Search
Full Library 2,005 resources
-
Developmental evaluation has emerged fairly recently as a way to support adaptive learning in complex and emergent initiatives. Combining the rigour of evaluation with the flexibility and imagination required for development, this new form of evaluation brings critical thinking to bear on the creative process in initiatives involving high levels of uncertainty, innovation, emergence, and social complexity. This guidebook from J.W. McConnell Family Foundation and the International Institute...
-
“Accountability” has become a buzzword in international development. Development actors appear to delight in announcing their intention to “promote accountability”—but it is often unclear what accountability is and how it can be promoted. This book addresses some questions that are crucial to understanding accountability and for understanding why accountability is important to improve the effectiveness of development aid. We ask: What does it mean to make governments accountable to their...
-
When accountability is understood as reporting on pre-deined deliverables, it is often considered to be irreconcilable with learning. This conventional wisdom inhibits an appreciation of their connection. In this chapter, Irene Guijt exposes the laws and traps in reasoning that keep accountability and learning apart. She provides practitioners with principles and basic good ideas that open up prospects for accountability and learning to complement each other.
-
Over the last decades, the Logical Framework Approach (LFA) has become universally known and has assumed a key role for planning and managing development interventions. LFA, however, is not uncontroversial and the approach has been subject to criticism, concerning both its theoretical foundations and practical use. Despite these criticisms LFA’s position has not been fundamentally weakened and while many donors acknowledge its limits and weaknesses, they maintain (some would say impose) its...
-
Informal institutions and personalised relationships are usually seen as governance problems. However the research presented in this synthesis paper suggests that they can also be part of the solution...
-
This article compares key attributes, strengths and weaknesses of three different approaches to monitoring development interventions: the logical framework approach, participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) and feedback systems. Academic and practitioner literature describes how logframes meet the needs of senior decision-makers to summarise, organise and compare projects. PM&E meets the needs of field staff to work sensitively with intended beneficiaries and support their learning and...
-
"John Kay tells a fast-paced detective story as he searches for the surprising secret to success...Brilliant." -Tim Harford, author of The Logic of Life In this revolutionary book, economist John Kay proves a notion that feels at once paradoxical and deeply commonsensical: the best way to achieve any complex or broadly defined goal, from happiness to preventing forest fires, is the indirect way. We can learn how to achieve our objectives only through a gradual process of risk taking ...
-
1. A common goal of many environmental flow regimes is to maintain and/or enhance the river’s native fish community by increasing the occurrence of successful spawning and recruitment events. However, our understanding of the flow requirements of the early life history of fish is often limited, and hence predicting their response to specific managed flow events is difficult. To overcome this uncertainty requires the use of adaptive management principles in the design, implementation,...
-
In this essay, Andrew Natsios gives a first-hand account of what he finds most hinders USAID—layers of bureaucracy that misguide and derail development work.
-
Based on a broad international consultative process, the DAC Quality Standards for Development Evaluation are a reference guide to good practice in development evaluation. With a view to improving the quality of evaluation processes and products, and facilitating collaboration, this reference guide lays out standards for each phase of a typical evaluation process: from defining purpose, to planning, designing, implementing, reporting, and learning from and using evaluation results.
-
The causal loop diagram is an analytical tool that is seldom used in Six Sigma but nonetheless is still very valuable. It is a foundational tool used in system dynamics, a method of analysis used to develop an understanding of complex systems.
-
Systems thinking is commonly accepted as the backbone of a successful systems engineering approach. As such, the Body of Knowledge and Curriculum to Advance Systems Engineering (BKCASE) team chose to leverage a systems thinking based tool, called Systemitool, to describe our project to the vast audience that would potentially become involved directly or indirectly in the success of the project. This paper describes the process and steps used by the authors and the BKCASE team to develop the...
-
Our Manifesto project publication is available in print, on CD or to view online. Innovation, Sustainability, Development: A New Manifesto recommends new ways of linking science and innovation to development for a more sustainable, equitable and resilient future. The multimedia version, with added audio, video and background documents, is available on CD and online.
