The Gold Standard

What is an Evidence-Based Best Practice?

The outcomes of rural development projects produce lessons learned, promising practices, good practices and best practices - but what is considered the Gold Standard is the Evidence Based Best Practice.

A Best Practice is a technique, process, or activity that is more effective than any other at delivering specific outcomes. With proper checks and testing, a desired outcome can be delivered with fewer problems and unforeseen complications. These Best Practices are based on replicable procedures that have proven themselves over time for large numbers of people. The term Best Practice has a "gold standard" called an Evidence-Based Best Practice.

While there is broad agreement that replicating Best Practices is an effective way to advance development goals, there has been little systemization in extracting lessons from field experiences. There is a need to define “Best Practice” and provide guidelines for systemization. This will improve the effectiveness of linking knowledge to practical action.

For the purposes of the Village Field Guide, a best practice is:

• Grassroots Oriented: A sustainable, grassroots oriented, culturally appropriate development tool for use by rural community members in improving their lives. A tool that that doesn’t rely on continuous outside advice and expensive external inputs, but a tool that community members identify as a need and participated in the design. A tool they can finance, operate, sustain and maintain by themselves.
• Evidence Based: A Best Practice that has been developed in the field and has been shown through scientific research to produce a positive outcome.
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    • Has a positive impact without secondary negative impacts; is environmentally sustainable
    • Is proof tested and farmer reviewed: not developed in a vacuum
    • Its scientific methods of evaluation may include randomized controlled trials, qualitative and quantitative research, field research, and literature reviews that analyze scientific studies.
• Systematized: A framework that identifies the complexities of rural development and provides solutions that are technically appropriate, cost effective and sustainable. International organizations have become treasure houses of knowledge and Best Practices. Systemization will organize this knowledge into a set of sequential, step-by-step tools for use in resource-strained settings. The framework will address which activities will have the greatest initial impact, and in what order should they be started. The framework will follow the 12 Traditional Phases of Rural Development:

1. Community Participation
2. Water and Sanitation
3. Health and Hygiene
4. Food, Agriculture and Forestry
5. Education and Literacy
6. Conservation and Ecological Sustainability
7. Economic Development
8. Infrastructure Development
9. Energy
10. Urban and International Migration
11. Mitigation and Response to Disasters
12. Our Changing World

• Replicable: These are tools and materials that can be replicated and can serve as models for development projects elsewhere. These solutions must build a bridge between scientific research and practical solutions that are simple and understandable by all stakeholders, and are able to be scaled-up locally and regionally.