How to improve the culture of evidence use in the Brazilian public sector: a learning brief

Evidence is crucial to characterize policy problems, identify effective solutions, implement, monitor and evaluate interventions, and for organizational learning. There are many barriers that prevent the application of evidence in policy making, such as the intricacy of technical knowledge, the different time frames of research and policy processes, a lack of public servant know-how to incorporate evidence into their work, and the complexity of policy-making processes.

Organizational culture is a key factor that influences how an organization uses evidence. In Brazil, the overall public sector culture does not seem to value evidence as a critical resource and there are many gaps for the uptake of evidence in terms of institutional capacity. However, interest in using evidence is increasing within public institutions, and many efforts in that direction are arising.

This report uses a literature review, interviews with Brazilian experts and the Context Matters framework to address the policy question: How can the culture of evidence-informed decision-making in the Brazilian public sector be improved?