Global Alliance Releases New Tools to Guide Evidence-based Solutions Across Health, Development, and Environment

Kate Davidson | PATH | kdavidson@path.org

Kirsten Ullman | The Nature Conservancy | kullman@TNC.ORG | +1-703-841-5371

London, United Kingdom, October 25, 2017 — The Bridge Collaborative, a global alliance of 90 organizations from 23 countries, today released two new tools to assist decision-makers solving big challenges facing health, development, and the environment.

The Bridge Collaborative Practitioner's Guide on Principles and Guidance for Cross-sector Action Planning and Evidence Evaluation and the policy-focused Call to Action for Health, Environment, and Development Leaders were developed to accelerate progress towards building a shared, cross-sector evidence base that informs strategies, shapes policies, and directs funding decisions to achieve concrete solutions. These resources are available at: www.bridgecollaborativeglobal.org.

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals have created a framework and reference point to work towards eradicating poverty and deprivation, to grow our economies, protect our environment, and to promote peace and good governance. Because of the highly interconnected nature of the goals, meeting the targets requires an aspirational level of collaboration and systems-thinking.

"We found that each sector already uses some form of evidence-based research design and action planning, but that the methods vary," said Lydia Olander, director of the Ecosystem Services Program at Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. "Our publications provide, for the first time, principles and guidance for creating comparable results chains and a method for evaluating evidence across multiple sectors."

"We've embarked on a series of case studies to achieve change faster for key global issues in the Sustainable Development Goals, such as an assessment to improve impact through linkages across Sanitation, Health and Biodiversity; work on Changing Cooking Practices for Forests, Respiratory Health and Nutrition; and discussions on Refugee Action for People and the Planet" said Claudia Ringler, Deputy Division Director for Environment and Production Technology at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in collaboration with the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems.

"As founding members of the Bridge Collaborative, we've been inspired by the Human Genome Project's ability to transform culture quickly in service of research and human advancement," said Heather Tallis, Global Managing Director and Lead Scientist for Strategy Innovation at The Nature Conservancy. "Similarly, we see significant potential to solve interconnected problems faster through greater collaboration."

The Bridge Collaborative is led by four organizations with complementary expertise:

• Duke University: Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions
• International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), an international agriculture and food policy think tank
• The Nature Conservancy (TNC), one of the world's largest conservation organizations
• PATH, the international global health organization

"Our vision is nothing less than a world where the big challenges facing health, development and the environment get solved," said Katharine Kreis, Director of Strategic Initiatives and Lead for Nutrition Innovation at PATH. "To achieve this goal, the disciplinary siloes across these professions need to be broken down for the creation of joint opportunities and evidence."

The new tools were released at the Bridge Collaborative's launch event, "Evidence-based Solutions for Health, Development, and Environment," which brought together a wide range of leaders, practitioners, and researchers to explore its charge: to lead a fundamental shift in how we think, plan, fund, and work together across the health, development, and environment communities. More information on the Bridge Collaborative and the October 25-26 event, including session topics and presenters, can be found here: http://www.bridgecollaborativeevent.org/

The Bridge Collaborative is a global change agent driving a fundamental shift in how we think, plan, fund and work across sectors to make bigger change faster. We unite leading experts in health, development and the environment with the shared evidence and tools to make a greater impact at the speed the world needs now. Founded in 2016, the Bridge Collaborative is a partnership spearheaded by its four founding organizations: The Nature Conservancy, PATH, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and Duke University. Our global alliance includes more than 175 collaborative members and 90 organizations from 23 countries, all moving beyond business as usual to create a more equitable and sustainable world. Because there's only one way to solve today's most critical problems: Together.