Evidence Use and Generation-A Learning Scheme in the Ministry of Economy

J-PAL LAC worked with the Innovation Division of the Chilean Ministry of Economy to develop an evidence-informed strategy for disbursing the funds from its Innovation for Competitiveness Fund (FIC), which finances nearly 70 different innovation efforts each year across various agencies inside the Ministry of Economy. The Innovation Division reached out to J-PAL LAC to get support in building a system for generating and using rigorous evidence within the fund. J-PAL LAC conducted two literature reviews in areas of strategic interest to the Ministry, delivered training courses and workshops on impact evaluation and the use of evidence, and helped develop a Program Design and Evaluation Form that is now required for all applicants to FIC. The system requires applicants to include a theory of change and review of existing evidence from past impact evaluations when seeking funds. FIC also launched a new public bid for impact evaluations of the Innovation Fund’s investments and reserved a portion of program funds for evaluation. Researchers and J-PAL LAC also developed an impact evaluation of a priority program for the Ministry.