Last year, we wrote about how remote sensing has the power to transform and complement traditional approaches to measuring impact of development interventions in low- and middle-income countries. This year, we are excited to share some lessons from using remotely-sensed data to conduct an evaluation of Niger’s Agricultural Production Intensification for Food Security Project which aims to increase irrigated and rain-fed crop production.

Since the intervention areas are remote and hard to survey, the West African Development Bank (BOAD) commissioned 3ie and New Light Technologies to use remotely-sensed data to analyze various program outcomes, including changes in production, water availability, siltation and desertification. Read our latest brief in which we share preliminary lessons from this ongoing evaluation.

3ie and New Light Technologies have in the past co-led a series of capacity-building workshops with researchers from the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) on the potential to use remotely-sensed geospatial data for impact evaluations. Read more about it in this blog.

Development interventions that address policy and institutional reform (PIR) are particularly challenging, both from a project design and M&E perspective. Traditional project logic models do not adequately account for the complexity in PIR activities. In collaboration with Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), 3ie has created a user tool that provides guidance on evaluation design questions for teams evaluating PIR activities. This user tool is designed to help development evaluators and practitioners choose the right evidence approach(es) for their program phase, context, and needs. 

Register here to join the online launch and discussion on 7 September 2023.
Interested in learning more?

• Watch user guidance video and explore the tool
• Read our recent blog in which we discuss the several gaps filled by our new Methods Menu.
• Read about our work with MCC here.

In humanitarian settings, food insecurity remains one of the fundamental concerns. Despite being a significant part of humanitarian assistance efforts, interventions that improve food security outcomes for millions of people living in these situations are not as often evaluated for effectiveness owing to operational, methodological, and ethical issues. However, in recent years the number of impact evaluations emerging from humanitarian emergencies has gone up, demonstrating the success of continuous efforts to overcome the challenges of evidence production. 3ie’s recent evidence gap map of 163 studies in low- and middle-income countries fills a key void in this space by mapping – for the first time ever – available rigorous evidence and the evidence gaps on this topic. It is a resource that aims to support governments and donors to better design and implement their humanitarian assistance efforts. 3ie completed this project as a consortium partner of the Humanitarian Assistance Evidence Cycle (HAEC) Award funded by the USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance.

View EGM | view report | view blog

Here’s a recap of our work in this area:

• In this systematic review, we focused on identifying approaches that can improve women’s status in fragile and conflict-affected settings. The synthesis responds to the evidence gap identified in the Building Peaceful Societies evidence gap map by assessing the effects of a broad range of gender-specific and transformative interventions on women’s empowerment and gender equality in fragile and conflict-affected states and their contribution to building peaceful and inclusive societies. Read the brief and blog.
• This 3ie-supported impact evaluation on the effects of humanitarian assistance provided to internally-displaced people in DRC was one of three studies awarded the Best of UNICEF Research 2019. It showed that provision of essential household items through vouchers caused substantial improvement in adult mental health and well-being.

The latest issue of the Journal of Development Effectiveness (JDEFF) focuses on evaluations of the scaling journey of five different education programs operating in humanitarian crises. The authors of the introduction to this special issue provide the research context for these evaluations. They also offer a synthesis of the overarching barriers and facilitators to scaling and a summary of the learning outcomes. Read the introduction.

Articles in this issue:

1. The effects of booster classes in protracted crisis settings: Evidence from Kenyan refugee camps
2. Building community engagement and teacher support in education: qualitative findings from process evaluations in two exceptional settings
3. Can’t Wait to Learn: A quasi-experimental mixed-methods evaluation of a digital game-based learning programme for out-of-school children in Sudan
4. Employer attitudes towards hiring university-educated refugees: evidence from Rwanda

To submit an article to the journal, please read the guidance here.

Since 2020, 3ie's Fellowship Program has contributed to achieving our mission by tapping into diverse expertise and experience across the world. Our research fellows enhance the quality of 3ie's work and provide intellectual leadership and technical support to areas strategic for the organization. Our fellows are uniquely positioned to lead or support new and ongoing initiatives and programs. It provides an opportunity for experienced researchers to work with our global team on a range of projects in their area of expertise.

This month, we are featuring Ahonali Patrice Gbaguidi, whose work and contribution span various sectors, including rural development, road infrastructure, industries, banks and microfinance. He headed the Department for the Evaluation of the Development Results of Funded Projects (Monitoring & Evaluation) at the West African Development Bank (BOAD in French) from 2012 to 2020. Read more about Gbaguidi here.