Over the past two decades, there has been a remarkable increase in the generation of evidence to improve the lives of people living in poverty. Through rigorous testing and the use of data, we now know more than ever about the impact and cost-effectiveness of different approaches. Yet, the number of evidence-based programs operating at scale remains relatively limited, addressing only a fraction of the challenges faced by vulnerable populations.

Having evaluated hundreds of approaches, IPA is uniquely positioned to identify new interventions that have the potential to be transformative but require additional investment to advance along the path to scalability. In this report, we present "Best Bets: Emerging Opportunities for Impact at Scale.”

These innovations are “Best Bets” because they have enough evidence behind them to give us confidence in their efficacy, but need additional investment in research and policy work to help take them to scale. They were selected by IPA’s sectoral experts and scientific advisors who reviewed hundreds of studies, both within and outside our portfolio, considering levels of partnership engagement from projects, the amount of evidence, the observed impacts, the cost, and other scalability factors.

The report is an invitation for coalitions of implementers, researchers, and funders to capitalize on existing knowledge of what works to address some of the world’s most pressing problems, and to invest in answering remaining questions as we scale these interventions.