Systematic Reviews

Systematic reviewing describes an approach to methodologically mapping out the available evidence, critically appraising the evidence and synthesising the results.

These systematic review reports and associated publications were commissioned and produced using funding from DFID. However, the views expressed are those of the independent academic authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of DFID.

The full list of DFID funded systematic reviews are available on this page. The results are available by clicking on the links in the table (also available by searching the R4D database in the usual way). All systematic reviews have a summary at the start.

DFID has worked with the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) to set up a searchable database of systematic reviews on development issues. The database is available online: 3ie / DFID Systematic Review database

Go to reviews on:

Health and Nutrition

Social Protection and Social Inclusion

Governance and Fragile States

Infrastructure and Technology

Agriculture and Rural Development

Economic Development

Aid Delivery and Effectiveness

View all Reviews

Review Title

Available documents

Education

What is the empirical evidence of the relationship between education, skills and economic growth in low-income countries?

Protocol

Full Report
What is the evidence of the impact of increasing salaries on improving the performance of public servants, including teachers, nurses and mid-level occupations, in low- and middle-income countries: Is it time to give pay a chance?

Protocol

Full Report
What impact does the provision of separate toilets for girls at schools have on their primary and secondary school enrolment, attendance and completion? A systematic review of the evidence.

Protocol

Full Report
A systematic review of the evidence of the impact in the medium-longer term of the abolition of school fees in low-income developing countries.

Protocol

Full Report
What works to improve teacher attendance in developing countries? A systematic review

Protocol

Full Report
A systematic review of the evidence of the impact of school voucher programmes in developing countries

Protocol

Full Report
Review led by AusAID. The impact of national and international assessment programmes on educational policy, particularly policies regarding resource allocation and teaching and learning practices in developing countries.

Protocol
Review led by AusAID. What are the impacts of approaches to increase the accessibility to education for people with a disability across developed and developing countries and what is known about the cost effectiveness of different approaches?

Protocol
Review led by AusAID.What are the impacts and cost effectiveness of strategies to improve performance of untrained and under-trained teachers in the classroom in developing countries?

Protocol
Review led by AusAID. Post-basic Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Interventions to Improve Employability and Employment of TVET Graduates in Low- and Middle-income Countries.

Protocol
Review led by AusAID. The impact of different approaches to higher education provision in increasing access, quality and completion for students in developing countries.

Protocol
Under what circumstances does enhancing community accountability and empowerment improve education outcomes, particularly for the poor?

Protocol
Are contract and para-teachers a cost effective intervention to address teacher shortage and improve learning outcomes?

Protocol

Full report
Low-Cost Private Schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan: What evidence to support sustainable scale-up?

Protocol

Review Title

Available documents

Health and Nutrition

Private versus public strategies for health service provision for improving health outcomes in resource-limited settings.

Protocol

Full Report
The Impact of Vouchers on the Use and Quality of Health Goods and Services in Developing Countries: A Systematic Review

Protocol

Full Report
The impact of post-abortion care family planning counselling and services in low-income countries: a systematic review of the evidence.

Protocol

Full Report
What kinds of policy and programme interventions contribute to reductions in maternal mortality? The effectiveness of primary level referral systems for emergency maternity care in developing countries.

Protocol

Full Report
Impact of national health insurance for the poor and the informal sector in low- and middle-income countries.

Protocol

Full Report
Working with non-state providers in post-conflict and fragile states in primary healthcare service delivery: a systematic review.

Protocol

Full Report - not yet available
A systematic review of agricultural interventions that aim to improve nutritional status of children.

Protocol

Full Report
What are the effects of different models of delivery for improving maternal and infant health outcomes for poor people in urban areas in low income and lower middle income countries?

Protocol

Full Report
What are the effects of interventions to improve the uptake of evidence from health research into policy in low and middle-income countries?

Protocol

Full Report
How effective are cash transfer programmes at improving nutritional status? A rapid evidence assessment of programmes' effects on anthropometric outcomes.

Protocol

Available as a Rapid Evidence Assessment
What is the Impact of Contraceptive Methods and Mixes of Contraceptive Methods on Contraceptive Prevalence, Unmet Need for Family Planning, and, Unwanted and Unintended Pregnancies? An Overview of Systematic Reviews.

Protocol

Full Report - not yet available
What kind of family planning delivery mechanisms increase family planning acceptance in developing countries? A mixed methods systematic review.

Protocol

Full Report - not yet available
Effectiveness of interventions to strengthen national health service delivery on coverage, access, quality, and equity in the use of health services in low and lower middle income countries.

Protocol

Full report - not yet available
Review led by AusAID. Nutrition interventions and programs for reducing mortality and morbidity in pregnant and lactating women and women of reproductive age.

Protocol
Review led by AusAID. Demand-side financing measures to increase maternal health service utilisation and improve health outcomes: a systematic review of evidence from low- and middle-income countries.

