Your search
Results 288 resources
-
We think that, applied well, theory of change can support charities and funders to take a systemic approach to their work. This report identifies five common pitfalls that organisations fall into when using theory of change, and walks through five rules of thumb that will help organisations to use the approach to tackle complex problems. We think that, applied well, theory of change can support charities and funders to take a systemic approach to their work. This report identifies five...
-
Since it was conceptualized in the late 1980s as a research methodology and change paradigm, the technique of ‘appreciative inquiry’ (AI) has proved to be highly effective for capturing the positive features of an organization or social system and energizing the members to strive for higher levels of performance. This Brief outlines the basic principles and methods of AI, describes various domains in which it has been undertaken and provides a recent example of its use in a centre affiliated...
-
As with all public policy work, education policies are demanding. Policy workers need to ‘know’ a lot—about the problems they are addressing, the people who need to be engaged, the promises they can make in response, the context they are working in, and the processes they will follow to implement. Most policy workers answer questions about such issues within the structures of plan and control processes used to devise budgets and projects. These structures limit their knowledge gathering,...
-
This report explains how public organizations can combine big data and thick data to transform public services delivery—a strategy called mixed analytics. Governments can greatly enhance the value of big data by combining it with “thick” data—rich qualitative information about users, such as their values, goals, and consumption behavior, obtained by observing or interacting with them in their daily lives. Big data holds great promise for improving public services delivery and innovation in...
-
This briefing note shares practical learning on the use of contribution analysis for adaptive management (CA4AM). It examines how the approach enables programmes to work with theories of change in a practical, reflexive way, and how, combined with assessing evidence of a programme’s contribution to change, its findings can inform programme adaptation. It also examines both how and to what extent CA enables AM through the experiences of four large complex programmes all working towards...
-
Children end up in child labour as a result of many, often unknown or hidden, interactions between multiple actors and multiple factors within households, communities, and labour systems, leading to unpredictable outcomes for children and other sector stakeholders and sometimes resulting in the worst forms of child labour (WFCL). It is a complex problem, and interventions aimed at tackling it are also, inevitably, complex and challenging. The way they influence change is non-linear,...
-
This Research and Evidence Paper presents the theory-based and participatory evaluation design of the Child Labour: Action-Research- Innovation in South and South-Eastern Asia (CLARISSA) programme. The evaluation is embedded in emergent Participatory Action Research with children and other stakeholders to address the drivers of the worst forms of child labour (WFCL). The report describes the use of contribution analysis as an overarching approach, with its emphasis on crafting, nesting and...
-
In 2016, the Bureau of Policy, Planning and Learning (PPL) commissioned an internal stocktaking of USAID's mission-based MEL (Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning) Platforms.
-
This CDI Practice Paper by Tom Aston and Marina Apgar makes the case for ‘bricolage’ in complexity-aware and qualitative evaluation methods. It provides a framework based on a review of 33 methods to support evaluators to be more intentional about bricolage and to combine the component parts of relevant methods more effectively. It discusses two cases from practice to illustrate the value added of taking a more intentional approach. It further argues that navigating different forms of...
-
Evaluation practitioners in the international development sector have given considerable attention in recent years to process tracing as a method for evaluating impact, including discussion of how to assess the relative importance of causal factors. Despite the increasing interest, there is a relative dearth of examples of practical learning and evidence of applying process tracing in practice. This CDI Practice Paper draws on comparative learning from applying three different types of...
-
This document explores how organisations can measure the level of influence that they had over an outcome. It summarises influence in terms of the significance of the outcome, the level of contribution and the strength of evidence.
-
The Increasing Participation in Evaluation bulletin was developed by Anita Baker with Beth Bruner to help organizations integrate evaluative thinking into their organizational practice. This three page bulletin discusses how Organization Staff, Evaluators, and Funders are typically involved in participatory evaluation. The guide also defines the term "Ripple", and how to accomplish Ripple as well as examining what it looks like when Executive Leaders and Management Staff use Evaluative...
