We know that evidence can lead to better outcomes. Yet despite spending upwards of USD $2.5 billion annually on collecting information about results – outcomes and impacts – research suggests these data are infrequently used.

We at Development Gateway invite you to discuss how we can address this gap, by making smarter agency and government-wide investments in results.

We know that Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) aims to support accountability and learning, in order to drive better outcomes. Through the Results Data Initiative (RDI), we’ve approached M&E with a critical eye – how can we better allocate M&E funding, and what results are we really striving for?

What does it take to design a platform to collect, manage, and analyze a country’s agricultural information? Ideally, a significant amount of time to speak with key data producers and intended data users to understand needs and achieve buy-in. But, as was our experience in Malawi, – it also requires a fair amount of humility and iteration.

This weekend marks the G7 Summit in Canada – as well as the first anniversary of Global Affairs Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy. Over the past year, in Canada and elsewhere, we’ve seen the rights of women and girls grow in prominence across public and development discourse. 

Agriculture data being reported, collected, and visualized is growing exponentially. But are the data we’re spending so much to collect truly relevant for decision makers? We’re proud to announce that, through our Results Data Initiative (RDI), we’re working with Malawi’s Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development (MOAIWD) to design a National Agriculture Management Information System (NAMIS).

Last week, we shared our schedule for this week’s Data for Development Festival, hosted by the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD)  in Bristol, UK.

Last month, the Results Data Initiative (RDI) convened its second cross-ministry co-design workshop -- surfacing new opportunities for the Government of Tanzania to put health data to use at the local level.

This post builds upon a DG contribution to the 2017 OECD Development Cooperation Report, launched on October 17, 2017.

All too often, discussions about managing for results in development fail to specify who is managing, what decisions they are authorized to make, or what results data are being used. Identifying the who and whats is critical, as this decision space informs what types of tools, processes, and information are needed by decision-makers to serve the why: achieving better outcomes.

It didn’t surprise me when I learned that -- when Ministry of Finance officials conduct trainings on the Aid Management Platform for Village Chiefs, CSOs and citizens throughout the districts of Malawi -- officials are almost immediately asked:

“What were the results of these projects? What were the outcomes?”

In the Results Data Initiative (RDI)’s first cross-ministry co-design workshop, we explored opportunities for greater data-driven decision-making in Tanzania’s health sector.