---
title: "Evidence-based policy"
chunk: 3/4
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence-based_policy"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:25:41.073168+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

== Evidence-based policy initiatives by non-governmental organizations ==

=== Overseas Development Institute ===
The Overseas Development Institute (now ODI Global) asserts that research-based evidence can significantly influence policies that have profound impacts on lives. Illustrative examples mentioned in the UK's Department for International Development's (DFID) new research strategy include a 22% reduction in neonatal mortality in Ghana, achieved by encouraging women to initiate breastfeeding within one hour of childbirth, and a 43% decrease in mortality among HIV-positive children due to the use of a widely accessible antibiotic.
Following numerous policy initiatives, the ODI conducted an evaluation of their evidence-based policy efforts. This analysis identified several factors contributing to policy decisions that are only weakly informed by research-based evidence. Policy development processes are complex, seldom linear or logical, thus making the direct application of presented information by policy-makers an unlikely scenario. These factors encompass information gaps, secrecy, the necessity for rapid responses versus slow data availability, political expediency (what is popular), and a lack of interest among policy-makers in making policies more scientifically grounded. When a discrepancy is identified between the scientific process and political process, those seeking to reduce this gap face a choice: either to encourage politicians to adopt more scientific methods or to prompt scientists to employ more political strategies.
The ODI suggested that, in the face of limited progress in evidence-based policy, individuals and organizations possessing relevant data should leverage the emotional appeal and narrative power typically associated with politics and advertising to influence decision-makers. Instead of relying solely on tools like cost–benefit analysis and logical frameworks, the ODI recommended identifying key players, crafting compelling narratives, and simplifying complex research data into clear, persuasive stories. Rather than advocating for systemic changes to promote evidence-based policy, the ODI encouraged data holders to actively engage in the political process.
Furthermore, the ODI posited that transforming a person who merely 'finds' data into someone who actively 'uses' data within our current system necessitates a fundamental shift towards policy engagement over academic achievement. This shift implies greater involvement with the policy community, the development of a research agenda centered on policy issues instead of purely academic interests, the acquisition of new skills or the formation of multidisciplinary teams, the establishment of new internal systems and incentives, increased investment in communications, the production of a different range of outputs, and enhanced collaboration within partnerships and networks.
The Future Health Systems consortium, based on research undertaken in six countries across Asia and Africa, has identified several key strategies to enhance the incorporation of evidence into policy-making. These strategies include enhancing the technical capacity of policy-makers; refining the presentation of research findings; leveraging social networks; and establishing forums to facilitate the connection between evidence and policy outcomes.

=== The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) ===
J-PAL is a Research Organization which was founded in 2003 and is based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As of 2020, the organization has "over 1,000 completed and ongoing RCTs in 84 countries" and receives funding from many sources including the Gates Foundation and the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. The work of J-PAL highlights a potential limit of the efficacy of this form of intervention as only "Eleven, or 2%, of the 543 RCTs conducted and completed by J-PAL (of the 811 launched) have actually been scaled up."

=== The Pew Charitable Trusts ===
The Pew Charitable Trusts is a non-governmental organization dedicated to using data, science, and facts to serve the public good. One of its initiatives, the Results First, collaborates with different US states to promote the use of evidence-based policymaking in the development of their laws. The initiative has created a framework that serves as an example of how to implement evidence-based policy.
Pew's five key components of evidence-based policy are:

Program Assessment: This involves systematic reviews of the available evidence on the effectiveness of public programs, the development of a comprehensive inventory of funded programs, categorization of these programs by their proven effectiveness, and identification of their potential return on investment.
Budget Development: This process incorporates the evidence of program effectiveness into budget and policy decisions, prioritizing funding for programs that deliver a high return on investment. It involves integrating program performance information into the budget development process, presenting information to policymakers in user-friendly formats, including relevant studies in budget hearings and committee meetings, establishing incentives for implementing evidence-based programs and practices, and building performance requirements into grants and contracts.
Implementation Oversight: This ensures that programs are effectively delivered and remain faithful to their intended design. Key aspects include establishing quality standards for program implementation, building and maintaining capacity for ongoing quality improvement and monitoring of fidelity to program design, balancing program fidelity requirements with local needs, and conducting data-driven reviews to improve program performance.
Outcome Monitoring: This involves routinely measuring and reporting outcome data to determine whether programs are achieving their desired results. It includes developing meaningful outcome measures for programs, agencies, and the community, conducting regular audits of systems for collecting and reporting performance data, and regularly reporting performance data to policymakers.
Targeted Evaluation: This process involves conducting rigorous evaluations of new and untested programs to ensure they warrant continued funding. This includes leveraging available resources to conduct evaluations, targeting evaluations to high-priority programs, making better use of administrative data for program evaluations, requiring evaluations as a condition for continued funding for new initiatives, and developing a centralized repository for program evaluations.