| Hello, *|NOME|* The conducting of public policy based on the use of scientific evidence has been one of the most recurrent themes in public debate for some decades. Much is known about the benefits of using information that has been the result of scrutiny by a scientific method. In public management, this practice allows to favor the best use of public resources and qualify a decision making. Despite this, little is discussed about the path to the application of evidence in a public policy. Scientific evidence is not without errors and imperfections. As part of the process of constructing human knowledge about reality, it is subject to the truths of its time, which are amenable to mutation. Despite this limitation, the scientific evidence is guided by transparency, systematicity and replicability, which guarantees enormous possibilities of being tested in the light of different hypotheses and methods. In the story that IMDS has been constructing, the first quarter of this year was marked by the beginning of two partnerships that aim to contribute to this process: the signing of Technical Cooperation Agreements with the governments of the states of Mato Grosso do Sul and Rio Grande do Sul. The objective of the two agreements is the implementation of an evidence-based public policy protocol, based on the diagnosis, design, monitoring and evaluation of strategic social programs of governments. It is important to highlight that such protocols are useful both in the elaboration phase of new social programs and in mature phases of programs already in progress. In both cases, the identification of the social problem with which it is intended to deal or the problem that motivated the design of the program configure the elaboration of the diagnosis, which is made based on public data, administrative records, and interviews with the members of the teams involved in conducting the policy. The delimitation of the target audience, the possibility of defining conditionalities, the identification of premises, the mapping of inputs, the actors, the actions, the products, and the results, intermediate and final, constitute the design of the program. An integral part of the design, or redesign, includes understanding the cause-and-effect relationships that explain how actions lead to results, a structure that serves as the basis for creating a program monitoring system, based on a set of indicators. As important as the construction of a panel of indicators - that ensures the good monitoring of implementation and results - is the elaboration of a governance structure. A monitoring system must be able to be executed by the program management itself and this requires the detailed identification of processes that need to be carried out to ensure the management of the data and the interpretation of its indicators. Parallel to all these stages, the feasibility study and planning for the evaluation of the program are carried out. Depending on the design and maturation of the policy, the evaluation may consider different application criteria, such as effectiveness, efficiency, or causal impact. The path that IMDS has developed for the implementation of the evidence-based public policy protocol is not a one-way street. With the contribution of the governments of Mato Grosso do Sul and Rio Grande do Sul, the protocol will undergo the adaptation that is necessary for its application in the specific contexts, incorporating the specificities of each locality.
Most importantly, it will be an asset of local governance, ingraining in every structure of government the culture of establishing evidence-based public policy. See you in the next “Letter from IMDS”! Paulo Tafner CEO | 
