Research papers and notes beside a laptop

Evidence synthesis

Rapid and systematic reviews, evidence gap maps and living reviews, so partners know what is already known before anyone pays for new data.

Why IfD

Local material others miss

Much of what is known about Sierra Leone sits in unpublished reports, ministry files and evaluations. Sabi Salone and our own networks bring it into the review alongside the journals.

AI-assisted, expert-checked

Sabi Core speeds up searching, screening and extraction, and every finding is validated by expert reviewers and linked back to its source.

Kept current

A living review is updated as new studies appear, so a decision never rests on an answer that has since changed.

What do you need to know?

IfD researchers and partners around a meeting table

Rapid and systematic reviews

We find, appraise and summarise existing research, reports and policy documents to give partners a clear picture of what is already known, before anyone pays for new data.

A rapid review answers a question that cannot wait, with its shortcuts stated openly; a systematic review finds, appraises and pools every relevant study to a published protocol.

Recent work

2026Programme synthesis of the FCDO and Gates Foundation agriculture and nutrition partnershipResearch Commissioning Centre
2026Evidence review and comparator countries for MSE digitalisationGSMA Mobile for Development
2022Partnership mappingConcern Worldwide

An IfD researcher working through a document

Living reviews

Sabi Core brings peer-reviewed research, grey literature, evaluations, policies and datasets together in one structured system, and synthesises them using AI-assisted and systematic review methods, with findings validated by expert reviewers.

As new studies appear the review is updated, so a decision never rests on an answer that has since changed.

Recent work

2026Sabi Core opened to organisations building their own evidence systemsIfD Tech
2024IfD Tech established to build the institute’s platformsIfD Tech
2023Sabi Salone, the national evidence library, goes liveInstitute for Development

Unpublished reports and registers stacked in an office

The evidence others miss

Much of what is known about Sierra Leone was never published in a journal: ministry strategies, evaluations, survey reports. Sabi Salone, the national evidence library we built, brings it into the review alongside the journals.

Used by around 2,000 people, including about 200 civil servants.

Producers, intermediaries and users of evidence in one network, joined through shared evidence. An illustration of how it connects, not a count.

Sierra Leone Research and Evidence Network

Finding the gaps, together

A great deal of research is done in and about Sierra Leone; too little of it reaches the people deciding. The Network, incubated by IfD, is an independent, non-profit, member-led network in Freetown that connects the people who produce research with the people who make decisions.

Before anything new is commissioned, its members check what is already known, including the unpublished local material journals miss, using Sabi Salone and Sabi Core.

Visit the Network See its evidence gap map