Walking the last mile on the long road to evidence-informed development: building capacity to use research evidence

• Published in: Journal of development effectiveness Vol. 7; no. 4; pp. 462 - 470
• Main Authors: Langer, Laurenz, Stewart, Ruth, Erasmus, Yvonne, de Wet, Thea
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 02.10.2015
• Subjects: capacity building; development effectiveness; evidence use; evidence-informed development; theory of change
• ISSN: 1943-9342; 1943-9407
• DOI: 10.1080/19439342.2015.1095783

The systematic application of rigorous evidence to inform the design and implementation of development policies and programmes has the potential to positively influence development outcomes. To achieve such evidence-informed development, a process of generating, transmitting, and using high-quality, policy-relevant evidence of development effectiveness is required. This article focuses on the final step in this casual chain - the use of evidence by national development policymakers. It proposes a people- and demand-focused approach to capacity building for the use of research evidence by policymakers. This support in building personal as well as team capacity and demand is assumed to encourage a growing institutionalisation of evidence use. The article integrates these capacity-building efforts into the wider theory of change for evidence-informed development, highlighting the importance of effective mechanisms to encourage research use in order to achieve the objective of improving lives through research evidence.