-
The logical framework approach (LFA) has come to play a central role in the planning and management of development interventions over the last twenty years. Although the logical framework has become universally known, it is far from universally liked. It has been the subject of much criticism over the years, concerning both the theoretical basis of the approach, and the way it is applied in practice. In this review, we have attempted to take stock of the current views of international...
-
This paper, authored by Edith D. Balbach for California Department of Health Services is designed to allow evaluators to decide weather to use a case study evaluation approach. It also offers guidance on how to conduct a case study evaluation. Contents Using a Case Study as an Evaluation Tool 3 When to Use a Case Study 4 How to Do a Case Study 6 Unit Selection 6 Data Collection 7 Data Analysis and Interpretation 12
-
This paper captures lessons from recent experiences on using ‘theories of change’ amongst organisations involved in the research–policy interface. The literature in this area highlights much of the complexity inherent in the policymaking process, as well as the challenges around finding meaningful ways to measure research uptake. As a tool, ‘theories of change’ offers much, but the paper argues that the very complexity and dynamism of the research-to-policy process means that any theory of...
-
This paper probes trends in the use of big data by a community of early adopters working in monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL) in the development and humanitarian sectors. Qualitative analysis was conducted on data from MERL Tech conference records and key informant interviews. Findings indicate that MERL practitioners are in a fragmented, experimental phase, with use and application of big data varying widely, accompanied by shifting terminologies. We take an in-depth...
Explore
Theme
-
MEL4 Adaptive Management
- Action Inquiry/Collective Leadership (4)
- After Action Reviews (4)
- Appreciative Inquiry (1)
- Beneficiary Assessment/Engagement (8)
- Capacity Development (1)
- Case Study (4)
- Causal Mechanisms (1)
- Circular charts applications (radar, pie, sunburst, spiderweb, orbic, etc) (1)
- Context Monitoring (1)
- Contribution Analysis (5)
- Critical Friends (1)
- Critical Systems Heuristics (3)
- Democratic Evaluation (2)
- Desk based research/lit review (2)
- Developmental Evaluation (8)
- Diaries (1)
- Empowerment Evaluation (1)
- Ethnography / Rapid Ethnography (2)
- Evaluability assessment (2)
- Evaluating Multi-project programmes (5)
- Ex-post Evaluation (3)
- Feedback Systems (3)
- Focus Group Discussions (1)
- Horizontal Evaluation (1)
- Impact evaluation (7)
- Impact Oriented Monitoring and Evaluation System (3)
- Indicator-based approaches (4)
- Innovation History (1)
- Innovation System Analysis (3)
- Institutional Histories (2)
- Knowing Unknowns (1)
- Knowledge Management (4)
- Logical Framework (5)
- Mapping Visualization Methods (3)
- MEL Bricolage (1)
- MEL in International Development (12)
- Most Significant Change (3)
- Narrative Based Approaches (2)
- Network Analysis (2)
- Outcome Harvesting (8)
- Outcome Mapping (17)
- Participatory Action Research (9)
- Participatory Evaluation (10)
- Participatory Learning and Action - PLA (5)
- Participatory Rural Appraisal - PRA, RRA (1)
- Peers/Peer-Group Review (2)
- Political Economy Analysis (12)
- Political Sentiment Analysis (PSA) (1)
- Portfolio Management (11)
- Positive Deviance (3)
- Post Project Evaluations (1)
- Process Tracing (3)
