Evidence Action is an international organization that uses data to fight poverty and improve the health of individuals. The organization runs clean drinking water programs, provides pre-natal care to eradicate syphilis in newborns and mothers, runs deworming programs, and seeks to improve nutrition with vitamin programs. 1
Evidence Action audits its programs and has ceased operations deemed inefficient. The organization operates in nine countries and has partnered with local schools, governments, countries, and the United Nations in supplying assistance and resources. 2
History
Evidence Action was formed in 2011 to fight poverty using evidence-based and cost-effective programs to improve lives. 3 Evidence Action grew out of Deworm the World, a program incubated by the nonprofit Innovations for Poverty Action. 4 Deworm the World provided medication to school-age children for the treatment of intestinal worms. 5 Deworm the World became Evidence Action and expanded the scope and reach of its programs. 6
Focus Areas
Evidence Action uses evidence and data to drive all decision making; the organization audits programs using data as to verify their effectiveness. 7 Evidence Action focuses on child and adolescent health, clean water, maternal and newborn health, tropical diseases, nutrition, and women and girls. 8 Evidence Action has programs in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia to improve child and adolescent health and fight tropical diseases by providing clean drinking water, providing proper nutrition, fighting congenital syphilis, and preventing and treating worm infections due to poor sanitation. 9
Evidence Action provides access to safe drinking water chlorination that can kill harmful pathogens such as typhoid, cholera, and hepatitis A. 10 Evidence Action has supplied clean water to over 10 million people with over 53,000 chlorine dispensers in active use. 11 Evidence Action works with the World Health Organization and pharmaceutical donations to ensure de-worming medicines reach children and, partners with schools to supply the medication. 12
Evidence Action provides treatment for pregnant women who may be infected with syphilis. 13 According to the Public Library of Science (PLOS) Medicine Journal, around one million women have active syphilis infections around the world, a majority go untreated, and this results in over 350,000 issues at childbirth including stillbirths, neonatal deaths, preterm births, and disability due to syphilis. 14 Evidence Action seeks to have pregnant women screened for syphilis and provided antibiotics if infected. 15
Evidence Action’s nutritional programs are focused on vitamins targeting iron deficiency anemia by providing iron and folic acid vitamins to children through schools. 16 Evidence Action is seeking to help women and girls through syphilis tests and the vitamin program due to 26 percent of adolescent girls being anemic compared to 18 percent of boys. 17
Programs
Evidence Action runs programs to support child and adolescent health, provide clean water, provide maternal and newborn health, combat tropical diseases, support nutrition, and support women and girls. 18 The programs are Safe Water Now, Syphilis-Free Start, Equal Vitamin Access, and Deworm the World. 19 Evidence Action states that data and evidence drives decision making in funding programs and builds programs that are either delivered directly or through government partners. 20 Prior to the launch of any new program, Evidence Action tests and refines delivery models through a six step process from research to testing at scale to gauge impact. 21
Evidence Action has programs in place in Malawi, Zambia, Kenya, Cameroon, Nigeria, Liberia, Uganda, India, and Pakistan. 22 Evidence Action claims it has reached over 515 million people through programs. 23
From 2016 to 2018, Evidence Action ran a program in Bangladesh called No Lean Season where the nonprofit attempted to help poor families in rural areas during the period between planting and harvesting crops when there are no jobs available. 24 To assist during this time, Evidence Action provided a $20 subsidy to workers to migrate to urban areas for job opportunities for months before the harvest. 25 After examining data from the program, Evidence Action found that No Lean Season did not have the desired impact of inducing migration and did not increase income or consumption. 26 As a result, Evidence Action canceled the program. 27
Finances
In 2022, the Evidence Action reported net assets of $177,006,627. 28 In 2022, Evidence Action recorded $130,239,072 in revenue and $33,490,217 in expenses. 29 In 2021, the Evidence Action raised $22,021,780 in revenue and had $22,416,562 in expenses. 30
Donors
Evidence Action publicly acknowledges donors that gave $100,000 or more since 2018. 31 Donors include the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation (through the Millenium Water Alliance), Dubai Cares, Effective Altruism Australia, GiveWell, the IMC Pacific Foundation, the Jackson Kemper Foundation, MacKenzie Scott, the Open Philanthropy Project Fund, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the Stone Family Foundation, the Clorox Company, The End Fund, the Waterloo Foundation, and the Weiss Asset Management Foundation. 32 In the 2023 to2024 fiscal year, Evidence Action received over $79 million in grants from the Good Ventures Foundation. 33
Leadership
Kanika Bahl has been president and chief executive officer of Evidence Action since 2017 and has been on the board of directors since 2015. 34 From 2010 to 2015, Bahl was the managing director at Results for Development where she led the market dynamics practice to increase access to products such as pneumonia treatments and malaria bed nets. 35 Bahl was the executive vice president at the Clinton Health Access Initiative from 2005 to 2010. 36 From 2004 to 2005, Bahl was the director of global information solutions at Voxiva and from 2002 to 2004, she was a project finance associate for emerging markets at Bechtel Enterprises. 37
Bahl has made campaign contributions to the Democratic Party-aligned Forward Majority Action PAC and to Democratic House of Representatives candidate Kate Schroder. 38
References
- Evidence Action, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2022.
