Your Company’s Secret Change Agents - Pascale, Richard T.; Sternin, Jerry (Harvard Business Review, 2005)
Somewhere in your organization, groups of people are already doing things differently and better. To create lasting change, find these areas of positive deviance and fan their flames.

You might not be as agile as you think you are - Lindpaintner, Julia; Rivera, Stephanie (18F, 2019)
The mandate to be agile is everywhere. But agile isn’t an on-off switch. It’s a skill and a mindset that is developed over time, through dedicated work, open teams, and lots (and lots) of practice

‘You Have to Raise a Fist!’: Seeing and Speaking to the State in South Africa - Mills, Elizabeth (IDS Bulletin, 2016)

You Cannot Go it Alone: Learning from Cooperative Relationships in Civil Society Budget Campaigns - Larsen, Jillian (IBP, 2016)
Keywords: IMPORTANT

World Development Report 2017: Governance and the Law - World Bank (The World Bank, 2017)

World Development Report 2015: Mind, Society, and Behavior - World Bank (The World Bank, 2015)
Development economics and policy are due for a redesign. In the past few decades, research from across the natural and social sciences has provided stunning insight into the way people think and make decisions. Whereas the first generation of development policy was based on the assumption that humans make decisions deliberatively and independently, and on the basis of consistent and self-interested preferences, recent research shows that decision making rarely proceeds this way. People think automatically: when deciding, they usually draw on what comes to mind effortlessly. People also think socially: social norms guide much of behavior, and many people prefer to cooperate as long as others are doing their share. And people think with mental models: what they perceive and how they interpret it depend on concepts and worldviews drawn from their societies and from shared histories.The World Development Report 2015 offers a concrete look at how these insights apply to development policy. It shows how a richer view of human behavior can help achieve development goals in many areas, including early childhood development, household finance, productivity, health, and climate change. It also shows how a more subtle view of human behavior provides new tools for interventions. Making even minor adjustments to a decision-making context, designing interventions based on an understanding of social preferences, and exposing individuals to new experiences and ways of thinking may enable people to improve their lives.The Report opens exciting new avenues for development work. It shows that poverty is not simply a state of material deprivation, but also a “tax” on cognitive resources that affects the quality of decision making. It emphasizes that all humans, including experts and policy makers, are subject to psychological and social influences on thinking, and that development organizations could benefit from procedures to improve their own deliberations and decision making. It demonstrates the need for more discovery, learning, and adaptation in policy design and implementation. The new approach to development economics has immense promise. Its scope of application is vast. This Report introduces an important new agenda for the development community.

Working the System: What We’ve Learned About Strengthening Accountability - Nugent, Sarah (Chemonics International, 2018)
When designing a new project, how often do we set out to strengthen a particular actor’s or institution’s ability to “hold government to account?” What does that mean exactly? Maybe the better question to ask is: what is the most effective way to strengthen accountability in our development work? And then, what does it look …

Working Politically: A story of Change about the contribution of research evidence to the new Village Law in Indonesia - Pellini, Arnaldo; Angelina, Maesy; Purnawati, Endah (Austrialian Community Development and Civil Society Strenghtening Scheme (ACCESS), 2014)
On 18 December 2013, the Indonesian House of Representatives passed the new Village Law, a vote that was the culmination of a journey that had started in 2007. This Story of Change takes the passing of the Village Law as its starting point and describes the relative influence that research-based evidence, produced by the Institute for Research and Empowerment (IRE), has had at critical junctions of the legislative process. This Story of Change concludes that good quality, research-based evidence is necessary but not sufficient to influence policy-making processes. Researchers and research organisations need to think and work politically to achieve their influencing goals and to adapt to changes in local circumstances.

