Evidence review on results-based payments: Approach paper

This article outlines the approach for conducting an evidence review on the effectiveness of results-based payments (RBPs). Specifically, this evidence review will adopt a broad approach to take stock of the literature on the effectiveness of RBP interventions across (1) all sectors where they have been used (such as agriculture, education and health); (2) multiple types of outcomes; and (3) multiple levels (namely, assessments of RBP interventions that target outcomes at the beneficiary, service provider, investor and system-wide levels). The approach paper then describes the evidence review’s literature search procedure, which—consistent with its broad approach—will target both academic outlets and the grey literature. Based on rigorous screening and data extraction procedures, this evidence review will produce evidence gap maps and an intervention heat map. The former will shed light on where the literature on the effectiveness of RBP intervention is relatively dense and where key knowledge gaps remain salient. Subsequently, an intervention heat map will highlight how the distribution of the Green Climate Fund’s RBP project financing relates to the existing evidence base. In so doing, the evidence review will aim to generate insights that inform the enhanced application of RBP interventions to meet international, national and regional climate change goals.