-
This chapter provides a detailed introduction to critical systems heuristics and the use of its central tool boundary critique. What Is CSH? Two Studies in Applying CSH Using CSH as an Intervention Tool: Some Basic Concepts A Core Concept of CSH: Systematic Boundary Critique Boundary Critique Applied to NRUA-Botswana Boundary Critique Applied to ECOSENSUS-Guyana Boundary Critique and Personal Competence Recognising Boundary Judgements – and Keeping Them Fluid Towards a New Ethos of Professional Responsibility
Explore
Theme
-
Adaptive Approaches [+]
(955)
- Adaptive Learning (100)
- Adaptive Management (288)
- Adaptive Rigour (8)
- Agile & Lean approaches (104)
- Capacity WORKS (6)
- CLA (Collaborating Learning Adapting) (38)
- Design Thinking / HCD (103)
- Doing Development Differently (27)
- Global Delivery Initiative (3)
- Human Learning Systems (2)
- MSD - Market Systems Development (16)
- Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships (7)
- Other Adaptive approaches (29)
-
Other sectors
(58)
- Activism and Social Movements (2)
- Environmental (11)
- Government (1)
- Logistics & Product Development (11)
- Military (11)
- Organizational Management (19)
- Philosophical roots (3)
- Project management (2)
- Psychology (1)
- Sport (2)
- Participation (8)
- PDIA (Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation) (32)
- PEA (Political Economy Analysis) (28)
- Positive Deviance & 2 loops model (20)
- Results Based Management (14)
- Systemcraft (1)
- Systems Thinking / Complexity (198)
- TWP (Thinking & Working Politically) (78)
- Cases (146)
- Courses (15)
-
Development Actors Perspectives
(252)
- Adaptive Management orgs (1)
- AFD (Agence Française de Développement) (1)
- Canada - GAC & IDRC (12)
- China (3)
- DANIDA - Danish International Development Agency (2)
- DCED - Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (14)
- DFAT (Australia) (14)
- EU (1)
- FCDO/DFID (UK) (44)
- G7 (1)
- GIZ (Germany) (20)
- Hivos - Netherlands (2)
- IFAD (1)
- ILO (1)
- Irish Aid (4)
- KOICA (Korea's International Co-operation Agency) (1)
- New Zealand (1)
- NGO Perspectives (33)
- OECD/DAC - Results Based Management (16)
- Private Companies - Development Industry (5)
- Private Donors (OSF, Hewlett...) (5)
- SDC - Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (22)
- SIDA - Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (5)
- UNDP, UN Global Pulse, UN... (10)
- USAID (36)
- WFP (1)
- World Bank (17)
-
Geography
(140)
-
Africa
(80)
-
Central Africa
(7)
- Angola (1)
- Cameroon (2)
- Democratic Republic of the Congo (4)
-
Eastern Africa
(35)
- Ethiopia (1)
- Kenya (6)
- Malawi (3)
- Mozambique (8)
- Rwanda (3)
- Somalia (6)
- Somaliland (1)
- South Sudan (3)
- Tanzania (5)
- Uganda (6)
- Zambia (1)
- Zimbabwe (4)
- Northern Africa (3)
-
Southern Africa
(5)
- Lesotho (1)
- South Africa (4)
- West Africa (50)
-
Central Africa
(7)
-
Americas
(14)
-
Central America
(6)
- Costa Rica (1)
- Ecuador (3)
- El Salvador (1)
- Guatemala (2)
- Mexico (4)
-
North America
(5)
- Canada (2)
- United States of America (4)
- South America (5)
-
Central America
(6)
-
Asia
(53)
-
Eastern Asia
(10)
- China (10)
-
South-eastern Asia
(17)
- Cambodia (3)
- Indonesia (4)
- Lao People's Democratic Republic (2)
- Myanmar (7)
- Philippines (2)
- Thailand (1)
- Timor Leste (1)
- Viet Nam (2)
-
Southern Asia
(24)
- Afghanistan (1)
- Bangladesh (13)
- India (2)
- Nepal (12)
- Pakistan (6)
- Sri Lanka (1)
-
Western Asia
(3)
- Israel (1)
- Jordan (1)
- Lebanon (1)
- State of Palestine (1)
- Syrian Arab Republic (1)
-
Eastern Asia
(10)
-
Europe
(10)
-
Eastern Europe
(1)
- Ukraine (1)
-
Northern Europe
(2)
- United Kingdom (2)
-
Southern Europe
(1)
- Spain (1)
-
Western Europe
(6)
- France (1)
- Germany (3)
- Netherlands (1)
- Switzerland (1)
-
Eastern Europe
(1)
- Many geographies (3)
-
Oceania
(5)
- Australia and New Zealand (3)
-
Melanesia
(2)
- Papua New Guinea (1)
-
Africa
(80)
-
MEL4 Adaptive Management
(611)
- Action Inquiry/Collective Leadership (8)
- After Action Reviews (8)
- Appreciative Inquiry (7)
- Artificial Intelligence (4)
- Beneficiary Assessment/Engagement (8)
- Capacity Development (2)
- Case Study (11)
- Causal Mechanisms (14)
- Circular charts applications (radar, pie, sunburst, spiderweb, orbic, etc) (7)
- Comparisons/Benchmarking (1)
- Context Monitoring (1)
- Contribution Analysis (12)
- Cost-Benefit Analysis (3)
- Cost-effectiveness analysis (1)
- Critical Friends (3)
