John Seaman

Evidence for Development

Evidence for Development (EfD) seeks to reduce poverty by improving the quality and effectiveness of development decisions and programmes around the world and promoting openness, impact and accountability at every level – from regional or national policies affecting the lives of millions to more localised projects that work closely with individual households. Using innovative data collection and analytical methods, our work puts much-needed information about household income and livelihoods in the hands of key decision makers from local to international levels. This information can change lives, allowing evidence-based programmes to guide development and helping the most effective types of assistance to go to the people who need it most. The rigorous methods for collecting and analysing data that EfD promotes have been developed over many years of practical, village-level field work. As well as carrying out our own research, we work with local universities, researchers, NGOs and governments to build the skills of our national and international partners in assembling and interpreting the high quality information that they need. We also work with open-source software developers worldwide to ensure that EfD's analytical tools are as widely and as freely available as possible.