Evidence Action

Reducing poverty and spurring growth in developing countries requires strategic, high-value investment of scarce resources, whether they come from donors, governments, or communities. Interventions to reduce the burden of poverty need to be rigorously identified, tested, and scaled up to be cost-effective and have high impact. Evidence Action develops and de-risks models for such interventions that allow tens of millions of people to be served and return on investment be measured. We bridge the gap between rigorous research and pilot interventions on one hand, and institutionalized programs on the other. By focusing on promising approaches backed by rigorous evidence, we support programs that are measurably effective; by seeking to solve the challenge of scale, we provide cost-effective impact for many. Evidence Action launched formally in 2013 to scale up poverty interventions that have been proven to be effective in order to benefit millions of people. Evidence Action leads and manages two programs incubated initially by Innovations for Poverty Action: Dispensers for Safe Water and the Deworm the World Initiative. While Evidence Action grew out of a need to manage these programs, the larger goal of the organization was to design a process to bridge the gap between proven interventions that work and scaling them up to produce measurable impact for millions of people.