Working effectively through partnerships - Lessons from Institutions for Inclusive Development in Tanzania - Laws, Ed (ODI, 2020)
• This paper looks critically at the approach to value for money (VfM) in the Institutions for Inclusive Development (I4ID) programme – an adaptive, politically smart governance programme in Tanzania. • Adaptive, politically smart programmes like I4ID aim to deliver VfM by learning about what will work in complex environments, and quickly incorporating those lessons into delivery. When functioning properly, they can rapidly wind down activities as new information emerges and divert funding to more effective alternatives. • This means that adaptive programmes will achieve their potential to deliver strong VfM when their processes are good – when appraisal of experimental efforts is timely, consistent, knowledgeable and politically astute. As these programmes mature in their implementation phase, VfM evaluation should be focused on checking for a culture of adaptation and learning supported by strong adaptive processes. • While economy is important for adaptive programmes, it is also important that keeping costs low does not deprive teams of the resources, staff, and management and administration time they need to gather information, experiment, learn and adapt.

Women and power: overcoming barriers to leadership ODI women and power coverand influence (ODI, 2016)
ODI have just wrapped up an excellent two year project on ‘Women and power: overcoming barriers to leadership and influence’ with a final synthesis report that is well worth reading. It’s an intell...

Winners and Losers in the Global App Economy - Pon, Bryan (2016)

Windows on the world: The power of assumptions in uncertain times - Aston, Thomas (Medium, 2020)
In my last blog on theory-based Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL), I explained why relationships matter, and how to assess change…

Wildlife laws monitoring as an adaptive management tool in protected area management in Ghana: a case of Kakum Conservation Area - Wiafe, Edward Debrah (SpringerPlus, 2016)
INTRODUCTION: The wildlife laws of Ghana alienated the rural communities from forests and material well-being depended upon for their livelihood and this manifests itself in the progressive conflict between the park patrol staff and poachers from the fringes of the protected areas. CASE DESCRIPTION: The main aim of this study was to determine the impact of quantification of patrol efforts on indicators of illegal hunting activities that occur in rainforest protected areas, as a result of monitoring patrol operations and modifying the original plan. The specific objectives were to determine the optimal patrol efforts necessary to reduce illegal wildlife use to minimal; and the influence of the rainfall and seasonal activities on illegal wildlife use. DISCUSSION AND EVALUATION: The results indicated that as the patrol efforts increased the encounter with illegal wildlife use also increased until a certain point that the encounter rates started decreasing. Neither rainfall nor seasonal activities influenced the illegal activities and the patrol efforts. The protection staff of rainforest protected areas would work effectively to bring down illegal wildlife off-take to the barest minimum if monitored, quantified and provide feed-back. CONCLUSIONS: Illegal wildlife off-take can also be reduced by the protection staff if the original plans are made flexible to be adjusted. Recommendations for further studies have been made.

Why your IT project may be riskier than you think - Flyvbjerg, Bent; Budzier, Alexander (Harvard Business Review, 2011)
New research shows surprisingly high numbers of out-of-control tech projects—ones that can sink entire companies and careers.

Why We Lie About Aid: Development and the Messy Politics of Change - Yanguas, Pablo (Zed Books, 2018)
Foreign aid is about charity. International development is about technical fixes. At least that is what we, as donor publics, are constantly told. The result is a highly dysfunctional aid system which mistakes short-term results for long-term transformation and gets attacked across the political spectrum, with the right claiming we spend too much, and the left that we don't spend enough. The reality, as Yanguas argues in this highly provocative book, is that aid isn't – or at least shouldn't be – about levels of spending, nor interventions shackled to vague notions of ‘accountability’ and ‘ownership’. Instead, a different approach is possible, one that acknowledges aid as being about struggle, about taking sides, about politics. It is an approach that has been quietly applied by innovative development practitioners around the world, providing political coverage for local reformers to open up spaces for change. Drawing on a variety of convention-defying stories from a variety of countries – from Britain to the US, Sierra Leone to Honduras – Yanguas provides an eye-opening account of what we really mean when we talk about aid.

