Inter-American Development Bank
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
instagram
Abierto al públicoBeyond BordersCaribbean Development TrendsCiudades SosteniblesEnergía para el FuturoEnfoque EducaciónFactor TrabajoGente SaludableGestión fiscalGobernarteIdeas MatterIdeas que CuentanIdeaçãoImpactoIndustrias CreativasLa Maleta AbiertaMoviliblogMás Allá de las FronterasNegocios SosteniblesPrimeros PasosPuntos sobre la iSeguridad CiudadanaSostenibilidadVolvamos a la fuente¿Y si hablamos de igualdad?Home
Citizen Security and Justice Creative Industries Development Effectiveness Early Childhood Development Education Energy Envirnment. Climate Change and Safeguards Fiscal policy and management Gender and Diversity Health Labor and pensions Open Knowledge Public management Science, Technology and Innovation  Trade and Regional Integration Urban Development and Housing Water and Sanitation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Impacto

  • HOME
  • CATEGORIES
    • Beyond development effectiveness
    • Evaluation methods and techniques
    • Measuring our performance
    • What does and doesn’t work in development
  • Authors
  • English
    • Español

Three sources of evidence for solving development challenges

July 26, 2011 por Pablo Ibarrarán Leave a Comment


evidence for solving development challengesSolving development challenges is a complex task. Rigorous research show that some programs do not work as intended and that most that do work have no huge impacts.

A sensible way to proceed when designing development projects is to be guided by three types of evidence: evidence in the identification of the problem, in the drafting of the solution, and evidence generated from the results.

Evidence-based diagnosis. It is important to identify as well as possible the development problem to be addressed, and to be based on evidence about its magnitude and determinants is necessary.

How big is the problem? What are its causes? The answers to these questions need to be supported by evidence.

Evidence-based solution. Besides being linked to the determinants of the program, there needs to be evidence about the efficacy, effectiveness or at least theoretical plausibility of the solution.

Ideally one would apply a proven solution, but that the fact that the problem exists in a given place means that a successful solution in the particular context has not been implemented.

So we need evidence that the solution has worked elsewhere, either in a similar context (second best) or that there is a mechanism that supports the intervention. If possible, the available evidence should be incorporated into guidelines on how to implement these policies. This is the process by which evidence on what works is incorporated into policymaking.

Generating evidence through monitoring and evaluation. Even if one identifies the problem with extensive evidence and designs a sensible solution based on rigorous evidence, the outcome in uncertain. Policymaking is full of good intentions with not-so-good or even bad outcomes.

Hence, it is always important to benchmark the results obtained with the evidence of how the program is working. Are the expected results and impacts being realized? Actual effectiveness needs to be gauged against what, based on evidence, one could expect.

An interesting illustration of this process is provided by Lawrence Sherman in his 1998 Police Foundation note on Evidence-Based Policing.

According to Sherman, “Evidence-based policing is the use of the best available research on the outcomes of police work to implement guidelines and evaluate agencies, units, and officers… evidence-based policing uses research to guide practice and evaluate practitioners. It uses the best evidence to shape the best practice. It is a systematic effort to parse out and codify unsystematic ‘experience” as the basis for police work, refining it by ongoing systematic testing of hypotheses.”

These principles can and have been applied to areas as diverse as policing (Sheman’s note shows the example of policies to reduce domestic violence), medicine and education (interesting examples are provided in Super Crunchers, by Ian Ayres).

The hardest point, illustrated by Sherman and Ayres, is making people change their behavior, to create a culture in which evidence dominates the expert’s opinion, the rule of thumb or the gut-feeling of what should work.

Implementing development programs in the field may be a daunting job that requires passionate and committed people to run them. The challenge is to direct that passion and commitment not with a particular intervention, but with solving the development challenges that justify working on a given intervention.

This will provide with the flexibility necessary to adapt and learn from the evidence, and ultimately enhance development effectiveness.


Filed Under: What does and doesn't work in development Tagged With: development, development challenges, impact, policy, projects, results, verify

Pablo Ibarrarán

Pablo is the Social Protection and Health Division Chief. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Economics from the University of California Berkeley and a B.A. in Economics from CIDE in Mexico. He entered the Bank in 2005 as an Evaluation Economist in OVE and also worked as an Economics Lead Specialist in SPD.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us

Subscribe

Search

About this blog

This blog highlights effective ideas in the fight against poverty and exclusion, and analyzes the impact of development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Categories

Footer

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
facebook
twitter
youtube
youtube
youtube

    Blog posts written by Bank employees:

    Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank ("IDB"). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. (CC-IGO 3.0 BY-NC-ND) license and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC- IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.


    For blogs written by external parties:

    For questions concerning copyright for authors that are not IADB employees please complete the contact form for this blog.

    The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDB, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

    Attribution: in addition to giving attribution to the respective author and copyright owner, as appropriate, we would appreciate if you could include a link that remits back the IDB Blogs website.



    Privacy Policy

    Derechos de autor © 2025 · Magazine Pro en Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

    Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

    Aviso Legal

    Las opiniones expresadas en estos blogs son las de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, sus directivas, la Asamblea de Gobernadores o sus países miembros.

    facebook
    twitter
    youtube
    This site uses cookies to optimize functionality and give you the best possible experience. If you continue to navigate this website beyond this page, cookies will be placed on your browser.
    To learn more about cookies, click here
    X
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT