[EQ] A framework for mandatory impact evaluation to ensure well informed public policy decisions

A framework for mandatory impact evaluation to ensure well informed public policy decisions

Andrew D Oxman, Arild Bjørndal, Francisco Becerra-Posada, Mark Gibson, Miguel Angel Gonzalez Block, Andy Haines, Maimunah Hamid,Carmen Hooker Odom, Haichao Lei, Ben Levin, Mark W Lipsey, Julia H Littell, Hassan Mshinda, Pierre Ongolo-Zogo, Tikki Pang,Nelson Sewankambo, Francisco Songane, Haluk Soydan, Carole Torgerson, David Weisburd, Judith Whitworth, Suwit Wibulpolprasert

The Lancet, Volume 375, Issue 9712, Pages 427 - 431, 30 January 2010  doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61251-4

Website abstract: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)61251-4/fulltext  [Subscription required]

”......Trillions of dollars are invested yearly in programmes to improve health, social welfare, education, and justice (which we will refer to generally as public programmes). Yet we know little about the effects of most of these attempts to improve peoples’ lives, and what we do know is often not used to inform decisions.

We propose that governments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) address this failure responsibly by mandating more systematic and transparent use of research evidence to assess the likely eff ects of public programmes before they are launched, and the better use of well designed impact evaluations after they are launched....”

Commitments needed for a framework for ensuring well informed decision making about public programmes

• Adequate funding

• Development of capacity of both researchers to undertake evaluative research and to support policy
  makers’ needs for research, and of policymakers’ understanding and ability to use research appropriately

• Organisational structures or processes to lend support to more systematic and transparent use
  of research evidence to inform decisions before starting new programmes

• Rigorous prospective impact evaluations of programmes, including

• Planning evaluations in advance

• Ensuring clear objectives that are aligned to the programmes’ goals

• Measurement of important outcomes and processes

• Processes for prioritising which programmes are most in need of evaluation

• Eff ective mechanisms for management of confl icts of interests

• Involvement of the public, including civil society organisations, unions, and professional organisations

• International collaboration to ensure that knowledge and learning are shared, to reduce unnecessary duplication of eff orts, and to help to develop capacity

• Avoidance of bureaucratic ineff ective structures

• Monitoring and assessment of the implementation and eff ects of the legislation...........”

 

Lancet 2010; 375: 427–31 Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services, Oslo, Norway (A D Oxman MD, Prof A Bjørndal MD); University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway (A Bjørndal); Council on Health Research for Development, Mexico DF, Mexico (F Becerra-Posada MD); Center for Evidence-based Policy, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA (M Gibson); Centre for Health Systems Research, National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Mexico (M A G Block MD); London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK (Prof A Haines FMedSci); Institute for Health Systems Research, Ministry of Health, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (M Hamid MBBch); Milbank Memorial Fund, New York, NY, USA (C Hooker Odom MSc); Department of Policy and Regulation, Ministry of Health, Beijing, China (H Lei PhD); University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada (Prof B Levin PhD); Peabody Research Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA (Prof M W Lipsey PhD); Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA, USA (Prof J H Littell PhD); Commission for Science and Technology, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (H Mshinda PhD); Centre for the Development of Best Practices in Health, Yaoundé Central Hospital, Yaoundé , Cameroon (P Ongolo-Zogo MD); Research Policy and Cooperation Department, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland (T Pang PhD); Offi ce of the Principal, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda (N Sewankambo MD); Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, Geneva, Switzerland (F Songane MD); Hamovitch Center for Science in the Human Services, University of Southern California, School of Social Work, Los Angeles, CA, USA (Prof H Soydan PhD); Institute for Eff ective Education, University of York, York, UK (C Torgerson PhD); Institute of Criminology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel (Prof D Weisburd PhD); George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA (Prof D Weisburd); John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia (Prof J Whitworth MD); and Ministry of Public Health, Nonthaburi, Thailand (S Wibulpolprasert MD)

 

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