Policy paper

Systematic reviews in international development

Published 13 August 2013

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

1. Introduction

Systematic reviews strengthen the capacity to make evidence-informed decisions by providing rigorous and timely assessments of the evidence base to decision makers. Here we provide background information on systematic reviews as a guide for those who are interested in the role of systematic reviews in development research and for researchers wishing to contribute to the systematic review process.

2. DFID’s systematic review programme

There is increasing focus on evidence-informed decision making with the recognition that better informed decisions increase impact and value for money. An important step in strengthening the international development community’s capacity for evidence-informed decision making is the production and dissemination of systematic reviews.

The goals of DFID’s systematic review programme are to:

• build support for the use of systematic reviews to increase evidence-informed decision making
• support the development of an institution to manage the creation and dissemination of systematic reviews as public goods
• make it easier for policy makers and practitioners to develop evidence informed policy by using systematic reviews
• increase the value for money of policy by basing decisions on a rigorous understanding of what works

Please view the full list of DFID-funded systematic reviews.

3. Evidence informed policy

Evidence-informed policy is about decisions based on the careful use of the most up-to-date evidence. Making policies and decisions in this way increases the success of policies, their value for money and their impact by basing decisions on what we know. This is important in international development, where limited funds are targeted at some of the world’s most pressing problems.

4. The issue

There is currently an obstacle to developing evidence-informed policy in international development. While there is a lot of primary evidence, this is not being systematically and neutrally laid out and mediated to decision makers. The fact is policy makers and practitioners do not have the time to assess the evidence base for each policy or practice questions. They rely on single studies, well-placed experts or traditional and unsystematic scoping studies or literature reviews.

But individual studies, no matter how rigorous or scientific, are not a sufficient evidence base from which to make informed policy and practice decisions. There is a gap in the delivery of systematic assessment of development evidence, which presents a challenge to evidence-informed policy making.

5. Systematic reviews

Systematic reviews have been used in health, education and social policy to meet this need. They are a well-established and rigorous method to map the evidence base in an unbiased way as possible, assess the quality of the evidence and synthesize it. Systematic reviews can then be mediated in specific ways to make it easier for policy makers and practitioners to rapidly understand the body of evidence and use this as a strong foundation on which to base policy and practice decisions.

DFID has worked with the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) to set up a searchable database of systematic reviews on development issues.

6. Learn more

Read this ‘Overview of Systematic Reviews’

6.1 Examples of Systematic Reviews in International Development:

• The efficacy of school feeding programs: full review/analysis of review

• Water, sanitation and hygiene for the prevention of diarrhoea

• Interventions to promote social cohesion in Sub-Saharan Africa

6.2 Organisations involved in Systematic Reviews:

• EPPI Centre - An Institute of Education centre focusing on systematic reviews in education, health and social policy
• Campbell Collaboration - Independent organisation producing systematic reviews on what works for education, health and social policy to build healthy and stable societies
• Cochrane Collaboration - Independent organisations producing systematic reviews for health interventions
• Collaboration for Environmental Evidence - Independent organisation producing systematic reviews for environmental management
• International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie)

6.3 Resources to learn more about Systematic Reviews:

1. ‘Making systematic reviews work for international development research’. Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium Briefing Paper No. 1. This Consortium is led by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).
2. ‘What works? Systematic reviews in international development research and policy’. 3ie blog responding to the SLRC briefing paper and ODI blog.
3. Special issue on systematic reviews. Journal of Development Effectiveness (2012) 4 (3) 351-496. This special issue of the 3ie publication has 8 open access articles on systematic reviews.
4. ‘How useful are systematic reviews in international development?’ 3ie blog by Martina Vojtkova, 13 December, 2012.

7. Contact

Raymond Kennedy (Project Manager, DFID): systematicreviews@dfid.gov.uk