Evidence-based policy in Ethiopia: A diagnosis of failure

The need for sound, progressive policy is important, but the robust evidence upon which to base realistic policy, and the institutional capacity and political appetite to deliver it, are often lacking. This article reviews the link between evidence and policy, and highlights recent methodological advances in value chain analysis which allow researchers to efficiently collect relatively robust policy-relevant evidence in data-poor contexts. The article summarises the evidence generated from a World Bank study of tourism in Ethiopia that questioned important tenets of tourism policy and strategy, to assess the extent to which this evidence has been taken up into policy and to account for the apparent failure of evidence up-take. We conclude that the failure of evidence-based policy may have had as much to do with weaknesses in the research process as with the indigenous policy-making process.