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Systematic Reviews in International Development : An Initiative to Strengthen Evidence-Informed Policy Making
There is increasing focus on evidence-informed decision making with the recognition that better informed decisions increase impact and value for money. An important step in strengthening the international development community's capacity for evidence-informed decision making is the production and dissemination of systematic reviews.
SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS
Strengthen the capacity to make evidence-informed decisions by providing rigorous and timely assessments of the evidence base to decision makers.
PROGRAM GOALS
Build support for the use of systematic reviews to increase evidence-informed decision making.
Support the development of an institution to manage the creation and dissemination of systematic reviews as public goods.
Make it easier for policy makers and practitioners to develop evidence informed policy by using systematic reviews.
Increase the value for money of policy by basing decisions on a rigorous understanding of what works.
Winning Bids for Round 1 of the Systematic Reviews Pilot
See the Alert for Round II Reviews here. Note: DFID has postponed the call for Round II of the systematic review programme so that it can coordinate the call with the International Initiative on Impact Evaluation (3ie) and AusAID in September. Please check this page for updates.
WHAT IS EVIDENCE INFORMED POLICY?
Evidence-informed policy is about decisions based on the careful use of the most up-to-date evidence. Making policies and decisions in this way increases the success of policies, their value for money and their impact by basing decisions on what we know. This is important in international development, where limited funds are targeted at some of the world's most pressing problems.
WHAT IS THE ISSUE?
There is currently an obstacle to developing evidence-informed policy in international development. While there is a lot of primary evidence, this is not being systematically and neutrally laid out and mediated to decision makers. The fact is policy makers and practitioners do not have the time to assess the evidence base for each policy or practice questions. They rely on single studies, well-placed experts or traditional and unsystematic scoping studies or literature reviews.
But individual studies, no matter how rigorous or scientific, are not a sufficient evidence base from which to make informed policy and practice decisions. There is a gap in the delivery of systematic assessment of development evidence, which presents a challenge to evidence-informed policy making.
SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS
Systematic reviews have been used in health, education and social policy to meet this need. Systematic reviews are a well-established and rigorous method to map the evidence base in an unbiased way as possible, assess the quality of the evidence and synthesize it. Systematic reviews can then be mediated in specific ways to make it easier for policy makers and practitioners to rapidly understand the body of evidence and use this as a strong foundation on which to base policy and practice decisions.
Alert: Round II Systematic Reviews for International Development
The UK Department for International Development (DFID) is piloting an exciting systematic review project that aims to strengthen evidence-informed decision making. A set of systematic reviews were commissioned during Round 1 in April 2010. Round II of the systematic review competition has now been postponed so that DFID can coordinate the call with the International Initiative on Impact Evaluation (3ie) and AusAID in September.
DFID will commission 20 systematic reviews in September 2010 focusing on 5 thematic areas:
- Agriculture and Food
- Climate and Environment
- Governance and Social Development
- Growth
- Human Development
DFID is currently developing a set of priority systematic review questions. DFID will encourage a broad-based approach to systematic reviewing that incorporates theory and uses qualitative and/or quantitative data.
DFID will be commissioning reviewers and review teams in September 2010 and expects the review process to involve 1 or 2 lead researchers and 2 research assistants.
The systematic reviews should be suitable for publication in a peer review journal and will also provide a timely and vigorous assessment of the evidence base for key DFID policy questions. Delivery of systematic reviews should be between March - July 2011.
Please check this page for further information and call materials.
LEARN MORE
Overview of Systematic Reviews
Examples of Systematic Reviews in International Development :
- The Efficacy of School Feeding Programs - full review / analysis of review
- Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Interventions to Combat Child Diarrhoea - full report
- Interventions to Promote Social Cohesion in Sub-Saharan Africa - protocol
Resources to learn more about Systematic Reviews :
- EPPI Centre - An Institute of Education centre focusing on systematic reviews in education, health and social policy.
- Campbell Collaboration - Independent organisation producing systematic reviews on what works for education, health and social policy to build healthy and stable societies.
- Cochrane Collaboration - Independent organisations producing systematic reviews for health interventions.
- Collaboration for Environmental Evidence - Independent organisation producing systematic reviews for environmental management.