INEE Evidence Platform

Why? The Problem.

Significant amounts of the spending on EiE is not guided by quality evidence on what we know about teaching, learning, wellbeing, and safety in crisis-affected contexts. The evidence base is growing, aided by programmes such as ERICC, however a considerable amount of existing EiE evidence is not widely and freely accessible as it sits behind paywalls or in organisations’ archives, having been produced solely for monitoring and evaluation purposes. The lack of accessibility is exacerbated by persisting challenges around quality and sustainable processes for evidence synthesis, translation, and use. For example, the lack of a trusted data system that enables the efficient sharing and reusing of synthesis data results in undesirably high and unsustainable investments of time, money, and capacity to produce evidence synthesis. These challenges often lead to assumptions about the EiE evidence base such as there being an absolute scarcity of EiE-relevant evidence, duplicative and inefficient use of the limited funding available for EiE evidence generation, and a general lack of evidence-based decision making.

What?

INEE’s Evidence Platform attempts to respond to these challenges through the development of a trustworthy “go-to” place for EiE evidence. The platform is intended to be a place where members and other relevant stakeholders can interact with this evidence in an impactful manner through living quality synthesis products such as evidence gap maps and evidence summaries. The methods, processes, and tools being used to develop the platform are being intentionally designed, selected, and tested to ensure they are repeatable and able to be sustained. This approach will allow the products and services offered through the platform to be updated to meet the evolving needs of users, an approach known as ‘living evidence’. 

Ultimately, the Evidence Platform aims to strengthen the use and uptake of evidence in EiE decisions, policies, and programming by making relevant, quality, and diverse synthesized evidence easier to access.

How? 

The Evidence Platform is attempting to address a simple, yet broad, research question: what are the characteristics of, methods used, and topics studied by evidence on Education in Emergencies? This question is being addressed through a systematic search of available EiE evidence using a collaboratively developed and tested methodology, developed with the support of the Evidence Platform Reference Group. Identified evidence, both formal and grey literature, will be compiled and classified into a ‘synthesis-ready’ database. This database, or ‘evidence bank’, will serve as the backbone of the Evidence Platform. INEE is committed to designing in the open, all methodological documentation is published on Open Science Framework.

This work strives to be driven by the priorities and needs of evidence users in crisis-affected contexts. Therefore, INEE is committed to granting diverse forms of knowledge and evidence equivalent status in the EiE evidence ecosystem to make it more inclusive, localised, and epistemically diverse. Vast amounts of evidence on EiE is not published in academic journals and remains unindexed by large academic databases which are often used to conduct evidence review and synthesis. This evidence often has importance and relevance to local contexts and decision-making, but without consideration and review it remains neglected and untapped.

When?

By mid-2026, INEE is aiming to have developed the most comprehensive database of EiE evidence with all records fully screened for eligibility.

By late-2026, INEE aims to have published an interactive Evidence Gap Map for the EiE sector.

In 2027, INEE will launch its Evidence Platform to members and the public.

Updates

What we have done:

• Convened the Evidence Platform Reference group
• Developed first versions of the methodological documentation
• Developed and screened a corpus of over 2,000 records of EiE evidence

What we are working on:

• Piloting methods and processes for systematically searching and screening unindexed evidence
• Testing and evaluating AI/LLMs ability to support screening evidence 

What we have planned:

• Complete an exhaustive first search of the EiE evidence base
• Develop an Evidence Gap Map for the EiE sector
• Finalise and publish all methodological documentation

Partnerships

INEE’s Evidence Platform is being developed in partnership with the University of Edinburgh’s Comparative Education and International Development Research Group. These efforts are part of INEE’s, and 15 other leading organisations’, commitment to developing a central resource that will make evidence on what works for children and learning more accessible, actionable, and globally relevant. The Evidence Platform development is supported by the EPPI-centre and members of the Evidence Platform Reference Group.