Empowering Policy Makers: CLEAR-PCA and CERP Train Senior Civil Servants in Evidence-Based Decision-Making

In a bid to enhance policy leadership and decision-making in resource-constrained environments, senior civil servants in Pakistan participated in a high-level training workshop focused on evidence-based governance.

Organized by the Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results for Pakistan and Central Asia (CLEAR-PCA) in collaboration with CERP, the two-day workshop, held from December 11 to 12 in Karachi, provided policy makers with cutting-edge tools and frameworks to navigate complex policy challenges effectively.

“We are already doing this (collecting evidence), just without the numbers and weights. The challenge is to integrate these systematic approaches into our daily decision-making to make better, evidence-backed policy choices,” said the Additional Secretary of the Services General Administration and Coordination Department.

The absence of robust monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems and evidence-based policy making has often limited informed decision-making and effective policy implementation.

To bridge this gap, the ‘Strategic Approaches to Policy Decision-Making' training course was designed by CLEAR-PCA, an implementing partner of the Global Evaluation Initiative (GEI), and CERP using insights from a targeted training needs assessment conducted with the 2nd Senior Management Course cohort at the Training Management and Research Wing in Sindh. The assessment highlighted gaps in analytical, leadership, and M&E skills, particularly in integrating data-driven frameworks into policy processes.

Senior bureaucrats from various provincial government departments, including education, finance, social welfare, environment, local government, the Sindh Revenue Board, and the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, attended the workshop. The training provided a structured approach to integrating evidence into policy making to improve governance outcomes.

The curriculum featured key frameworks such as the systems approach to policy decisions, theory of change, descriptive analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, decision analysis and tree modeling, and the policy analysis matrix. Participants engaged in hands-on activities and looked at case studies, ensuring practical applications for real-world scenarios. A highlight of the workshop was a case study on the 2022 Sindh floods, which allowed participants to apply learned tools to their work.

“The key challenge in decision-making is fragmented mandates, limited capacity, and unreliable data. While we focus on immediate needs like road repairs and flood recovery, we lack the coordination and resources to address underlying issues like inadequate drainage systems,” said the Additional Secretary of the Public Health Engineering and Rural Development Department.

Participants explored causal loops to analyze the interdependencies in flood-related policy decisions. This exercise encouraged a focus on sustainable, long-term solutions, preventing unintended consequences due to systemic issues such as poor infrastructure planning.

The workshop also introduced foundational concepts like descriptive analysis and the theory of change. Using the floods case study, participants applied the policy analysis matrix to systematically evaluate and rank alternatives, fostering inclusivity in policy design. The workshop concluded with group presentations, where participants showcased how they could apply the frameworks to pressing policy issues.

“The concepts we’ve learned here won’t just improve our processes; they’ll enhance outcomes for the communities we serve,” said the Additional Secretary of the Social Welfare Department.