Article by Mona Mourshed and Nalini Tarakeshwar: “Following international aid declines, philanthropy is searching for innovative ways to support non-profits and Global South governments in delivering service solutions where outcomes data plays a central role.
Achieving data-driven innovation requires more than gathering the right facts – it must generate change in daily routines. The global philanthropy sector is now waking up this idea.
Below are three key lessons from non-profits that have successfully deployed data in their work in the Global South, and seen real progression in their goals of driving meaningful system change.
Lesson 1: Data users respond far better to carrots than sticks
If government staff feel that something bad will happen should their data reveal underperformance, they are unlikely to gather it. Philanthropy can play a catalytic role by supporting projects that combine data usage with fresh incentives and support.
Generation India works with national and state-government entities in a public-private partnership structure funded equally by both. Previously, training providers in government-funded programmes were reimbursed largely on training and certification; those two milestones accounted for more than 70% of the government payment per learner. While the remainder of government payment per learner did include some outcomes metrics, such as job placement and three-month job retention, the process for proving these outcome metrics was cumbersome and lengthy, discouraging efforts in this direction. Further, since training providers had learned how to break even on the 70% of input-related payments, they were willing to forgo additional outcome-related payments. The combined result was a job placement rate of less than 25%.
To turn things around, the partnership of Generation India and government entities reduced the input payments linked to programme completion to 56% and increased outcomes compensation to 44%. In parallel, it introduced new payment milestones based on job placement within three months of programme completion and job retention at three- and six-months after the initial placement, both of which are verified by third parties.
There’s a similar playbook at the Brazilian Collaborative Leadership alliance, a partnership between the Lemann Foundation and federal, state and municipal governments, which reaches 70% of first and second graders in the country. To advance literacy, Lemann Foundation funds teacher training and provides better-quality textbooks for students at all participating schools. The state commits to joining the national literacy programme, which includes instruction materials and assessments of second grade students. The state also recognizes schools with the best results by granting their principals cash awards with an average value of $10,000. While the recognized schools receive 60-75% of the cash award immediately, they can only access the remaining 25-40% if they help another school in their community improve its literacy outcomes, which spurs an additional layer of support. Lastly, 2-5% of state tax revenue is given to municipality governments based on their performance against targets, with each free to decide how it uses these funds….(More)”.
