Jharkhand Migration Survey is a PDAG engagement focused on state-wide mixed-methods evidence initiative on internal labour migration covering all 24 districts. Working in Jharkhand, PDAG brought together household survey; life histories; focus group discussions; key informant interviews to move beyond a narrow description of the issue and examine how policies, institutions and lived realities interact. The work was undertaken with Omidyar Network India; Government of Jharkhand and reflects PDAG’s approach of combining grounded evidence with an understanding of implementation constraints, institutional incentives and the experiences of people most affected by policy decisions. 10,700 households and about 58,000 individuals, creating an evidence base for migration policy and safer mobility systems. Across the engagement, the emphasis was not only on producing research or advisory outputs, but on making the evidence usable for decision-makers. This meant identifying the practical questions behind the assignment, testing assumptions against field or stakeholder evidence and translating findings into clear implications for policy, programme design or public communication. The project sits within PDAG’s Migration & Labour Mobility practice area and contributes to a wider body of work on how public systems can respond more effectively to complex social and economic change. Where relevant, PDAG also connected local findings with wider policy debates, helping ensure that recommendations remained attentive to context rather than relying on one-size-fits-all solutions. The resulting work provides partners with a stronger basis for understanding the problem, recognising gaps in existing approaches and considering realistic pathways for action.