Why to be Wary of "Design for Developing Countries" - Donaldson, Krista (Ambidextrous, 2008)

Why the Problem with Learning Is Unlearning - Bonchek, Mark (Harvard Business Review, 2016)
Don’t get stuck in your current ways of thinking.

Why Tackling Energy Governance in Developing Countries Needs a Different Approach - McCulloch, Neil (The Policy Practice & Chemonics, 2021)
Global efforts to improve energy access and quality and to tackle climate change need a different approach to addressing poor energy governance. In 2015, leaders from around the world agreed to 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030.1 The seventh goal (SDG7) is “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.” In the same year, the world’s leaders concluded the Paris Agreement to tackle climate change, which will require a global transition of the energy sector away from the use of fossil fuels. Yet, in many developing countries, despite growing investments in clean energy, the transition is happening much more slowly than needed to achieve SDG7 and avert damaging climate change. The central reason for this is poor energy governance. This paper outlines the size and nature of the energy challenge, with a focus on electricity. It describes the investments that are currently being made to improve the quality of power and access to electricity — and the growing evidence that investments often fail due to poor energy governance. The paper then delves more deeply into how bad governance influences the quality of and access to electricity, with specific country examples. It shows the importance of understanding how electricity fits into the political settlement of a country and how this affects the incentives of key actors in the sector. Unfortunately, donor projects designed to widen electricity access or to support reform of the power sector in developing countries often pay too little attention to the problem’s political nature; the same is true of measures to improve energy efficiency or to promote renewables. The paper outlines a new way of thinking about energy governance and shows how interventions can be better matched to the different governance challenges that they face. It concludes with recommendations for donors on how energy programs can be better designed and procured — as well as recommendations for implementors on how to improve the chances of successful implementation by adapting to the political realities of the contexts in which they operate.

Why Software Fails - We waste billions of dollars each year on entirely preventable mistakes - Robert N., Charette (IEEE Spectrum, 2005)
We waste billions of dollars each year on entirely preventable mistakes. The biggest tragedy is that software failure is for the most part predictable and avoidable. Unfortunately, most organizations don't see preventing failure as an urgent matter, even though that view risks harming the organization and maybe even destroying it. Understanding why this attitude persists is not just an academic exercise; it has tremendous implications for business and society.
Section: Computing

Why Learning & Adaptation are Central to Making All Voices Count - Halloran, Brendan (Making All Voices Count, 2014)

Why Lean Enterprise Transformation is Hard - McClure, Dan (ThoughtWorks, 2015)

Why isn’t Tech for Accountability Working in Africa? - de Lanerolle, Indra (SAIIA, 2017)
Expanding mobile networks and falling costs could transform communication between African citizens and governments. So far, however, attempts to harness new technologies to improve transparency and accountability in Africa and elsewhere have had disappointing results. What is going wrong? Research suggests that an important reason for this failure is a poor understanding of technologies and limited skills in developing and using them. It seems that civil society organisations (CSOs) and governments often ‘re-invent the flat tyre’: experimenting with new tools without finding out what has been tried (often unsuccessfully) before. They also do not follow best practices in how to source, develop and test technologies to ensure these are ‘fit for purpose’. Decision makers should focus on building an effective innovation ecosystem with better links between technologists and accountability actors in both government and civil society to enable learning from successes – and mistakes.
Keywords: IMPORTANT

Why is it so hard for non-state actors to be heard? Inside Tanzania's education policies - Katera, Lucas (MAVC, 2015)
Lessons from policy in Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania

Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth of the Objective - Stanley, Kenneth O.; Lehman, Joel (Springer, 2015)
Why does modern life revolve around objectives? From how science is funded, to improving how children are educated – and nearly everything in-between – our society has become obsessed with a seductive illusion: that greatness results from doggedly measuring improvement in the relentless pursuit of an ambitious goal. In Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned, Stanley and Lehman begin with a surprising scientific discovery in artificial intelligence that leads ultimately to the conclusion that the objective obsession has gone too far. They make the case that great achievement can't be bottled up into mechanical metrics; that innovation is not driven by narrowly focused heroic effort; and that we would be wiser (and the outcomes better) if instead we whole-heartedly embraced serendipitous discovery and playful creativity.Controversial at its heart, yet refreshingly provocative, this book challenges readers to consider life without a destination and discovery without a compass.

