We provide a 'how to' guide to undertake systematic reviews of effects in international development, by which we mean, synthesis of literature relating to the effectiveness of particular development interventions. Our remit includes determining the review's questions and scope, literature search, critical appraisal, methods of synthesis including meta-analysis, and assessing the extent to which generalisable conclusions can be drawn using a theory-based approach. Our work draws on the experiences of the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation's (3ie's) systematic reviews programme.

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Unsustainable practices in the land use sector contribute to climate change through the release of greenhouse gases. Payment for environmental services (PESs) provide economic incentives to reduce the negative environmental impacts of land use and are a popular approach to mitigate climate change in low‐ and middle‐income countries. Some PES programmes also aim to improve socioeconomic outcomes and reduce poverty. This systematic review examines the effect of programmes on environmental and socioeconomic outcomes. We identified 44 quantitative impact evaluations and 60 qualitative studies of PES programmes for inclusion in the review, to assess both the effects of PES and identify context, design and implementation features that may influence PES effectiveness. The studies covered 18 programmes from 12 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, East Asia and Pacific, South Asia and Sub‐Saharan Africa. The review finds that PES may increase household income, reduce deforestation and improve forest cover, but the findings are, however, based on low and very low quality evidence from a small number of programmes and should be treated with caution. Qualitative evidence indicates that several factors influence whether PES programmes are likely to be effective in different contexts and suggests that the inclusion of strong governance structures and the effective targeting of both locations and participants may improve intervention effectiveness. Funders, implementing agencies and researchers should collaborate to develop a coordinated programme of rigorous, mixed‐methods impact evaluation implemented across contexts. Until such evidence is available, PES programmes remain a high‐risk strategy for climate change mitigation.

The International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) is an international grant-making NGO promoting evidence-informed development policies and programmes. We are the global leader in funding, producing and synthesising high-quality evidence of what works, for whom, why and at what cost. We believe that high-quality and policyrelevant evidence will make development more effective and improve people's lives. 3ie evidence gap maps 3ie evidence gap maps (EGMs) are thematic collections of information about impact evaluations or systematic reviews that measure the effects of international development policies and programmes. The maps present a visual overview of existing and ongoing studies in a sector or sub-sector in terms of the types of programmes evaluated and the outcomes measured. EGM reports provide all the supporting documentation for the maps themselves, including the background information for the theme of the map, the methods and results, including the protocols and the analysis of the results. 3ie EGMs are available through an online interactive platform on the 3ie website that allows users to explore the studies and reviews that are included. About this evidence gap map reportThis report summarises the methods and findings of an EGM on interventions that seek to improve state-society relations, which was developed by 3ie with funding from USAID and under contract with NORC at the University of Chicago. The online map can be found here.All of the content is the sole responsibility of the authors and does not represent the opinions of 3ie, its donors, Board of Commissioners, NORC, USAID or the US government. Any errors and omissions are the sole responsibility of the authors. Any comments or queries should be directed to the corresponding author, Daniel Phillips dphillips@3ieimpact.org. AcknowledgementsWe gratefully acknowledge funding of this project from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the support of NORC at the University of Chicago for contract administration. We are grateful to colleagues who provided inputs at various stages of the map: Edoardo Masset, Annette Brown, Birte Snilstveit, Kristen Rankin, Jorge Hombrados, Francis Rathinam, Deepthy Menon and Diana Milena Lopez Avila. We would also like to thank the members of our advisory board: Eric Kramon, Jennifer Stuttle, Clare Mcloughlin, George Ingram and Leonard Wantchekon. We are grateful to staff at USAID and NORC at the University of Chicago who helped inform the map's development. Thanks also to all the authors who shared completed and ongoing papers and helped improve the map, as well as all those who helped by providing comments, in particular our external peer reviewer. All errors are authors' own.ii Summary BackgroundThe role of the state, the effectiveness of its institutions and its legitimacy in the eyes of its citizens are central to determining a country's prospects for stability and development. The critical importance of the state-society relationship to the global development agenda is undersco...

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