Coopération Globale takes on Secretariat role for the Smart Buys Alliance
Coopération Globale is pleased to announce that we are serving as the Secretariat of the Smart Buys Alliance (SBA). In this role, we support a growing partnership of development agencies, including Norway, the Netherlands, France, and Sweden, alongside leading evidence organisations including Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), the Center for Global Development (CGD), the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA), the Global Poverty Research Lab (GPRL) and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA). The Alliance's purpose is to promote the adoption of Smart Buys and to support development agencies and partners on their cost-effectiveness journeys.
Smart Buys are development interventions that have demonstrated exceptional cost-effectiveness and impact through rigorous evaluation. Rather than identifying a single "best" intervention, Smart Buys help make trade-offs between different options more transparent and evidence-informed, in part providing information on the contextual conditions under which different interventions are effective.
The Alliance works through three complementary pillars. It convenes a Community of Practice for peer learning among development agencies. It develops Smart Buys Lists, which categorise intervention types by their cost-effectiveness for a given outcome and set out the contextual conditions under which each has been found to work best. This approach draws on the model pioneered by the Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel (GEEAP), which used a similar framework to assess cost-effective interventions in education. And it delivers Implementation Consultancies, helping agencies apply evidence to programme design, funding decisions and procurement.
As Secretariat, Coopération Globale coordinates between the Alliance's stakeholders — donor agencies, evidence partners, and others such as philanthropies, partner countries, iNGOs and academic partners — to help move the Alliance's core workstreams forward. This includes convening the Community of Practice, coordinating the process of identifying new Smart Buys List topics, and acting as the Alliance's central point of contact for interested parties. The Secretariat also leads on communications and advocacy for the Alliance's work.
We'll soon be able to share more news on which Smart Buys List the Alliance will take on next. We also welcome enquiries from other development agencies interested in exploring membership. In the meantime, if you'd like to learn more or get involved, you're welcome to join one of our upcoming Community of Practice events, visit smartbuysalliance.org, or simply reach out at info@smartbuysalliance.org.
Open call for Implementation Consultancies
We're excited to open a call for Implementation Consultancies (ICs) — an opportunity for development agency teams to work directly with leading evidence partners on a concrete cost-effectiveness question.
The SBA's tailored Implementation Consultancies are designed for programme teams, country offices and technical advisers within development agencies that have a concrete evidence need linked to strategy, funding or programme design. Delivery is through partners including J-PAL, CEGA, IPA, the Global Poverty Research Lab and CGD.
If your team is making decisions in areas such as education, nutrition, health or social protection, an Implementation Consultancy can help answer questions such as:
Which interventions have the strongest evidence of impact per dollar in your target context?
Which programme design choices have the greatest influence on value for money?
How can cost-effectiveness be integrated into funding processes, calls for proposals and procurement?
Depending on the need, consultancies can include rapid evidence reviews (2–3 weeks), more in-depth cost-effectiveness analyses (around six months), contextualisation support, or advice on embedding evidence into procurement and proposal evaluation processes. Engagements are practical, focused and time-bound, designed to support real funding and programme decisions rather than produce academic research.
We're currently inviting expressions of interest for a limited number of Implementation Consultancies. Expressions received by 14 August will be prioritised.
To learn more, submit an expression of interest here or get in touch with us directly at info@smartbuysalliance.org.