Institutionalizing an evidence-based approach to policy making within the GoTN – Year 3

The Government of Tamil Nadu entered into a comprehensive partnership with J-PAL SA at IFMR in 2014 with the stated goal of institutionalizing evidence-based policy making. More than three years into the partnership, the government has supported 15 policy-driven research projects across nine departments, using over US$4 million of its own funding and partnering with more than 34 professors. Using funds from GPI, J-PAL South Asia staff also provide capacity-building support to a Data Analytics Unit set up by the Government to allow them to make real-time decisions based on the administrative data they already collect. Recently, the state issued new guidelines for program evaluation requiring that all programs in sectors of strategic importance with budgets greater than US$22 million undergo impact evaluations. The Planning Department has also created a dedicated fund for program evaluation of US$1.5 million per year. For more on J-PAL South Asia's partnership with the Government of Tamil Nadu, see this news story from May 2016, this November 2017 op-ed by J-PAL Executive Director Iqbal Dhaliwal in Livemint, and this blog post from January 2018.