Why Diverse Teams Are Smarter - Rock, David; Halvorson, Heidi Grant (Harvard Business Review, 2016)
Research shows they’re more successful in three important ways.

Why are effective feedback mechanisms in cash transfers so important? - Jannat, Mahiratul (CLARISSA, 2023)
The CLARISSA Social Protection Intervention was set us as an innovative social policy intervention for tackling social ills, with a...

Whose Reality Counts? Putting the First Last - Chambers, Robert (ITDG Publishing, 1997)
In this sequel to "Rural Development: Putting the last first" Robert Chambers argues that central issues in development have been overlooked, and that many past errors have flowed from domination by those with power.Development professionals now need new approaches and methods forinteracting, learning and knowing. Through analyzing experience - of past mistakes and myths, and of the continuing methodological revolution of PRA (participatory rural appraisal) - the author points towards solutions.In many countries, urban and rural people alike have shown an astonishing ability to express and analyze their local, complex and diverse realities which are often at odds with the top-down realities imposed by professionals. The author argues that personal, professional and institutional change is essential if the realities of the poor are to receive greater recognition. Self-critical awareness and changes in concepts, values, methods and behaviour must be developed to explore the new high ground of participation and empowerment."Whose Reality Counts?" presents a radical challenge to all concernedwith development, whether practitioners, researchers or policy-makers, in all organizations and disciplines, and at all levels from fieldworkers to the heads of agencies. With its thrust of putting the first last it presents a new, exciting and above all practical agenda for future development which cannot be ignored.

Who Owns Poverty? - Burt, Martin (Red Press Ltd, 2019)
This is the story of the one question about global poverty we never thought to ask: who owns it? It's a question with an unexpected answer, one that challenges everything that we thought we knew about what poverty is, and what we can do about it. This is a story of a powerful data-driven methodology being used in a dozen countries across 5 continents. It's a new approach that puts poor families in charge of defining and diagnosing their own unique, multidimensional povertywho by owning the problem, own the solution. This book is for all the governments, development NGOs, charities, dreamers, thinkers, doers and leaders who are frustrated with limiting their aspirations to reducing poverty, or alleviating its effectsand the lack of progress we face in doing either. This is a book about unleashing trapped energy within poor families to do the unthinkable: eliminate global poverty once and for all.

Who is ICT innovation for? Challenges to existing theories of innovation, a Kenyan Case Study - Marchant, Eleanor (University of Pennsylvania, 2015)
Keywords: IMPORTANT

Who counts reality? Participatory monitoring and evaluation: A literature review - Estrella, M.; Gaventa, John (IDS, 1998)

Which Voices Are Heard and By Whom? - Oswald, Katy (Making All Voices Count, 2014)

Where next for development effectiveness? Implementing development effectiveness: a reality check - Carter, Paddy (ODI, 2016)

Where next for development effectiveness? Building a renewed consensus - Blampied, Catherine (ODI, 2016)

Where have we got to on Thinking and Working Politically? Update and a Mildly Heretical Thought. – FP2P - Green, Duncan (From Poverty to Power, 2022)
Headed off recently to discuss the state of Thinking and Working Politically within the aid sector. This is a loose network of aid wonks that came together to try and move aid from a pure focus on technical issues, towards taking account of power and politics and why they can facilitate/frustrate attempts to make change happen in any given context. It was great to be in a room with others (50/50 in person and online) – the neurons fire in a way that just doesn’t happen online (but I also need to brush up on my meeting skills, as when I accidentally clicked on a random video in my timeline and it started playing at full volume. Super awkward). On to the content (Chatham House rule, so no names or institutions). Some observations about the evolution of a movement I’ve been connected with for over a decade. I got a lot of pushback from participants on an earlier draft and have made quite a few changes, but they should definitely feel free to set me straight in comments!