- Critical Systems Heuristics (7)
- Cross-sectional study (1)
- Data mining (1)
- Delphi Survey (1)
- Democratic Evaluation (3)
- Descriptive Statistics (1)
- Desk based research/lit review (3)
- Developmental Evaluation (14)
- Diaries (1)
- Empowerment Evaluation (5)
- Ethnography / Rapid Ethnography (5)
- Evaluability assessment (6)
- Evaluating Multi-project programmes (6)
- Ex-post Evaluation (5)
- Feedback Systems (5)
- Focus Group Discussions (3)
- Horizontal Evaluation (2)
- Humour (1)
- Impact evaluation (15)
- Impact Oriented Monitoring and Evaluation System (5)
- Indicator-based approaches (11)
- Innovation History (3)
- Innovation System Analysis (4)
- Institutional Histories (4)
- Knowing Unknowns (1)
- Knowledge Management (11)
- Logical Framework (16)
- Mapping Visualization Methods (11)
- MEL Bricolage (2)
- MEL in International Development (32)
- Most Significant Change (7)
- Narrative Based Approaches (2)
- Network Analysis (8)
- Objectives and options analysis (1)
- Outcome Harvesting (12)
- Outcome Mapping (31)
- Participatory Action Research (19)
- Participatory Evaluation (25)
- Participatory Learning and Action - PLA (12)
- Participatory Rural Appraisal - PRA, RRA (8)
- Peers/Peer-Group Review (4)
- Policy Scientific Approach (2)
- Political Economy Analysis (14)
- Political Sentiment Analysis (PSA) (1)
- Portfolio Management (18)
- Positive Deviance (7)
- Post Project Evaluations (1)
- Power Analysis (1)
- Principles-Focused Evaluation (1)
- Process Tracing (12)
- Public Management Theory (2)
- Qualitative Comparative Analysis (8)
- Qualitative data analysis and grounded theory (2)
- Qualitative Impact Assessment Protocol (4)
- Quality Improvement (1)
- Randomized Controlled Trials (14)
- Realist Evaluation (12)
- Remote Monitoring (1)
- Rigour (6)
- Rubrics (16)
- Rules of Thumb (3)
- Scenario Planning (9)
- SenseMaker (9)
- Social Media Metrics (1)
- Social Return on Investment (4)
- Stakeholder analysis (3)
- Stakeholder Feedback (3)
- Strategy testing (2)
- Success Case Method (5)
- Surveys (4)
- Sustainability (4)
- SWOT Analysis (1)
- Systemic Change (33)
- Systems Mapping (10)
- Tech 4 MEL (4)
- Theory-based evaluations (12)
- TOC (Theory of Change) (62)
- Trans-disciplinary Research (1)
- Utilisation focused evaluation (8)
- Value for Investment (4)
- Value for Money (9)
- Networks and Communities of Practice (54)
- Organizations (4)
-
Practical
(146)
- Tools (25)
-
Sectors [+]
(624)
- Advocacy and Activism (4)
- Agriculture (3)
- Alternative Development (129)
- Cash Trasfers (2)
- Children (8)
- Citizen Engagement (63)
- Climate Change (5)
- Combatting violent extremism (6)
- Economic development (16)
- Education (4)
- Employment (2)
- Environmental Management (32)
- Fragile and Conflict Aflicted Settings (14)
- Gender (9)
- Governance and Accountability (158)
- Health (10)
- Humanitarian Aid (8)
- Inclusion/Disability (1)
-
Innovation (in Development)
(62)
- Funding (1)
- Institutional Capacity & Change (18)
- Institutional Reform (6)
- Judicial systems (3)
- Knowledge to Practice (34)
- Land Reform (1)
- Locally driven development (20)
- Locally led development (3)
- NGOs (28)
- Organizational Change (14)
- Pastoralism (1)
- Peace Building (12)
- Private Sector Development (1)
- Research for Development (R4D) (6)
- Rural development (10)
- Scaling up / Propagating (23)
- Social Accountability (136)
- Social Change (3)
- Social Protection (1)
-
Technology (in Development)
(45)
- Appropriate Tech (6)
- Waste Management (1)
- Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) (1)
Resource type
- Artwork (1)
- Audio Recording (1)
- Blog Post (265)
- Book (224)
- Book Section (60)
- Conference Paper (31)
- Dataset (1)
- Document (15)
- Encyclopedia Article (1)
- Film (1)
- Forum Post (1)
- Journal Article (402)
- Magazine Article (27)
- Manuscript (1)
- Map (1)
- Newspaper Article (4)
- Presentation (17)
- Radio Broadcast (1)
- Report (849)
- Software (2)
- Thesis (6)
- Video Recording (19)
- Web Page (75)
Publication year
-
Between 1900 and 1999
(89)
-
Between 1940 and 1949
(1)
- 1948 (1)
- Between 1950 and 1959 (4)
- Between 1960 and 1969 (6)
- Between 1970 and 1979 (10)
- Between 1980 and 1989 (20)
- Between 1990 and 1999 (48)
-
Between 1940 and 1949
(1)
-
Between 2000 and 2024
(1,884)
- Between 2000 and 2009 (183)
- Between 2010 and 2019 (1,291)
- Between 2020 and 2024 (409)
-
Between 2030 and 2024
(1)
- 2034 (1)
- Unknown (32)