- Public Management Theory (1)
- Qualitative Comparative Analysis (4)
- Qualitative data analysis and grounded theory (1)
- Qualitative Impact Assessment Protocol (3)
- Quality Improvement (1)
- Randomized Controlled Trials (8)
- Realist Evaluation (4)
- Remote Monitoring (1)
- Rigour (2)
- Rubrics (6)
- Scenario Planning (3)
- SenseMaker (4)
- Social Return on Investment (1)
- Stakeholder analysis (2)
- Stakeholder Feedback (2)
- Strategy testing (2)
- Success Case Method (1)
- Surveys (2)
- Sustainability (3)
- Systemic Change (25)
- Systems Mapping (4)
- Tech 4 MEL (4)
- Theory-based evaluations (4)
- TOC (Theory of Change) (30)
- Utilisation focused evaluation (3)
- Value for Investment (3)
- Value for Money (7)
-
Adaptive Approaches [+]
(110)
- Adaptive Learning (18)
- Adaptive Management (44)
- Adaptive Rigour (2)
- Agile & Lean approaches (2)
- CLA (Collaborating Learning Adapting) (9)
- Design Thinking / HCD (2)
- Doing Development Differently (1)
- MSD - Market Systems Development (8)
- Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships (1)
- Other Adaptive approaches (2)
-
Other sectors
(2)
- Military (2)
- Participation (2)
- PDIA (Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation) (1)
- PEA (Political Economy Analysis) (7)
- Results Based Management (1)
- Systemcraft (1)
- Systems Thinking / Complexity (35)
- TWP (Thinking & Working Politically) (8)
- Cases (31)
-
Development Actors Perspectives
(50)
- AFD (Agence Française de Développement) (1)
- Canada - GAC & IDRC (1)
- FCDO/DFID (UK) (11)
- G7 (1)
- GIZ (Germany) (6)
- Hivos - Netherlands (1)
- Irish Aid (2)
- KOICA (Korea's International Co-operation Agency) (1)
- NGO Perspectives (13)
- OECD/DAC - Results Based Management (2)
- Private Companies - Development Industry (2)
- Private Donors (OSF, Hewlett...) (1)
- SDC - Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (2)
- SIDA - Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (3)
- UNDP, UN Global Pulse, UN... (3)
- USAID (9)
-
Geography
(31)
-
Africa
(18)
- Central Africa (2)
- Eastern Africa (13)
- Northern Africa (2)
-
Southern Africa
(1)
- South Africa (1)
-
West Africa
(11)
- Benim (1)
- Niger (3)
- Nigeria (5)
- Senegal (1)
- Sierra Leone (1)
-
Americas
(5)
-
Central America
(4)
- Ecuador (2)
- El Salvador (1)
- Guatemala (2)
- Mexico (3)
- South America (3)
-
Central America
(4)
-
Asia
(16)
- South-eastern Asia (3)
-
Southern Asia
(10)
- Bangladesh (5)
- India (1)
- Nepal (6)
- Pakistan (3)
- Sri Lanka (1)
-
Western Asia
(3)
- Israel (1)
- Jordan (1)
- Lebanon (1)
- State of Palestine (1)
- Syrian Arab Republic (1)
-
Europe
(4)
-
Southern Europe
(1)
- Spain (1)
-
Western Europe
(3)
- Germany (3)
-
Southern Europe
(1)
-
Africa
(18)
- Networks and Communities of Practice (3)
-
Practical
(41)
- Tools (4)
-
Sectors [+]
(72)
- Advocacy and Activism (1)
- Agriculture (1)
- Alternative Development (6)
- Cash Trasfers (1)
- Children (7)
- Citizen Engagement (3)
- Climate Change (2)
- Combatting violent extremism (1)
- Economic development (7)
- Education (3)
- Employment (1)
- Environmental Management (1)
- Fragile and Conflict Aflicted Settings (7)
- Gender (3)
- Governance and Accountability (14)
- Health (2)
- Humanitarian Aid (4)
- Innovation (in Development) (5)
- Institutional Capacity & Change (1)
- Knowledge to Practice (5)
- Locally driven development (2)
- NGOs (4)
- Organizational Change (4)
- Peace Building (2)
- Scaling up / Propagating (4)
- Social Accountability (4)
- Waste Management (1)
Resource type
Publication year
- Between 1900 and 1999 (11)
- Between 2000 and 2024 (277)