1. The use of evidence in developing countries: Experiences and Challenges Miguel Szekely, October 11, 2010

2. 3ie 3ie aims to improve the lives of people in the developing world by supporting the production and use of better evidence of what works, when, why and for how much

3. Why are we still asking this question? 21st Century Decades (centuries) of policy interventions The fact is that we don’t have powerful answers (in general) Why is it necessary to have a 3ie?

4. Evaluation in other areas Building a bridge (stands and resists, or breaks down) Economic management (growth, employment, inflation, exchange rate stability) Tangible results observable and evident in the short run Constituencies can vote depending on measurable tangible results

5. Evaluation in developing policy (education, poverty alleviation) Problems with measuring welfare Results take a long time to manifest and to be observed Difficult to find who to blame (Toyota, Spaceship vs teacher) Large bureaucracies become constituencies and feel threatened

6. Contents: The need for improving policy impact in developing countries Experiences from Mexico in Social Development and Education Thinking about the problem Ways forward

7. Contents: The need for improving policy impact in developing countries Experiences from Mexico in Social Development and Education Thinking about the problem Ways forward

8. Normally you would expect …. Evidence-based Policy design Evaluation Monitoring Implementation Decisions Improvement Changes Evidence

9. Usually you see…. Decisions Improvement Changes Implementation

11. Has been like this for years in important areas such as education, (health) and poverty alleviation programs

14. Social program evaluation

15. Standardized tests in Education

16. Evaluation of school principals

17. Ignored

21. Re-appointed

23. Publications

24. PrestigeImprovement design and maximizing policy impact

25. 1. Different Marginal Propensity to “consume and produce” evaluations Politicians Evaluators High MPc due to need to show results (deliver to constituencies, and little time to reap benefits) Low MPc due to time needed to increase quality of academic output (probability of publication)

26. 2. Different expected returns from evaluating Politicians Evaluators Uncertain results, uncertain political capitalization (only through positive impact) Publication depends on methodological and theoretical rigorousness, not on positive or negative effects

28. Economic feasibility

29. Social feasibility

30. Academic rigorousness

33. Pay for implementation strategies', not only for evaluation

34. Incentives on successful implementation (3ie)

35. Quicker ways of disseminating results

36. Link budget to results

37. Link hiring and firing to results

38. Institutionalize evaluation practice (de-link from political cycles)

39. Offer evaluations of a set of instruments to chooseCritical role for the media