The Government Outcomes Lab (GO Lab) is a research and policy centre at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, established through a partnership with the UK Government. The mission of the GO Lab is to enable government to partner more effectively with the private and social sectors to improve people’s lives. The GO Lab offers a collaborative hub to enhance government learning from outcomes-based commissioning through world-class research, data curation and sharing, and responsive policy engagement.

Data-led decision making

Through initiatives such as INDIGO (International Network for Data on Impact and Government Outcomes) GO Lab’s work illustrates how data-led decision making can support effective working relationships across sectors. INDIGO is a global data collaborative that openly and transparently shares data about outcomes-focused partnerships. The INDIGO initiative includes the maintenance of a community of practitioners, a system for sharing data and open-access datasets designed to serve as public goods, such as a comprehensive dataset on social outcomes partnerships, and outcomes achieved by the Life Chances Fund projects.

Key learnings

Open data sharing between civil society and public bodies creates a shared evidence base and improves mutual understanding, while empowering civil society and other stakeholders to better understand and engage with government initiatives.