Open infrastructure · early build

Find the evidence, shape development.

Evidence4Dev brings research, datasets, development projects and indicators into one open discovery infrastructure, starting with Africa and the Global South.

Explore the evidence Contribute evidence

Evidence graphIllustrative

Hover or focus a record to trace its connections.

ResearchDatasetProjectIndicatorCountryOrganisationTopic

01The problem

Development evidence is everywhere. Finding it is another matter.

Useful evidence sits in journals, ministry archives, NGO evaluations, statistical offices and institutional repositories. It is described differently, stored apart and rarely linked, so the same search happens again and again and the same connections get missed.

/01ScatteredPapers, reports, evaluations and data live in separate systems, behind different doors.
/02InconsistentEach source describes evidence in its own vocabulary and formats.
/03DisconnectedResearch is rarely linked to the data, projects and places it concerns.

Illustrative: E4D indexes metadata and links every record to its original source.

02What you can discover

One place to explore the evidence.

Six kinds of records share one metadata model. Descriptions are consistent across types, so you can move from a study to its dataset, to the project behind it, without starting a new search each time.

The catalogue below is under construction. Early access opens in stages.

03How E4D connects evidence

Evidence is more useful when it is connected.

A study is not an island. Each E4D record carries links to the data behind it, the projects it evaluates, the organisations involved, and the places and indicators it describes.

Hover or focus a record to see how it connects, or use the table below.

Evidence relationships
Connection	What it gives you
ResearchDataset	Trace a finding back to the data behind it.
ResearchProject	See which programme a study is about.
DatasetCountry	Check whether the evidence matches your setting.
ProjectOrganisation	Know who ran an intervention, and where.
OrganisationCountry	Follow an institution’s work across places.
IndicatorCountry	Ground abstract claims in measured context.

04Who it is for

Built for the people who work with evidence.

/01

Researchers

Discover relevant evidence faster, and trace findings back to the data, projects and sources behind them.

For example“Which cash-transfer evaluations link to household survey data?”

/02

Students

Find research, datasets and development evidence for assignments, theses and further study, with sources you can cite.

For example“What has been published on mobile money and savings since 2015?”

/03

Practitioners & policymakers

Move from a question to relevant evidence, the projects behind it, and the data to examine it further.

For example“What programmes operated in the Northern Region, and what did they report?”

05Source transparency

Know where the evidence comes from.

E4D is designed around traceability. Records preserve source information, access conditions and metadata, so a claim can always be followed back to where it came from. No opaque answers, no anonymous summaries.

ResearchDemonstration recordE4D-2024-004812 · v3

Income Diversification and Household Resilience in Northern Ghana

Working paper · household study · fielded 2022–2023

Authors: A. Mensah, K. Owusu & J. Addo
Year: 2024
Country: Ghana (GH)
Evidence type: Household study
Method: Panel survey analysis
Dataset: Available as a linked record
Source: Institutional repository
Access: Open access
Licence: CC BY 4.0

Authors, title and findings are fictional. The metadata structure is what E4D records.

Datasets ×3

National household survey 2023
Agricultural panel 2010–2023
Market price series, northern markets

Projects ×2

Social protection programme
Northern rural development programme

Indicators ×4

Poverty headcount ratio
Cereal yield
Primary school enrolment
Access to electricity

06Open infrastructure

Open by design.

E4D is built as public-interest infrastructure. Openness is a design decision, applied where licences and partners allow and recorded honestly where they don't.

/01Open metadataDescriptions, sources and links are open and reusable by default.
/02Documented APIsThe catalogue is queryable, so others can build on it.
/03Transparent sourcesEvery record names its origin, licence and access conditions.
/04Reusable dataIncluded where licences permit: terms are preserved, not overridden.
/05Reproducible researchStable identifiers and exports support verification and citation.

Open where possible, not open by assertion. Whether an underlying dataset can be downloaded depends on its original licence and access conditions. E4D preserves and displays those terms.

API · illustrative

# illustrative request: demonstration data
GET /v1/records?type=dataset&country=GH&topic=agriculture

{
  "id": "e4d:ds:004812",
  "type": "dataset",
  "title": "National household survey: microdata",
  "country": ["GH"],
  "topics": ["agriculture", "food-security"],
  "licence": "CC BY 4.0",
  "access": "public",
  "source": {
    "repository": "national statistics office",
    "deposited": "2025-03-12",
    "verified": "2025-04-02"
  },
  "links": { "research": 6, "projects": 2, "indicators": 4 }
}

E4D may eventually use AI to help navigate the catalogue, but the foundation is structured metadata, documented sources and human review. It is designed to be useful without it.

07Geographic focus

Starting with Africa. Built for a wider evidence ecosystem.

The first collections focus on Africa and the Global South, where evidence is often the hardest to find and the hardest to connect. The metadata model is regional from the start, and designed to extend as partner institutions join.

Initial focusAfrica and the Global South
Metadata modelRegional from the start, built to extend across regions
SourcesAdded together with partner institutions

Illustrative coverage map: demonstration visual, not a record count.

08Get involved

Help build the evidence commons.

E4D is being built as an open infrastructure project. Researchers, institutions and development organisations can help by contributing research, datasets, project information and feedback.

Early access opens in stages. Contributors are onboarded first.

/01Deposit researchAdd papers, reports and evaluations with their sources.
/02Document datasetsDescribe data, licences and access conditions.
/03Add project recordsConnect development programmes to the evidence about them.
/04Review metadataCheck links, sources and descriptions as a human editor.
/05Partner with E4DBring an institutional collection into the commons.