Where have we got to on adaptive learning, thinking and working politically, doing development differently etc? Getting beyond the People’s Front of Judea - Algoso, Dave; Hudson, Alan (From Poverty to Power, 2016)
Dave Algoso and Alan Hudson at Global Integrity compare and contrast 9 different initiatives that are all heading in roughly the right direction in aid reform
Keywords: IMPORTANT

When theory meets reality: assumptions, feasibility and implications of a complexity-informed approach - Buffardi, Anne (Methods Lab, 2016)
Over the last half century, repeated calls for adaptive learning in development suggests two things: many practitioners are working in complex situations that may benefit from flexible approaches, and such approaches can be difficult to apply in practice. • Complexity thinking can offer useful recommendations on how to take advantage of distributed capacities, joint interpretation of problems and learning through experimentation in complex development programmes. • However, these recommendations rely on underlying assumptions about relationships, power and flexibility that may not hold true in practice, particularly for programmes operating in a risk averse, results-driven environment. • This paper poses guiding questions to assess the fit and feasibility of integrating complexity informed practices into development programmes.

When Reporting Undermines Performance: The Costs of Politically Constrained Organizational Autonomy in Foreign Aid Implementation - Honig, Daniel (International Organization, 2019)

When Knowledge is Power: Three Models of Change in International Organizations - Haas, Ernst B. (University of California Press, 1991)
Do governments seeking to collaborate in such international organizations as the United Nations and the World Bank ever learn to improve the performance of those organizations? Can international organizations be improved by a deliberate institutional design that reflects lessons learned in peacekeeping, the protection of human rights, and environmentally sound economic development? In this incisive work, Ernst Haas examines these and other issues to delineate the conditions under which organizations change their methods for defining problems. Haas contends that international organizations change most effectively when they are able to redefine the causes underlying the problems to be addressed. He shows that such self-reflection is possible when the expert-generated knowledge about the problems can be made to mesh with the interests of hegemonic coalitions of member governments. But usually efforts to change organizations begin as adaptive practices that owe little to a systematic questioning of past behavior. Often organizations adapt and survive without fully satisfying most of their members, as has been the case with the United Nations since 1970. When Knowledge Is Power is a wide-ranging work that will elicit interest from political scientists, organization theorists, bureaucrats, and students of management and international administration.

When Does the State Listen? - Loureiro, Miguel; Cassim, Aalia; Darko, Terence; Katera, Lucas; Salome, Nyambura (IDS Bulletin, 2016)

When Does ICT-Enabled Citizen Voice Lead to Government Responsiveness? - Peixoto, Tiago; Fox, Jonathan (IDS Bulletin, 2016)

When Complex is as Simple as it Gets: Guide for Recasting Policy and Management in the Anthropocene - Roe, Emery (Institute for Development Studies, 2023)
Many readers recognise and understand that complex is about as simple as it gets for major policy and management. This guide is for those unwilling in the Anthropocene to shrink back into the older platitudes about ‘keep it simple’ and ‘not to worry, we’ll scale up the analysis later on’. This guide offers key concepts, methods, counternarratives, and analogies that recast major policy and management issues in ways that do not deny their complexity but help render them more tractable for action.
Accepted: 2023-06-06T09:51:20Z ISSN: 2040-0209

