Open evidence-synthesis data system

A seven-member planning group worked together from mid-January to mid-March 2026 to draft a proposal for how the open data system will work. They are seeking to inform a transition from research projects led by a few to a co-owned, distributed open data system that people trust or, said another way, that people feel invested in, contribute insights to and engage in testing of, and add data to and draw data from. The planning group is comprised of seven individuals representing the diverse types of interest holders in the open data system:

• sectoral hubs – Sarah Miller from METIUS
• regional hubs, or regional networks of evidence intermediaries – Laura Boeira from Hub de Evidencias de Latinoamérica y del Caribe (or the Latin America and Caribbean Evidence Hub)
• open data system and related tech solution developers – James Thomas from DESTINY and related systems, and Laurenz Mahlanza-Langer the Pan-African Collective for Evidence
• legacy data owners – Karla Soares-Weiser from Cochrane and Shiv Bakrania from UNDP and the UN Evaluation Group
• sector that has brought together many of the above types of interest holders: Andrew Bollington from the Jacobs Foundation acting on behalf of a broad array of education-sector funders and partners.

The planning group worked through ten topics and was supported in its work by business and legal input from the Wellcome Trust. The planning group was co-facilitated by John Lavis and Isabel Fletcher.

The group made available a first draft of the ‘straw dogs’ report for feedback from our ‘community of communities,’ hosted a community webinar on 30 March (the recording of which can be viewed), and updated the report based on the feedback it received. We are now making available the updated report in two formats, with one version of the straw dogs report with the additions/edits highlighted and a second ‘clean’ version of the straw dogs report. Please continue to send feedback to info@evidencesic.org.

Representatives of the group or Wellcome Trust support team will then be available for bilateral and small-group discussions throughout April and May to answer additional questions, respond to additional feedback, or talk though potential implications for particular groups.

In parallel to this cross-sectoral planning on an open data system, the Jacobs Foundation – acting on behalf of a broad array of education-sector funders and partners – is supporting work on a minimum-viable product of synthesis-ready evidence repository for the education sector. Key activities here include:

• a collective statement of intent (from 22 September 2025)
• a collaboration to develop a minimum-viable product of an evidence repository that we hope will eventually become aligned to our multisectoral open data system
• a call for evidence intermediaries – especially in low- and middle-income countries – to test and shape the evidence repository while producing high-impact, policy- or practice-relevant synthesis and translation to support education decision-making

More details about the call can be found in the expressions-of-interest document.