As noted in our post last month, data-driven policy reform relies on sound analysis. Sound analysis rests on, among other principles, transparent result tracking over time.

In discussing metrics and measuring changes in the enabling environment, it’s worth taking a look at the resources available to support use of data. Practitioners and decision-makers have a range of information and data available to inform their reform efforts. Comparative data, however, is challenging to find in this area. This post takes a closer look at one relevant publicly available index in this area, the World Bank’s Enabling the Business of Agriculture (EBA) Index.

One of several funders of EBA, USAID has also invested in the Feed the Future Enabling Environment for Food Security mechanism through the Office of Market and Partnership Innovations to develop additional resources to increase understanding and awareness of the EBA Index, put some of this data into topical contexts, spur important dialogue, and share considerations around EBA's use and application.

We hope the following technical notes, posts and other products are useful!

World Bank Enabling the Business of Agriculture resources: To learn more about the EBA Index, check out their website here, their post earlier this month on the Power of Agribusiness Indicators to Prompt Policy Change, and this Q&A held with members of the EBA team and Agrilinks last year.

Selected country-specific policy data snapshots for Feed the Future countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Selected topic-specific technical resources utilizing EBA data: EBA Trade Basics, EBA Markets Scoring, Seed EBA Data in Action, Gender EBA Data in Action, Plant Protection EBA Data in Action.

Complementary EBA resources for understanding the methodology: Distance to the Frontier Scoring Basics for EBA and A Guide to Enabling the Business of Agriculture.

Awareness and perceptions of EBA and opportunities for future engagement: EBA Dissemination Plan and USAID Mission EBA Survey.

Finally, this Ghana Agribusiness Commercial Legal and Institutional Reform Report showcases how other analytical tools such as the AgCLIR can be adapted to collect complementary data to build on and contextualize EBA.

We encourage you to share this post with your networks to raise awareness of the array of enabling environment benchmarking tools available to practitioners!