When and how to develop an impact-oriented monitoring and evaluation system - Peersman, Greet; Rogers, Patricia; Guijt, Irene; Hearn, Simon; Pasanen, Tiina; Buffardi, Anne (2016)
This guidance note focuses on: • what an impact-oriented monitoring and evaluation system entails • why an organisation may want to establish such a system • when integrating an impact-orientation into an monitoring and evaluation system is most useful • what should be considered in developing the monitoring and evaluation system, or in tweaking an existing system, to become more impact-focused. The primary audience for this guidance note is internal and external monitoring and evaluation advisors involved in designing and implementing, and/or assessing monitoring and evaluation systems to include a focus on impact. It will also be useful for senior management of organisations who need to know how best to plan for a sustainable monitoring and evaluation system that supports impact assessment or to adapt an existing system to incorporate an impact perspective.

Wheeling in the Trojan Mice - Mahendra, Jackie (Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2016)
One way to make risk-taking more palatable for social change organizations is to run small, light, nimble experiments––tests not built to win wars, but rather to quickly infiltrate new territory, attack new problems, and inform future tactics.

What works for Social Accountability? Findings from DFID’s Macro Evaluation - Hughes, Claire (Itad, 2017)

What we’ve learned about adaptive management from our Somalia education programming - Heales, Charlotte (Care Insights, 2020)
Adaptive management in its various incarnations has long been a focus of a development community that is more and more frequently bumping up against the barriers of complexity, and looking for ways to overcome its challenges. In a field where we consistently have to deal with multifaceted problems,...

What we’re missing by not getting our TWP alphabet straight - Marquette, Heather (From Poverty to Power, 2019)
Heather Marquette grapples with aid's alphabet soup, and explains why DDD, TWP, PDIA etc are different and why that matters

What We Know About Traditional MERL Tech - Insights from a Scoping Review - Tilton, Zach; Harnar, Michael; Raftree, Linda; Perrin, Paul; Bruening, Gretchen; Banerji, Soham; Gordley, John; Foster, Hanna; Behr, Michele (Western Michigan University, 2020)
This paper explores the peer-reviewed evidence base of “traditional” technology-enabled monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL Tech) in international development assistance from 2015 to 2019. The authors conducted a scoping review that searched seven databases, screened 3,054 reference titles and abstracts, coded 886 abstracts, and extracted and analyzed conclusions and recommendations from the full texts of 256 studies. The findings reveal the most frequently reported technologies, MERL activities, and the sub-sectors, and the geographies where those tech-enabled activities occur. Gaps in the evidence for specific technologies, MERL activities, and sectors are mapped. The data reveals which technologies are trusted more than others and reported barriers to effective MERL Tech implementation and areas that researchers suggest for further investigation. The results suggest that the evidence from peer-reviewed studies is not proportional to estimated MERL Tech activity, significant publication bias exists, and further knowledge synthesis of unindexed grey literature is needed to provide a more comprehensive and possibly accurate description of MERL Tech practice.

What We Do: Getting Beyond Statistics - Sense Guide (Sensemaker narrative monitoring, 2018)
Our approach Understanding daily life reality with micro-narratives Narratives and more specifically micro-narratives are a fundamental and ancient way by which humans interpret their experience and make decisions. SenseMaker® provides the ability to capture and understand those narratives. Through the web or app environment the software allows the capture of pictures, recordings and writing in various combinations to reflect how the respondents are making sense of the world. Reducing cognitive bias with self signification In a patented method, the respondent then interprets their own story into a series of abstract constructs (‘signifiers’) that feel more like a game than a survey, but allow profound meaning to emerge. This interpretation adds layers of meaning rather than simply interpreting the story and provides quantitative data to detect visual patterns among stories. The patterns are linked back to the original material enabling a deeper dive into individual stories. If the researcher first look for patterns in the metadata using statistical or visual tools, he or she is less likely to be biased by content and prematurely converge on an interpretation. Evidence based insights that enables action The output of SenseMaker® is statistical data backed up by explanatory narrative. This means that advocacy is an integral part of the system. Numbers on their own appear objective but are not persuasive; anecdotes on their own may be persuasive but are not objective. SenseMaker® puts the two together and provides a powerful means of persuasion. It also enables action. Instead of saying “How do we create a culture of X?” we say “How do we create more stories like this and fewer stories like that?” Then, as actions are initiated, we see the impact in real time.

