Lead Institution: Center for Evaluation and Development (C4ED)

Partners: Ethiopian Economic Association (EEA)

Evaluates an 18-month intervention to strengthen evidence use in Ethiopian trade policymaking during a major reform period linked to WTO accession and AfCFTA integration. Using a cluster randomised controlled trial across 60 directorates, it compares training-only approaches with researcher–policymaker co-production and mentoring. The study plans to measure changes in skills, attitudes, and observable evidence use, generating actionable lessons for Ethiopia and global EIPM practice.

Lead Institution: DevelopMetrics

Partners: United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT) | University of Moratuwa | Ministry of Finance | Ministry of Digital Economy

Tests whether a generative-AI evidence platform improves research use in Sri Lanka’s economic policy-making. In a randomised controlled trial in the Ministries of Finance and Digital Economy, policy documents will be drafted with or without AI assistance. Planned outcomes include the quality, traceability, and timeliness of evidence use, offering the first causal evidence on AI-enabled evidence intermediation in live policy processes.

Lead Institution: Global Health Economics

Partners: Makerere University School of Public Health | Makerere University School of Economics | Mbarara University of Science and Technology | ACE Policy Research Institute | Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE)

Evaluates behavioural and institutional strategies to increase evidence use among senior policymakers in Uganda during a key reform window. A 2×2 factorial RCT will test evidence framing and messenger credibility across trade, fiscal, and energy sectors. The study aims to measure observable evidence use in policy documents and budgets, generating new causal evidence on behavioural mechanisms for strengthening EIPM in low-income settings.

Lead Institution: Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)

Partners: University of Warwick | Stanford Graduate School of Business | Ministry of Education, Côte d'Ivoire | Ministry of Education, Ghana | Ministry of Education, Kenya | Central Bank of Nigeria; Nigerian Communications Commission | Ministry of Education, Rwanda | Ministry of Education and Sports, Uganda | Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Uganda | Early Childhood Development Agency, Colombia | Environment Agency, Peru | Market regulator, Peru | Department of Education, The Philippines

Multi-country study that evaluates whether Embedded Evidence Labs improve policymakers’ capacity, motivation, and practice of using evidence. Using an encouragement-based cluster RCT across 12 government agencies in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, the study examines changes in knowledge, skills and observable evidence use. Findings will provide some of the first causal evidence on the effectiveness and sustainability of embedded evidence models.

Lead Institution: International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)

Partners: Policy Studies Institute (PSI) Ethiopia | Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development, Egerton University

Evaluates Evidence-to-Policy Sprints as a tool to strengthen evidence use in policymaking on informal food-system enterprises in Kenya and Ethiopia. Using a mixed-methods, quasi-experimental design, it plans to assess changes in policymakers’ knowledge, attitudes, and intentions following participation. The research fills a key evidence gap on whether short, collaborative policy engagement models can improve evidence uptake in contested policy areas.

Lead Institution: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Partners: Policy Studies Institute (PSI) Ethiopia | African Leadership Excellence Academy (AFLEX)

Tests whether leadership-focused capacity building and evidence intermediation can improve evidence use among senior policymakers in Ethiopia. Embedded within national leadership programmes, an individual-level RCT will compare training alone with enhanced evidence-use support and on-demand synthesis. The evaluation measures changes in demand for, trust in, and observable use of evidence, generating lessons for institutionalising EIPM at senior levels.

Lead Institution: Laboratoire d’Economie Publique (LEP) 

Partners: Directorate of Research and Strategic Studies (DRES), Ministry of Economy and Finance | Directorate General of Evaluation (DG, OCS), Ministry of Planning and Development, Benin

Uses mixed methods to examine whether Benin’s first embedded policy lab—the Directorate of Research and Strategic Studies—strengthens evidence use in economic policymaking. Combining quasi-experimental methods, an RCT, and in-depth qualitative analysis, it aims to assess impacts on policymakers’ skills, demand for evidence, and policy practices. The study offers rare causal evidence on policy labs in Francophone West Africa.

Lead Institution: RAND Europe

Partners: Center for Rapid Evidence Synthesis (ACRES)

Evaluates how ACRES, a long-standing Ugandan knowledge brokering institution, supports evidence use by convening stakeholders and prioritising policy-relevant research questions. Using theory-based mixed methods, it examines changes in access to evidence, trust, relationships, and observable policy influence. The evaluation seeks to generate transferable lessons for strengthening knowledge brokering in economic policymaking.

Lead Institution: South African Medical Research Council

Partners: Evidence-to-Decision Initiative

Evaluates how and at what cost the Evidence-to-Decision initiative embeds systematic evidence use in South Africa’s health and social policymaking. Using nested case studies, process tracing, and cost–consequence analysis, it examines institutional pathways from evidence to policy influence. The findings aim to provide actionable insights on designing sustainable evidence-to-decision systems in complex governance contexts.