Central Asian High-Level Conference on Evidence-based Policymaking

Effective Governance for Economic Development

Joint Conference Declaration on Evidence-based Policymaking

Preamble

We, participants from governments, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations, convened on the 24^th and 25^th of May 2022 for the EGED Conference, organized by the World Bank in cooperation with the Ministries of Finance, Economic Development and Poverty Reduction, and Employment and Labor Relations of Uzbekistan, adopt this declaration. This collaborative event aims to promote the use of rigorous evidence for effective governance and policy implementation.

Evidence-based policy must become ubiquitous in our countries as a general prescription for transparency, accountability, and better governance. This requires strengthened capacity to generate evidence, including through national statistical systems, and more systematic use of evidence, together with the necessary transparency and accountability to generate the inclusive prosperity we collectively strive to attain.

We are confident that data, research, and experimentation are powerful enablers of positive policymaking change that can support better public governance orientated towards equitable and inclusive economic growth.

We welcome the new EGED program, and its concept note for implementation as our guiding documents. This conference is an early step in seeding more continuous exchanges. We seek to mobilize action on better data for better policies in the selected policy areas, capacity development of government and non-government institutions, and local action.

Our commitment

1. We will mobilize evidence to generate inclusive growth, reduce poverty, prioritize the wellbeing of marginalized groups, and ensure equal access to opportunity for all of society to improve their lives.
2. We will build from the foundation of this conference to strengthen exchange across Central Asia in the production of rigorous evidence for more transparent, inclusive, and efficient policymaking.
3. We will improve data and integrate evidence-based policymaking into budgeting, addressing informality, strengthening labor market policy labor relations, accounting of labor migration, local governance, public procurement, and citizen engagement initiatives, among other selected issue areas.
4. We will strive to make government data and evidence open and public by default, while fully adhering to privacy and data protection protocols.
5. We will encourage the use of government data by the public, engage the public in policy making, and raise the awareness about evidence-based policy in our countries.
6. We will pursue evidence-based gender mainstreaming in government policies.
7. We will support the allocation of sufficient resources to promote data driven policy.
8. We will create systems dedicated to monitoring the performance of state-funded programs and efficient use of resources.

Way forward

We commit to taking this declaration and its provisions forward, looking ahead to important priorities including building the capacity of national statistical authorities, continuing cooperation on the Listening to Central Asia surveys, fostering research and producing high-quality data relevant to the EGED priority areas, and beyond. We invite the World Bank to support the implementation of this declaration in cooperation with EGED partners.