When throwing evidence and facts is not enough. How Change Happens in the Humanitarian System — Duncan Green

Got an evidence-based argument? Maybe forget about it. Decision making is rational but there are more factors than evidence-based argument. This is an issue in the dialectic between liberalism and traditionalism. The liberal view of economics is that rationality trumps and rationality is based on economic maximization. Traditionalists may see it otherwise — which is a reason that many votes against their economic interests in favor of other factors they value more.

The panels supported research by ALNAP and others, which has strongly suggested that the use of evidence in humanitarian decision-making is limited, either because consideration of evidence is not an explicit part of the decision-making process, or because decisions are affected by a number of other considerations: politics, resource availability, or security. And, if we think back to the models of change presented in this paper, we should not be surprised if decision-makers are not entirely rational, or if decisions are strongly influenced by politics.

This is not to say that evidence is never used to support change. The meeting also considered a number of examples where the provision of evidence was an important part of the change process and some participants went as far as to suggest that evidence is a necessary, if not a sufficient, condition of change....

Oxfam Blogs — From Poverty to Power
When throwing evidence and facts is not enough. How Change Happens in the Humanitarian System
Duncan Green, strategic adviser for Oxfam GB