research at least in part on the assumption that research has positive impacts on socioeconomic development. Four pathways are commonly cited to describe how research will contribute to development:

1. Investment in research will drive economic growth
2. Investment in research will increase human capital
3. Investment in research will lead to the development of pro-poor products and technologies
4. Investment in research will provide evidence to inform policies and practice

This literature review examines the evidence base related to each of these four pathways. It demonstrates that research does make important and significant contributions to socioeconomic development but that some commonly held assumptions about how research leads to change are not backed up by the evidence. Brief summaries of the findings relating to each path are given below.

Economic growth
Contrary to popular belief, there is little evidence that public investment in research was a major contributor to the ‘Asian development miracle’. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that the potential for research and innovation to contribute to technology-transfer fuelled growth in low-income countries tends to be overestimated.

Human capital
There is a great need for the skills which can be developed through involvement in research in low-income countries. Such skills can be built through higher education, although it is unclear whether involvement of higher education institutions in research contributes to teaching standards. In addition, skills can be built by capacity building programmes. However, many such schemes in the past have had mixed impact.

Products and technologies
Many inventions have had positive impacts on the poor. Public-private partnerships have been particularly successful in funding and incentivising the development of new products and technologies. Some products and technologies have less impact than intended due to a mismatch between the product and actual need.

Evidence-informed policy and programmes
There are two major ways in which research can inform decision makers: it can inform decisions on specific interventions and it can inform decision makers’ general understanding of the context. There are numerous examples of both types of influence. However the evidence also reveals that there are significant gaps in the capacity, incentives and systems necessary to ensure that research is systematically used in decision making.

The paper also reviews approaches to calculating the economic impacts of research investments. Most studies suggest that research leads to positive economic returns.

However, these studies are sensitive to a range of assumptions and results must be treated cautiously.

The paper ends with a summary of conclusions and a proposed theory of change based on the research evidence presented.

[author's summary]

eldis - Going Digital: Using digital technology to conduct Oxfam’s Effectiveness Reviews

E. Tomkys — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 16:20:45 +0000

Since 2011, Oxfam GB has been conducting rigorous impact evaluations – Effectiveness Reviews – to help understand and provide evidence of whether its work is resulting in positive change in the lives of the women and men with whom and for whom it works. Where previously Oxfam has relied on a paper-based survey data collection process, in 2015 it piloted digital surveying using Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI). This involves training enumerators in the use of digital hand-held devices, such as tablets or smart phones, so that they can record responses to questions while they are conducting interviews. This paper reviews the use and value-added of digital surveys used for conducting Effectiveness Reviews in the Philippines and Thailand to highlight the benefits and challenges in comparison to the paper-based process traditionally used.

eldis - The state of broadband 2015

Tue, 29 Sep 2015 10:55:00 +0000

A large body of evidence has now been amassed that affordable and effective broadband connectivity is a vital enabler of economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection. However, the digital divide is proving stubbornly persistent in terms of access to broadband Internet, including the challenge of extending last-mile access to infrastructure to remote and rural communities.

Countries need to adopt effective policies and strategies to make broadband available, affordable and accessible, as a vital enabler of sustainable development in modern-day knowledge societies. It is increasingly vital to extend access to digital education services, new capabilities, culture, entertainment, healthcare, financial and commercial services, along with training and education.

This report explores what constitutes an effective National Broadband Plan to boost the deployment of broadband and maximize its impact as a cross-sectoral driver underpinning progress.

Key measures for policy makers:

review and update ICT regulatory frameworks, including regulatory approaches to spectrum
make full use of Universal Service Obligations (USOs)
Consider infrastructure-sharing and open access approaches to publicly funded infrastructure
consider measures to make broadband more affordable
reduce taxes and import duties on telecommunication/ICT equipment and services
promote investment in broadband infrastructure
promote training and measures to stimulate demand
invest in the creation of local content in local languages
engage in ongoing monitoring of ICT developments

eldis - Community-based rehabilitation for people with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review

Tue, 29 Sep 2015 09:47:23 +0000

There are estimated to be over one billion people with disabilities globally and 80% of them live in low- and middle-income countries. They are often excluded from education, health, and employment and other aspects of society leading to an increased risk of poverty. This report reviews the evidence about the impact of community-based rehabilitation on the lives of people with disabilities and their carers in low- and middle-income countries.

