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Over the course of this paper we lay out the basis of the Carve-Out method, an approach that leverages a behavioural framework to allow organisations (even those burdened with layers of bureaucracy and entrenched ideas) to create intentionally designed environments that give people the space, resources and support they need to explore and test new ideas. Ideas that may go on to transform the core of their organisation. The Carve-Out method is based on a simple insight: That if we want to...

How moving from transactional to transformational relationships and organizations can save our democracy, nurture our connections, and make us happier and healthier. Powerful institutions, from schools to tech and social media companies, create breeding grounds for isolation by failing to invest in relational work. This obstacle stands in the way of our fight for racial equity, economic justice, and climate resilience. In Relationality, leading asexuality and relationship activist David...

By Robert Ricigliano and Anna Muoio

Background: The practice and profession of evaluation continue to evolve. Over the years, evaluation scholars and practitioners have developed a broad—and still broadening—range of evaluation approaches. These evaluation approaches are often combined with various study designs in real-world evaluations. To provide an overview of these approaches and designs, and inspired by my son’s love of metro trains, I created an evaluation metro map.    Purpose: The purpose of this article is to...

Background: The Garden of Evaluation Approaches (Montrosse-Moorhead, et al., 2024a) maps evaluation approaches against eight dimensions of practice and situates them in their philosophical orientations and methodological dispositions. Purpose: The Garden’s guiding question is: How do evaluation approaches compare in terms of dimensions that facilitate use and application? Primary intended users are evaluation practitioners, and secondary intended users include ecosystem actors (e.g.,...

Evaluation is a vast field of designs and methods in continuous development. The numerous parameters and choices associated with different methodological options can be difficult to fully understand without deep study and desk review. The motivation for the Periodic Table of Evaluation was to create a one-pager visual that catalogues methodological options and parameters involved in an evaluation design.

When assessing value for money (VfM), there are sound arguments for combining insights from economics and evaluation. Drawing on the complementary strengths of both disciplines supports comprehensive assessment of policies and programmes’ VfM. In this Guide we introduce an interdisciplinary approach, Value for Investment, that integrates methods and tools from both disciplines, and which has gained traction worldwide. Among the concepts and methods of evaluation that economics brings to...

The guide begins with a section on what we at TAF have learned about practicing Strategy Testing, highlighting things that we didn’t know when we started out. Some of these lessons may seem obvious, but others may strike you as less so. In any case, we believe that, when taken together, they provide a useful reminder of some of the pitfalls that arise in efforts to practice Adaptive Management. Moreover, they help to remind us that there are multiple layers to doing Strategy Testing...

With growing evidence of what works in education, governments and their partners strive towards scale. While implementation research to adapt solutions holds promise for testing what works, where and for whom, its use in education is limited. Sixty-three international education stakeholders from government, academia, think tanks, local and international non-governmental organizations, multi- and bi-laterals and foundations offer insight into three modes of implementation research that differ...

Evaluation has a long history of using experimental and quasi-experimental designs to measure the effects of programs and strategies, and through this, to infer causality. Yet, these approaches are often not appropriate when evaluating change in complex, dynamic systems. Further, programs and strategies that seek to produce change in complex settings are increasingly common. This leads to an evaluation dilemma: if and how do evaluators attend to causality amid complexity? Too often, the...

For over 50 years, evaluators have used theories of change to articulate the causal logic underpinning how an intervention is intended to bring about a desired change. From its origins in programme evaluation, the approach has been adopted more widely for purposes from program design to program management. As theories of change continue to be used for multiple purposes, it is an opportune moment for the evaluation community—where the approach originated—to provide their perspective on the...

Editor’s Note: This article, first published in print and online in 2014, has been republished by The Foundation Review with minor updates. Whether implicit or explicit, social justice and human rights are part of the mission of many philanthropies. Evaluation produced, sponsored, or consumed by these philanthropies that doesn’t pay attention to the imperatives of cultural competency may be inconsistent with their missions. The American Evaluation Association’s Statement on Cultural...

Exploring two systems change mental models in philanthropy [ https://evaluationinnovation.org/publication/systems-mental-models/ ] it is an increasingly shared truth: If we want to tackle society’s worst problems, we must bring a systems lens to our social change efforts. We define “systems change” here as the practice of confronting the causes of social problems rather than treating their symptoms. Many in philanthropy are taking this stance, and are shaping their portfolios, strategies,...

Reflecting Forewords is an unashamedly ambitious book. Full of lessons from the past that are relevant for the future, it is a compilation of inspiring forewords from books written by Robert Chambers; one of the most influential and prolific scholars to write about participation, poverty, and knowledge in development studies. Tessa Lewin, Robert’s colleague and an experienced practitioner and researcher, has worked with Robert to weave together the forewords alongside a series of reflections...

Child Labour: Action-Research-Innovation in South and South-Eastern Asia (CLARISSA) is an evidence and innovation-generation programme funded by the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), responding to the challenge of the worst forms of child labour (WFCL) in Bangladesh and Nepal. It is a challenge characterised by a poor understanding of its drivers and a lack of evidence on what works to combat it. To handle such fundamental uncertainty, the programme adopts a...

Discover the future of organizational structure with the Platform Organization Manifesto. Our guiding principles provide a blueprint for dynamic, adaptable businesses designed to thrive in a constantly changing marketplace. Harness the power of entrepreneurial spirit, cooperation, innovation, and key design principles to empower corporate evolution.

Building on interviews with colleagues in development organizations, donor & partner governments and foundations, this article explores the adoption of system and portfolio-based approaches in the development sector focusing on organizational motivations and challenges, changes in the network of the development sector actors, and types of collaborative experiments initiated around the novel approach. The aim is to take steps towards understanding how this type of approach for system change...

The Program Cycle is USAID’s operational model for planning, delivering, assessing, and adapting development programming in a given region or country to advance U.S. foreign policy. It encompasses guidance and procedures for: 1) Making strategic decisions at the regional or country level about programmatic areas of focus and associated resources; 2) Designing supportive projects and/or activities to implement these strategic plans; and 3) Learning from performance monitoring, evaluations,...

Digital innovations are constantly redefining the boundaries of what is possible and, therefore, bring with them many challenges: it is important for organisations to scale impactful solutions and bring about positive change on a global level – a scaling toolkit is designed to help with this. With the Scaling Toolkit, a healthcare organisation, for example, can scale a digital health monitoring system, adapt it to the local language, and integrate it seamlessly into existing infrastructure....

As the trust-based philanthropy wave is washing over the sector once again, concerns over its ability to prove impact, facilitate learning, and evaluate previous approaches are bubbling up. As a philanthropy professional with over …