Informing international development and diplomacy with evidence

A new service for UK government officials seeking to enhance the Foreign Commonwealth and Diplomacy Office’s (FCDO) work with research and evidence launched in April 2024. James Georgalakis, Director of the Knowledge for Development and Diplomacy (K4DD) programme, explores how K4DD builds on past experiences and offers lessons for those seeking to embed evidence services into government.

Global challenges require evidence of what works

Improving the use of data and evidence in policy and programme design and implementation is crucial to facing the challenges of foreign policy, humanitarian action, economic development, climate change, peacebuilding and global health, education and more. The United Kingdom’s Government has a sophisticated science-to-policy infrastructure, consisting of the Government Office for Science, the Government Chief Scientific Advisor, a network of Ministerial Chief Scientific Advisors, and numerous Science Advisory Councils and Committees.

K4DD is an FCDO-funded evidence and learning service that is free to use for the department’s staff. It’s delivered by a consortium of development and diplomacy knowledge institutions that brings together researchers and thematic leaders across a range of disciplines: The Institute of Development Studies (IDS), the University of Birmingham’s Governance and Social Development Resource Centre, the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), and University of Manchester’s Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute (HCRI). K4DD aims to improve the impact of development and diplomacy policy and programming through learning and evidence uptake. It aims to integrate organisational learning processes with the use of evidence. The service includes a research helpdesk – for rapid evidence reviews and emerging issues reports – and facilitated learning events.

A changing UK aid and diplomacy landscape

FCDO was created in September 2020, and in 2021, the Government published an Integrated Review (IR) setting out the UK’s overarching security and international strategy, combining defence, security, resilience, diplomacy, development and trade, and science and technology policy. The IR set out for the UK to be ‘a science and technology superpower by 2030’. The IR was followed by a new International Development Strategy in 2022 and a White Paper in 2023 which set out the Government’s agenda, prioritising investment partnerships, humanitarian relief, empowerment of women and girls, and commitments to climate change, nature, and global health. There is a strong emphasis on investment in ‘what works’ and science and technological innovations that will support national development priorities.

Strengthening the use of research

In the wake of these new directions, K4DD represents a vital opportunity to further strengthen the FCDO’s use of research and organisational learning around evidence-informed practice. K4DD can significantly contribute to government programme decision-making that, in the long term, will lead to real-world impact. We know that FCDO development and diplomatic decision-makers value quick access to a reliable evidence base and spaces for learning and knowledge sharing that can be utilised to anchor programme design. This directly aligns with our consortium partners’ strategies and values. We are committed to enhancing evidence-informed decision making by the UK Government and seek to champion the use of evidence to promote a safer, healthier and more equitable world.

Our approach reflects our understanding of how the process of getting evidence into use is as much about bridging different ways of knowing, as it is about translating or transferring knowledge from one set of stakeholders to another. Knowledge services, like K4DD, need to be rigorous and of exceptionally high quality, demand-driven and shaped by the needs of their users, whilst also supporting their understanding of what questions to ask and which types of knowledge may be most relevant.

A global pool of expertise

All this builds directly on the legacy of the original Knowledge, Evidence and Learning for Development (K4D) programme and a rapidly expanding range of similar international initiatives. Our consortium is connected to a global pool of expertise via our formal partnerships, existing research consortiums and associate fellows and research partners. This pool covers a broad spectrum of geographies and themes and includes members of several hundred organisations. These are established institutional and individual networked relations that give us direct access to leading thinkers and practitioners. We can mobilise expertise at short notice to support the Helpdesk and learning sessions.

K4DD is a global public resource

Since the inception period began at the end of 2023, K4DD has already produced over 150 rapid evidence reviews for FCDO. We are deeply committed to ensuring the service provides a global public good and most of the content we produce is published externally. This will provide a valuable resource for all those seeking to explore research and evidence relevant to the challenges they face whether related to humanitarian responses, climate change, social protection, global health, education, economic development or international relations.

The world needs many different forms of knowledge to address global challenges. Embedded knowledge service for government is just one approach but it can be a powerful one. We cannot tell decision makers what to do but we can give them the latest and most relevant evidence to inform their decisions.