Summary and Preliminary Conclusions

Although the idea that policy should be informed by evidence is not new, the current emphasis on EBP is. We have highlighted some of the issues and challenges regarding how evidence is and should be incorporated into policymaking. It is important to acknowledge that evidence is but one of many factors that influence policy processes. Policymaking is inherently political (Nutley, 2003: 3). This is true of the developed as well as the developing world. The realities of policy decisions are less about projected consequences and more about process and legitimation; 'The policy process is characterised by competition over agenda setting, over jurisdictions, and over interpretations' (Young et al, 2002). Against this backdrop, the EBP approach seeks to create a sustainable and transferable impact.

There are lots of different stages to the policymaking process and at each juncture different evidence is needed. Therefore evidence does not merely enter the policymaking process at one point. The challenge is to analyse the conditions that facilitate evidence-informed policymaking (Nutley, 2003) and translate these conditions into practical tools for the governments of developing countries. Despite the challenges to creating an EBP approach, there is a general consensus that a more evidence-based approach to policy would be a positive development.

We have also identified some important considerations. It is clear from the literature that:

• policy should be informed by a wide breadth of evidence, not just hard research. Key issues include the quality, credibility, relevance and the cost of the policy;
  
• evidence is needed, and in different ways, at a number of different points of the policy cycle;
  
• time constraints will affect the mechanisms available to mobilize evidence - urgent issues require different approaches than processes to develop strategic policy directions.

This paper continues by suggesting a number of tools which can be used to make policy more evidence based. The tools are presented on the assumption that the reader is a progressive policymaker in a developing country, who is interested in developing policy which is more evidence based. Undoubtedly the development arena is distinct and therefore there are a number of reasons why the tools are not directly transferable. This is a work in progress and thus this is only a preliminary version of a paper, which is likely to change and develop based on comment and further testing.

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