This review identified 15 studies that assessed the impact of community-based rehabilitation on the lives of people with disabilities and their carers in low- and middle-income countries. The studies included in the review used different types of community-based rehabilitation interventions and targeted different types of physical (stroke, arthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and mental disabilities (schizophrenia, dementia, intellectual impairment).

Key results:

overall, randomised controlled trials suggested a beneficial effect of community-based rehabilitation interventions in the lives of people with physical disabilities (stroke and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
similar results were found for non-randomised studies for physical disabilities (stroke and arthritis) with the exception of one non-randomised study on stroke showing community-based rehabilitation was less favourable than hospital-based rehabilitation
overall, randomised controlled trials suggested a modest beneficial effect of community-based rehabilitation interventions for people with mental disabilities (schizophrenia, dementia, intellectual impairment), and for their carers (dementia)
similar results were found for non-randomised studies for mental disabilities (schizophrenia)
however, the methodological constraints of many of these studies limit the strength of our results. In order to build stronger evidence, future studies will need to adopt better study designs, will need to focus on broader clients group, and to include economic evaluations

eldis - Malnutrition in Bangladesh: Harnessing social protection for the most vulnerable

Mon, 28 Sep 2015 09:09:47 +0000

Policies and practice in Bangladesh need to have a greater focus on nutrition, at large scale and across different sectors, in order to accelerate progress on tackling the country’s substantial malnutrition burden of 41% stunting and 16% wasting across a population of 156.5 million. Social protection is a human right and a means for states to protect their most vulnerable citizens. Bangladesh’s current social protection system is fragmented and ineffective – in 2010 reaching just 35% of those living below the poverty line.

As the Government of Bangladesh leads a significant reform of its National Social Security Strategy, harnessing
the potential of social protection for nutrition is vital. According to this report, there is a a tangible opportunity for the development of social protection to improve malnutrition in Bangladesh.

This report outlines the major pathways to nutrition outcomes and a range of evidence on nutrition-sensitive social protection to make recommendations for policy development and implementation in Bangladesh and for global learning. The authors affirm how developing social protection across the lifecycle, with a greater focus on nutrition
behaviour change, adolescent girls, empowering women and the 1,000-day window of opportunity
between a woman’s pregnancy and her child’s second birthday, will help shape healthier and more
prosperous futures for everyone in Bangladesh.

The report argues that integrated nutrition-sensitive social protection programmes in Bangladesh should
address priority focus areas for nutrition outcomes and across the following three pathways:

Household food security
Caring practices for women and children
Health environment and services

eldis - Final Report: Climate for development in Africa (ClimDev) – Climate sciences and services for Africa - strategic research opportunities for ClimDev

R. Wilby — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 09:52:34 +0000

The Climate for Development in Africa (ClimDev-Africa) Programme is an initiative of the African Union Commission (AUC), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Africa Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) and the African Development Bank (AfDB). The programme is seeking to deploy climate science in ways that lead to climate resilient development.

ClimDev-Africa is contributing to this vision by supporting activities that enhance the scientific base and observational infrastructure; strengthen partnerships between government institutions, private sector, civil society and vulnerable communities; and improve frameworks for decision-making, awareness and advocacy.

The purpose of this report is to present the ClimDev Partnership with a much narrower set of strategic research options by which ACPC and AfDB in particular could establish a unique presence in the realm of climate research and resilience planning. As a result, hitherto under-represented sectors and regions would be better equipped to manage risks as well as maximise development opportunities presented by climate variability and change.

A gap analysis was undertaken using different sources of evidence drawn from bibliographic metrics, previous research prioritisation exercises, peer-reviewed and grey literature, meta-analysis of web-based material, conference proceedings, ClimDev reports and proposal short-listing, an inventory of climate data requests, case studies and consultations with African experts.

eldis - Setting the scene: An overview of issues related to policies and programs for moderate and severe acute malnutrition

Thu, 24 Sep 2015 15:41:46 +0000

Moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) and severe acute malnutrition (SAM) continue to exist at unacceptably high levels. There is a renewed momentum to dramatically improve nutritional status and decrease rates of malnutrition of all kinds. Although much focus is on the first 1,000 days, the period from conception to age 2 years, in relation to growth retardation (or stunting), it is just as important to pay adequate attention to wasting as a major contributor to both morbidity and mortality.

