The Evidence-Informed Policymaking (EIPM) programme explores how policymakers engage with evidence and identifies the factors that influence evidence uptake in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, with a central focus on policymaking for national economic growth. Despite over 40 years of research and global efforts to increase evidence use in public policy, barriers to evidence-informed policymaking remain pervasive. The challenges include weak governance structures around evidence use, limited political and institutional incentives, and fragmented research on how to effectively integrate evidence into policy decisions. Relative to other policy sectors such as health and applied social sciences, the evidence base on EIPM in economic policymaking remains comparatively nascent.
To address these challenges, the EIPM programme takes a multi-strand approach that examines examples of evidence use in practice and evaluates interventions that seek to enhance policymakers’ use of evidence. Through a series of commissioned studies, the programme seeks to generate nuanced insights on entry points for evidence use and develop actionable recommendations for researchers, intermediaries, and policymakers.
To support this work, the programme has developed a suite of resources, which can be accessed below. All outputs from the commissioned studies including research reports, policy briefs and other tools will be published on this webpage to ensure that policymakers, practitioners, and researchers have access to high-quality, context-specific insights to drive evidence-informed decision-making.
Pathfinding paper: Outlining a research agenda for improving evidence use.
Conceptual framework: Mapping the pathways through which evidence influences policymaking processes.
Inventory of measures: Cataloguing tools and indicators used to assess evidence use.
Systematic review
Your starting point for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) funded research and development.