The IPA Embedded Evidence Labs Program was first established in Peru in 2014, helping the Ministry of Education to harness the power of data and evidence to address their policy challenges. Since then, the program has expanded across the globe, and now supports 24 labs across 16 countries and 8 sectors, including environment, gender, crime, finance, education, social protection, health, and employment. But this December, the Embedded Lab program returns to its roots with the Latin America Learning Exchange, bringing together Lab teams and government counterparts from across Latin America to Lima, Peru.

The two-day session brought together IPA teams, government officials, and technical experts for a series of presentations, trainings, working sessions, and group discussions on how to improve government use of evidence and data across the region. Through these sessions, teams from Colombia, Mexico, and Peru identified the key opportunities and challenges related to data-driven policymaking in Latin America. For example, we reviewed how Labs generate impact using different research and learning strategies, and how the systems they are embedded in change. We also explored areas for improvement and innovation for the Labs in order to increase their impact. Finally, there was a space to make connections and create a network of Labs in Latin America in order to continue learning together. The discussions highlighted key insights and learnings from Embedded Lab implementation in the region, and generated a learning agenda to help guide the further refinement of the Embedded Labs model going forward.

The event drew on the successes of previous cross-country learning exchanges—Ghana in 2019, Rwanda in 2022, and earlier this year in Uganda. However, while these events were primarily focused on the education sector, this exchange covered a diverse range of sectors, including environment, gender, education, social protection, crime & security, and financial inclusion, representing a broad set of challenges facing policymakers in the region. It was also unique in its focus on the Latin American region, which faces distinct contextual challenges related to policymaking processes and data collection and analysis capabilities. Insights from these sessions were synthesized for dissemination amongst relevant stakeholders in the region.