Evaluation of Approaches to Build Capacity for Use of Research Evidence.

Descriptions

DFID is seeking proposals for an evaluation of its Building Capacity to Use Research Evidence (BCURE) programme. This is a three year study that will evaluate the value and impact of the BCURE programme as well as assess the wider challenge of supporting evidence-based decision making in developing countries. The proposed budget is between 700 000 GBP and 950 000 GBP. DFID is committed to supporting research and its effective use by policy makers and practitioners. In the past DFID has focused on the supply of high quality research, with less work done to ensure that there is a corresponding demand for research evidence in developing countries. However, emerging evidence suggests that there are significant gaps in capacity of decision makers in the south to use research effectively, which is hampering research uptake. In response, DFID has launched the BCURE programme. This is a three year 13 million GBP programme aimed at increasing the ability of policy makers, practitioners and research intermediaries in the South to use research evidence for decision making. The programme will support five (possibly six) projects, working in a total of 11 (possibly 12) countries. The projects will begin between September 2013 and January 2014, last three years each, and are worth between 1.3 and 3.4 million GBP. Improving the use of research evidence in decision making is a relatively new area for donor support, meaning that the evidence base on what works is limited. Therefore the primary purpose of this evaluation is to ‘strengthen the evidence base to support evidence-informed policy making in developing countries’. This assessment will help DFID and others make better choices in the future, when deciding whether and how to support and implement capacity building programmes on evidence use. In order to make this assessment, the evaluation is expected to draw on both the BCURE programmes and the existing body of evidence related to building capacity to use evidence for decision making. The secondary purpose of this evaluation is to ‘evaluate the success and value for money of the BCURE projects in building capacity to use research evidence for decision making’. This assessment will help inform DFID decisions about whether to provide additional funding to these projects beyond the original three year contract. The evaluation is expected to use a mixed methods approach, combining primary data collection from the BCURE projects and secondary evidence synthesis and analysis from existing sources. Primary data collection in non-BCURE countries and/or interventions may be proposed. As the BCURE projects will be an important source of data, the evaluation is expected to work closely with BCURE project providers when gathering information. DFID is seeking to agree a payment plan that is linked to supplier performance and delivery of results. The contract will include sufficient flexibility to extend the evaluation programme, or to scale up or scale back funding as appropriate.