- “Evidence Action.” Evidence Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.evidenceaction.org.
- Evidence Action, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2022.
- [1] “School-Based Deworming.” Innovations for Poverty Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://poverty-action.org/impact/school-based-deworming; “Innovations for Poverty Action.” Innovations for Poverty Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://poverty-action.org/about.
- “School-Based Deworming.” Innovations for Poverty Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://poverty-action.org/impact/school-based-deworming.
- “School-Based Deworming.” Innovations for Poverty Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://poverty-action.org/impact/school-based-deworming.
- “Evidence Action.” Evidence Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.evidenceaction.org.
- “Evidence Action.” Evidence Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.evidenceaction.org.
- “Fighting for the Health of the Next Generation: Targeting Children and Adolescents.” Evidence Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.evidenceaction.org/focus-areas/child-and-adolescent-health; “Deworm the World.” Evidence Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.evidenceaction.org/programs/deworm-the-world.
- “Safe Water is a Human Right, But Billions of People Still Don’t Have Access to It.” Evidence Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.evidenceaction.org/focus-areas/clean-water.
- “Safe Water Now.” Evidence Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.evidenceaction.org/programs/safe-water-now.
- “Neglected Tropical Diseases Affect One Billion People.” Evidence Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.evidenceaction.org/focus-areas/neglected-tropical-diseases.
- “The Best Shot for Pregnant Women and Newborns.” Evidence Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.evidenceaction.org/insights/the-best-shot-for-pregnant-women-and-newborns.
- Korenromp, Eline L., et al. “Global Burden of Maternal and Congenital Syphilis and Associated Adverse Birth Outcomes – Estimate for 2016 and Progress Since 2012. PLOS Medicine Journal. February 27, 2019. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0211720; “The Best Shot for Pregnant Women and Newborns.” Evidence Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.evidenceaction.org/insights/the-best-shot-for-pregnant-women-and-newborns.
- “The Best Shot for Pregnant Women and Newborns.” Evidence Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.evidenceaction.org/insights/the-best-shot-for-pregnant-women-and-newborns.
- “Equal Vitamin Access.” Evidence Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.evidenceaction.org/programs/equal-vitamin-access.
- “Women and Girls are Disproportionately Impacted by Health Inequities.” Evidence Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.evidenceaction.org/focus-areas/women-and-girls.
- “Our Work.” Evidence Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.evidenceaction.org.
- “Our Work.” Evidence Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.evidenceaction.org.
- “How We Work.” Evidence Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.evidenceaction.org/how-we-work.
- Evidence Action, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2022.
- “Where We Work.” Evidence Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.evidenceaction.org/where-we-work.
- “A Decade of Outsized Impact.” Evidence Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.evidenceaction.org/about/10-years.
- Piper, Kelsey. “A Charity Just Admitted That Its Program Wasn’t Working. That’s A Big Deal.” Vox. November 29, 2018. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.vox.com/2018/11/29/18114585/poverty-charity-randomized-controlled-trial-evidence-action
- Piper, Kelsey. “A Charity Just Admitted That Its Program Wasn’t Working. That’s A Big Deal.” Vox. November 29, 2018. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.vox.com/2018/11/29/18114585/poverty-charity-randomized-controlled-trial-evidence-action.
- Piper, Kelsey. “A Charity Just Admitted That Its Program Wasn’t Working. That’s A Big Deal.” Vox. November 29, 2018. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.vox.com/2018/11/29/18114585/poverty-charity-randomized-controlled-trial-evidence-action
- Piper, Kelsey. “A Charity Just Admitted That Its Program Wasn’t Working. That’s A Big Deal.” Vox. November 29, 2018. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.vox.com/2018/11/29/18114585/poverty-charity-randomized-controlled-trial-evidence-action.
- Evidence Action, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2022.
- Evidence Action, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2022.
- Evidence Action, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2021.
- “Our Generous Supporters Make All Our Work Possible.” Evidence Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.evidenceaction.org/about/supporters.
- “Our Generous Supporters Make All Our Work Possible.” Evidence Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.evidenceaction.org/about/supporters.
- “Evidence Action.” Good Ventures. Accessed May 20, 2024. https://www.goodventures.org/?s=evidence+action.
- “Kanika Bahl.” Evidence Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.evidenceaction.org/about/our-people/kanika-bahl; “Kanika Bahl.” LinkedIn. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanika-bahl-091a936/.
- “Kanika Bahl.” Evidence Action. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.evidenceaction.org/about/our-people/kanika-bahl; “Kanika Bahl.” LinkedIn. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanika-bahl-091a936/.
- “Kanika Bahl.” LinkedIn. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanika-bahl-091a936/.
- “Kanika Bahl.” LinkedIn. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanika-bahl-091a936/
- Center for Responsive Politics. “Kanika Bahl.” Opensecrets.org. March 22, 2021. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=Kanika+bahl; “Kate Schroder.” Ballotpedia. Accessed May 17, 2024. https://ballotpedia.org/Kate_Schroder.