Abstract:

“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.”

Citation: Langer, L., Stewart, R., Erasmus, Y., & De Wet, T. (2015). Walking the last mile on the long road to evidence-informed development: Building capacity to use research evidence. Journal of Development Effectiveness, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/19439342.2015.1095783