This paper reviews what is known about effective approaches for treatment and prevention of MAM and SAM, highlights nutrition blind spots in our strategies, and identifies programmatic and research gaps that, if addressed, will enhance our understanding of the menu of cost-effective approaches to alleviate acute forms of malnutrition.

The paper synthesizes presentations from the opening session of a May 2014 International Atomic Energy Agency symposium on Moderate Acute Malnutrition held in Vienna, Austria.

Although understanding of efficacious approaches to the treatment and prevention of MAM and SAM has recently improved, the evidence base for informed policies and programs remains limited.

If priority evidence gaps can be urgently addressed, our understanding of the menu of cost-effective interventions to alleviate acute forms of malnutrition will be considerably enhanced and the potential for impact at global scale significantly increased.

eldis - Iodised salt and iodine supplements for prenatal and postnatal growth: a rapid scoping of existing systematic reviews

J. Farebrother — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 09:14:54 +0000

Iodine deficiency can adversely affect child development including stunted growth. However, the effect of iodine supplementation or fortification on prenatal and postnatal growth in children (<18 years) is unclear.

The potential need for a systematic review which would contribute to the evidence base in this area was identified. To avoid duplication and inform the need for a new systematic review and its protocol, a rapid scoping review of existing systematic reviews investigating the effect of iodised salt and iodine supplements on growth and other iodine-related outcomes was undertaken.

The rapid scoping review demonstrates a gap in the evidence base with no existing, up-to-date systematic reviews on the effects of all forms of iodine supplementation/fortification in all of the relevant population groups on relevant growth and growth-related outcomes. A new systematic review examining this question will assist in addressing this gap.

eldis - How to insitutionalize evaluation?

Tue, 24 Feb 2015 17:15:52 +0000

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, does not harm, and could not be achieved more efficiently through other means. In this context, carefully designed and implemented evaluations have the potential to save lives and improve people’s welfare.

eldis - Caribbean Regional Research Diagnostic: Climate Change and Development Research Capacities and Regional Priorities in the Caribbean

Tue, 24 Feb 2015 16:47:50 +0000

This report supports the delivery of the Implementation Plan for the ‘Regional Framework for Achieving Development Resilient to Climate Change’ by documenting the knowledge gaps and information required and by providing an assessment of the Caribbean region’s research capacity.. Caribbean research institutions and consortia are undertaking a broad range of climate change related research, some of which has recently been completed. Many of these projects are detailed in Section 3 of this report. However, several key research gaps and priorities have been identified, including research on: the impacts of climate change on coasts, water resources, agriculture and fisheries, energy, tourism and health, amongst others; adaptation options in sectors such as water resource management, disaster management, agriculture and food security, economic sectors, and energy sector responses; indicators and methodologies for evaluating impacts and progress; and policy and evidence-based decision-making processes.

eldis - Vitamin A supplementation programmes are missing children from scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. New evidence from India

V.M. Aguayo — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 14:24:06 +0000

Surveys have indicated that 62 % of preschool-age Indian children suffer from sub-clinical vitamin A deficiency (VAD), with a threefold higher prevalence of severe forms of VAD among children from schedule castes (SC) or schedule tribes (ST).

The objective of this analysis is to assess whether India’s national vitamin A supplementation (VAS) programme is reaching the districts with higher concentration of SC/ST children in the seven states with the largest burden of under-five mortality (74 % of India’s under-five deaths).

