How to institutionalise evidence-informed priority setting. Rapid Literature Review for the International Decision Support Initiative (iDSI)

Abstract

This literature review explores the evidence base around the 'stronger country institutions' pillar of the iDSI Theory of Change (ToC) in order to identify potential changes that might be required to the ToC. Changes to the ToC will then inform refinements to the iDSI Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) framework and approach. The research questions are: What needs to be in place in order for evidence informed priority setting (EIPS) to be institutionalised? This review question aims to explore the evidence base around the building blocks for institutionalising EIPS. How can capacity-building efforts support the institutionalisation of EIPS? This review question specifically looks at approaches to capacity building and the evidence of what works in relation to institutionalising EIPS. What is the evidence relating to the relationship between institutionalising EIPS and better evidence informed priority-setting decisions? This review question focuses on examples of better evidence informed decisions in health and discusses how institutionalising EIPS has contributed – i.e. it seeks to examine evidence of the link between the ‘stronger country institutions’ and ‘better decisions’ elements of the ToC.