Protocol
Review led by AusAID. Are community-based interventions effective in identifying and responding to emerging zoonotic infectious diseases?

Protocol
Review led by 3ie. Early childhood feeding interventions to improve the physical and psychosocial health of disadvantaged children aged 3 months to 5 years.

Protocol
Nutrition

DFID is currently discussing with the world bank a series of systematic reviews which will feed into the World Bank's plan to develop programme guidance on how to integrate nutrition into programme design for multiple sector investments
Integrating Research on Health and Development: Evidence Building and Researcher Engagement

DFID will fund this project for four systematic reviews into the health impacts of development policies and the impacts on development of strategies to improve health

Review Title

Available documents

Social Protection and Social Inclusion

What is the evidence of the impact of microfinance on the well-being of poor people?

Protocol

Full Report
What is the impact of microfinance on poor people? A systematic review of evidence from sub-Saharan Africa.

Protocol

Full Report
Does poor people's access to formal banking services raise their incomes?

Protocol

Full Report
Systematic Review of the Impact of Employment Guarantee Schemes and Cash Transfers on the Poor

Protocol

Full Report
How effective are cash transfer programmes at improving nutritional status? A rapid evidence assessment of programmes' effects on anthropometric outcomes.

Protocol

Available as a Rapid Evidence Assessment
The impact of economic resource transfers to women versus men: a systematic review.

Protocol

Full Report
What are the economic impacts of Conditional Cash Transfer Programmes? A Systematic Review of the Evidence

Protocol

Full Report
What is the evidence on the effectiveness and efficiency of different social transfer targeting methodologies?

Protocol

Full Report - not yet available
Review led by AusAID. Relative effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of conditional and unconditional cash transfers for schooling outcomes in developing countries.

Protocol
Review led by 3ie. Interventions for promoting reintegration and reducing harmful behaviour and lifestyles in street-connected children and young people.

Protocol
Review led by 3ie. What are the impacts of community based rehabilitation for people with physical and mental disabilities?

Protocol not yet available

Review Title

Available documents

Governance and Fragile States

The Effectiveness of Anti-Corruption Policy. What has worked, what hasn’t, and what we don’t know.

Protocol

Full Report
Evidence on the economic growth impacts of corruption in low-income countries and beyond: a systematic review.

Protocol

Full Report
What is the evidence of the impact of increasing salaries on improving the performance of public servants, including teachers, nurses and mid-level occupations, in low- and middle-income countries: Is it time to give pay a chance?

Protocol

Full Report
What is the evidence on the impact of employment creation on stability and poverty reduction in fragile states?

Protocol

Full Report
Working with non-state providers in post-conflict and fragile states in primary healthcare service delivery: a systematic review.

Protocol

Full Report - not yet available
The Impact of Social Accountability Initiatives on Improving the Delivery of Public Services: A Systematic Review of Four Intervention Types

Protocol not yet available
Review led by 3ie. What are the impacts of interventions to reduce violent crime in developing countries?

Protocol not yet available
Review led by AusAID. What is the evidence that the establishment or use of community accountability mechanisms and processes improve inclusive service delivery by governments, donors and NGOs to communities?

Protocol
Low-Cost Private Schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan: What evidence to support sustainable scale-up?

Protocol
What factors determine the performance of institutional mechanisms for water resources management in developing countries in terms of delivering pro-poor outcomes, and supporting sustainable economic growth?

Protocol
Review led by AusAID. What is the evidence of the impact of initiatives to reduce risk and incidence of sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict zones and other humanitarian crises in lower and middle income countries?

Protocol
What is the evidence of impact of civil service reform on service delivery in fragile states and other low income countries?

Protocol

Full Report - Final output was not able to meet the requirements of a systematic review

Review Title

Available documents

Environment

What is the evidence that scarcity and shocks in freshwater resources cause conflict instead of promoting collaboration?

Protocol

Full Report
What is the evidence about glacier melt across the Himalayas?

Protocol

Full Report
What is the evidence of the impact on net carbon sequestration from REDD+ (with a focus on tropical forests)?

Protocol

Full Report - not yet available
Is the use of renewable natural resources in the developing world more or less sustainable, pro-poor and profitable under controlled access compared to open access?

Protocol

Available as a rigorous literature review
What are the enabling or limiting factors influencing the large scale uptake by households of cleaner and more efficient household energy technologies, covering cleaner fuel and improved solid fuel cookstoves?

Protocol
Review led by AusAID. How, why and when do CBDRM initiatives impact on social and economic costs of disasters?

Protocol not yet available
Review led by AusAID. Are interventions to reduce the impact of arsenic contamination of groundwater on human health in developing countries effective?

Protocol

Review Title

Available documents

Infrastructure and Technology

What are the major barriers to increased use of modern energy services among the world’s poorest people and are interventions to overcome these effective?

Protocol

Full Report
Review led by 3ie. What are the impacts of ICT provision, such as mobile phones, laptops and community-based computer access, in rural areas?