The article concludes that Indian states have achieved significant progress in expanding the coverage of the VAS programme. However, a large proportion of children are not benefitting from this child survival intervention, particularly among SC/ST children. These children are potentially among the most vulnerable to VAD and its consequences. India’s national VAS programme needs to be strengthened in sub-district-level units (i.e. blocks and villages) with higher concentrations of SC/ST children, with particular emphasis on SC children.

eldis - Public spending efficiency, governance, and political and economic policies: is there a substantial causal relation? Evidence from selected MENA countries

R. Brini — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 14:19:04 +0000

This paper seeks a robust methodology for the estimation of the relative public spending efficiency of eleven Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries over the period 1996-2011. Using the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), the authors estimate relative efficiency scores for the four main disaggregated accounts of public spending: administration, health, education and infrastructure. Then, the Tobit regression model is used in the second part of the paper to determine the impact of governance and political and economic factors on public spending efficiency.

The results mainly show that Jordan is the most efficient in public spending on administration, education and health, and Tunisia on infrastructure; while Libya, Algeria and Yemen are relatively less efficient in public spending on administration and health.

Moreover, the results indicate that political stability, trade freedom and economic growth have a positive effect on public spending efficiency. Nevertheless, voice and accountability negatively affect the efficiency of public spending.

eldis - Food & Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture - ROSA : Land Tenure And Gender: Approaches And Challenges For Strengthening Rural Women's Land Rights | capacity4dev

E. Namubiru-Mwaura — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 13:34:15 +0000

Land tenure security is crucial for women's empowerment and a prerequisite for building secure and resilient communities. Tenure is affected by many and often contradictory sets of rules, laws, customs, traditions, and perceptions. For most rural women, land tenure is complicated, with access and ownership often layered with barriers present in their daily realities: discriminatory social dynamics and strata, unresponsive legal systems, lack of economic opportunities, and lack of voice in decision making. Yet most policy reform, land management, and development programs disregard these realities in their interventions, which ultimately increases land tenure insecurity for rural women. This paper seeks to further develop the evidence base for access to and control over land.

wdev-newsblog.blogspot - EU banking structure reform is overhyped

Rainer Falk — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 03:49:00 +0000

The Hamburg based World Future Council (WFC) responded to the public consultation on a reform of the structure of the EU banking sector.

Key messages of the WFC response in brief:

● The separation of banking activities cannot efficiently cope with severe problems like high leverage and excessive risk taking. It can only flank and should not neglect effective measures such as debt brakes for the financial sector, a preventive testing of financial innovations (finance TÜV)and a scalable financial transaction tax to slow down systemically risky volatility.

● There is neither evidence nor plausibility that the reduction of intra-group subsidies through separating deposits from trading activities will lead to shrinkage of the financial sector. Banks refinance themselves primarily, if not solely, through lending activities within the financial sector. Pro-cyclical and opaque credit intermediation chains and overly complex financial innovations make appropriate risk premiums impossible.

● Possible shifts to non-bank finance must not serve as an excuse for weak bank regulation but rather be integrated within an overall approach. This is exactly the purpose of debt brakes for the financial sector, a finance TÜV and a scalable financial transaction tax.

● In view of the limited impact of ring-fencing or separating banking activities as such, full ownership separation such as in the Glass Steagall Act of 1933 is the clearest approach.

Please find the complete response >>>here.

eldis - The politics of what works in service delivery: an evidence-based review

C. Mcloughlin — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 21:52:36 +0000

This paper examines the evidence on the forms of politics likely to promote inclusive social provisioning and enable, as opposed to constrain, improvements in service outcomes. The paper focuses particularly on eight relatively successful cases of delivery in a range of country contexts and sectors where independent evaluations demonstrate improved outcomes.

The document traces the main characteristics of the political environment for these cases. The findings indicate that it is possible to identify connections between good performance and better outcomes at the point of delivery and the main forms of politics operating at local, sector and national levels.

Furthermore, the document highlights the relationship between inclusive delivery and:

periods of crisis and transition
the nature of the political settlement
the types of calculations of political returns being made by political actors at all levels
the extent to which the state derives or seeks to enhance its legitimacy through the provision of a particular service

Equally important, the authors conclude that:

future research needs to give special importance to the point of implementation, where formal policies most often fail and where “real” policies emerge from the interplay of interests and incentives
future research needs to be multi-directional, tracing both the influence of politics on services and, in turn, the influence of services on politics