Evidence to Action Conclave 2026: A Review on Evidence-Informed Decision Making, Adaptive Programming and Policy Influencing at Save the Children in Bangladesh

Save the Children Bangladesh generates a substantial body of evidence each year through monitoring, research, assessments, and evaluations across its development and humanitarian programmes. The Evidence to Action Conclave 2026 was designed to examine how well that evidence is being translated into decisions, adaptive actions, and policy influence — and to identify where the gaps remain.

Twenty-one submissions from across sectors were reviewed against criteria covering evidence quality, utilisation, adaptive action, and policy relevance. The review finds that the organisation has developed a strong culture of evidence generation, but remains stronger at producing evidence than at demonstrating how it directly informs specific decisions, programme redesigns, or systemic change.

This document presents the review’s key observations alongside six best-practice examples selected from the submissions — spanning digital health innovation, teacher professional development, maternal and newborn health, anticipatory action for disaster risk reduction, youth employability, community-based childcare, and WASH financing. Each example illustrates a concrete evidence-to-action journey: what was found, what decision was taken, and what changed as a result.

Programme staff, MEAL and Evidence & Learning professionals, and organisational leaders will find this document useful in two ways. First, as a reference for understanding what strong evidence utilisation looks like in practice within Save the Children Bangladesh’s own context. Second, as a self-assessment prompt — the gaps identified in the review apply broadly and can help teams reflect on whether their own evidence generation is being matched by equally rigorous evidence use.