Armenian government institutions are increasingly committed to evidence-based reform, but often lack the in-house capability to turn that commitment into practice. Designing policy that actually works requires methods like behavioral testing, systems mapping, and experimental piloting, and few institutions have a permanent home for that kind of work. The result is reforms that are well-intentioned but not always rigorously tested before they scale.

Policy Lab embeds the SDG Innovation Lab’s core methodologies (human-centered design, portfolio thinking, behavioral insights, and experimentation) directly into government’s own policymaking process. Rather than producing one-off advisory products, we work alongside ministries and agencies to build their capability to design, test, and refine policy themselves, using data, behavioral evidence, and small-scale pilots before scaling reforms across the system.

• An embedded methodology, with the Lab working inside the policymaking process rather than acting as an external consultancy
• Human-centered design and portfolio thinking applied to live reform agendas, not theoretical case studies
• Experimentation built in at the pilot stage, so that policies are tested with real users and real data before they scale
• A focus on building lasting institutional capability, not just delivering
individual outputs

To be expanded as the project progresses. Intended impact: smarter, evidence-based policy design across Armenian government institutions, and stronger inhouse capability for experimental and participatory policymaking.