A considerable amount of evidence exists that demonstrates which development policy interventions are effective. However, in the context of declining investment in global development programmes, evidence is required that focuses specifically on helping policymakers to make the most of development funding by providing insight into what makes for a cost-effective policy solution.
“People often argue that we don’t know what ‘knowledge’ is worth. In fact, we do.”
Demand for data on cost-effectiveness. Participants highlighted the significant appetite of donors and implementors for evidence on cost-effectiveness. Links were made between the demand for data on efficiency and sustainability and the increasing desire of donor countries to implement interventions that are not only cost-effective in the short term but that support local economic growth and reduce donor dependence in the long term.
The value of monitoring data. Promoting the collection and use of monitoring data was identified as central to enhancing knowledge of what makes for a cost-effective intervention. Clear and cyclical processes that incorporate monitoring data were viewed by participants as resulting in usable feedback that can enable programmes to be run in a cost-efficient manner, as well as improving implementation and informing the design of future programmes.
Understanding scalability. Once a policy has been shown to be cost-effective, evidence is also key to understanding its potential for scalability. Although in some contexts the transfer and implementation of cost-effective programmes face hurdles including logistics, digital infrastructure, and statistical capacity, complementing an acknowledgement of context-specificity with robust data on cost-effectiveness can facilitate the scaling up of successful interventions. Examples were provided of cost-effective solutions that have been transferred and scaled in a variety of situations, with the incorporation of best practices in knowledge generation on cost-effectiveness and a focus on context-specific implementation positioned as central to their success. Participants tied this point to the benefits of locally-led development, with data on cost-effectiveness seen as an opportunity to highlight the efficiency of locally-led interventions.
Obstacles to the collection of cost-effectiveness data. Although participants advocated for a shift towards encouraging entire sectors to focus on providing data on cost-effectiveness, a series of challenges to this were also flagged. Contributors acknowledged that in sectors where the evidence base is currently limited, narrow, or not sufficiently rigorous, it may be too early to move towards providing data on cost-effectiveness, while the complexity of providing robust data on the cost-effectiveness of multi-disciplinary interventions with potential outcomes across a range of policy areas was also highlighted. Participants also cautioned that researchers should be wary of data on cost-effectiveness being weaponised, and that steps should be taken to avoid this by ensuring that evidence on cost-effectiveness is understood and used appropriately by political actors.