Evaluation in the age of evidence-based policymaking: Promises, pitfalls and paths forward

Evaluators have long sought a world in which our work makes a tangible difference to society, but that goal has often seemed out of reach. However, in recent years, advocates have proclaimed an era of evidence-based policymaking in which the What Works data generated by evaluations will be increasingly used to inform programme and policy choices. Four primary factors have been critical to the rise of this approach – attaining a critical mass of curated What Works’ evidence, growing interest among political leaders in considering this information when making choices, new budgetary mechanisms for using these data and new tools that facilitate rigorous outcome studies. However, the movement also faces critical challenges including the growing distrust of empirical data among some political factions, leaks in the evaluation pipeline that generates data to identify What Works and the replication failure of many evidence-based interventions. The evaluation field should support this movement through efforts to plug leaks in the evidence pipeline, stronger efforts to assess implementation challenges, training students in evidence-based approaches and assisting in outreach to policymakers.