Protocol not yet available
What is the impact of infrastructural investments in roads, electricity and irrigation on agricultural productivity?

Protocol

Full Report
Review led by AusAID. Does private involvement (including public private partnerships) in delivery of water, telecommunication and electricity services lead to improved access and quality of service in developing countries?

Protocol
What is the evidence of the impact of changes in the transparency of infrastructure procurement and delivery on infrastructure quality, costs, and access?

Protocol

Full Report
Development Finance Institutions and Infrastructure: A Systematic Review of Evidence for Development Additionality

Protocol

Full Report

Review Title

Available documents

Agriculture and Rural Development

What is the evidence of the impact of agricultural trade liberalization on food security in developing countries?

Protocol

Full Report
A systematic review of agricultural interventions that aim to improve nutritional status of children.

Protocol

Full Report
The effectiveness of index-based micro-insurance in helping smallholders manage weather-related risks.

Protocol

Full Report
What are the projected impacts of climate change on food crop productivity in Africa and South Asia?

Protocol

Full Report
Review led by AusAID. Is the provision of agricultural innovation grants to small holder agricultural producers effective in facilitating agricultural innovation, particularly in ways that benefit the poor and women in developing countries? Effectiveness of innovation grants on smallholder agricultural producers.

Protocol
Under what circumstances or conditions do farmers adopt new technologies in Africa?

Protocol not yet available
Under what circumstances and conditions does adoption of technology result in increased agricultural productivity?

Protocol not yet available
A systematic review on the impacts of capacity strengthening of agricultural research systems for development and the conditions of success.

Protocol

Full report
What is the impact of infrastructural investments in roads, electricity and irrigation on agricultural productivity?

Protocol

Full Report

Review Title

Available documents

Economic Development

Financial liberalisation and economic growth: A meta-analysis.

Protocol

Full Report
The evidence of the impact on investment rates of changes in the enforcement of contracts. A systematic review.

Protocol

Full Report
What is the evidence of the impact of changes in the transparency of infrastructure procurement and delivery on infrastructure quality, costs, and access?

Protocol

Full Report
The effectiveness of African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) in increasing trade from Least Developed Countries. A systematic review.

Protocol

Full Report
What is the evidence of the impact of tariff reductions on employment and fiscal revenue in developing countries?

Protocol

Full Report
Evidence on the economic growth impacts of corruption in low-income countries and beyond: a systematic review.

Protocol

Full Report
The Tobin Tax: A review of the evidence

Protocol

Full Report
Foreign direct investment and economic performance: A systematic review.

Protocol

Full Report
What is the empirical evidence of the relationship between education, skills and economic growth in low-income countries?

Protocol

Full Report
Land property rights interventions for increasing agricultural productivity in developing countries: a systematic review.

Protocol not yet available

Full Report - not yet available
What is the impact of labour market regulation on employment in LICs?

Protocol

Full Report
What is the impact of higher rates of innovation on employment in LICs?

Protocol
Do micro-credit, micro-savings and micro-leasing serve as effective financial inclusion interventions enabling poor people, and especially women, to engage in meaningful economic opportunities in LMICs?

Protocol

Full Report
Review led by AusAID. Effects of natural resource revenue sharing and investment arrangements on economic growth and poverty reduction in low- and middle-income countries.

Protocol
Review led by 3ie. What are the effects of free trade zones on employment and wages?

Protocol
Development Finance Institutions and Infrastructure: A Systematic Review of Evidence for Development Additionality

Protocol

Full Report

Review Title

Available documents

Aid Delivery and Effectiveness

The Impact of Aid on Maternal and Reproductive Health: A systematic review to evaluate the effect of aid on Millennium Development Goal 5 outcomes

Protocol

Full Report
What is the track record of Multi Donor Trust Funds in improving aid effectiveness?

Protocol

Full Report
What is the evidence that performance-based financing helps to deliver better results as part of a sector budget support programme?

Protocol not yet available

Full Report - not yet available
What are the key lessons of ICT4D partnerships for poverty reduction?

Protocol

Full Report
Review led by AusAID. What contextual and programmatic factors influence the outcomes of communication for development interventions in fragile states?

Protocol
Development Finance Institutions and Infrastructure: A Systematic Review of Evidence for Development Additionality

Protocol

Full Report

Review Title

Available documents

Gender

What impact does the provision of separate toilets for girls at schools have on their primary and secondary school enrolment, attendance and completion? A systematic review of the evidence.

Protocol

Full Report
Providing access to economic assets for girls and young women in low-and-lower middle-income countries. A systematic review of the evidence.

Protocol

Full Report
The impact of economic resource transfers to women versus men: a systematic review.

Protocol

Full Report
Review led by AusAID. What is the evidence of the impact of initiatives to reduce risk and incidence of sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict zones and other humanitarian crises in lower and middle income countries?

Protocol