What Startups Can Learn from General McChrystal about Combining Strategy and Execution - Pisoni, Adam (First Round, 2015)
Yammer Co-founder Adam Pisoni speaks with General Stanley McChrystal about the lessons technology companies might take away from his new book Team of Teams.

What, so what, now what? - Aston, Thomas (Medium, 2022)
Getting serious about systems change

What’s Next for Design Thinking - Cone, Taylor (Medium, 2019)
Thoughts on the future of creative problem-solving from across the industry

What's missing? Adding context to the urban response toolbox - Campbell, Leah (ALNAP/ODI, 2018)

What's in a name? Unpacking “participatory” environmental monitoring - Turreira-García, Nerea; Lund, Jens; Domínguez, Pablo; Carrillo-Anglés, Elena; Brummer, Mathias; Duenn, Priya; Reyes-García, Victoria (Ecology and Society, 2018)
Turreira-García, N., J. F. Lund, P. Domínguez, E. Carrillo-Anglés, M. C. Brummer, P. Duenn, and V. Reyes-García. 2018. What's in a name? Unpacking “participatory” environmental monitoring. Ecology and Society 23(2):24. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-10144-230224

What is Uncertainty and Why Does it Matter? - Scoones, Ian (STEPS centre, 2019)
Uncertainty defines our times. Whether it is in relation to climate change, disease outbreaks, financial volatility, natural disasters or political settlements, every media headline seems to assert that things are uncertain, and increasingly so. Uncertainty, where we do not know the probabilities of either likelihoods or outcomes, is different to risk, the implications of which are explored in this paper through five different ways of thinking about uncertainty, derived from highly diverse literatures encompassing societal, political, cultural, practice and individual perspectives. The paper continues by examining how these perspectives relate to four domains: finance and banking; critical infrastructures; disease outbreaks and climate change; natural hazards and disasters. Reflecting on these experiences, the paper argues that embracing uncertainty raises some fundamental challenges. It means questioning simple, linear perspectives on modernity and progress. It means rethinking expertise and including diverse knowledges in deliberations about the future. It means understanding how uncertainties emerge in social, political and economic contexts, and how uncertainties affect different people, depending on class, gender, race, age and other dimensions of social difference. And, if uncertainty is not reducible to probabilistic risk, it means a radically different approach to governance; one that rejects control-oriented, technocratic approaches in favour of more tentative, adaptive, hopeful and caring responses. The paper concludes by asking whether we can learn from those who live with and from uncertainty – including pastoralists in marginal settings – as part of a wider conversation about embracing uncertainties to meet the challenges of our turbulent world.

What Is This Thing Called a Mechanism? Findings From a Review of Realist Evaluations - Lemire, Sebastian; Kwako, Alexander; Nielsen, Steffen B.; Christie, Christina A.; Donaldson, Stewart I.; Leeuw, Frans L. (New Directions for Evaluation, 2020)
Realist evaluation has, over the past two decades, become a widely used approach in evaluation. The cornerstone of realist evaluation is to answer the question: What works, for whom, under what circumstances, and why. This is accomplished by explicating the causal mechanisms that, within a particular context, generate the outcomes of interest. Despite the central role of mechanisms in realist evaluation, systematic knowledge about how the term mechanism is conceptualized and operationalized is limited. The aim of the present chapter is to examine how mechanisms are defined and applied in realist evaluations. Informed by the findings of the review, further conceptual and practical developments for future applications of mechanisms in realist evaluation are considered.

What is the Outcomes Star? - Triangle (Triangle, 2022)
The Outcomes Stars are a suite of evidence-based outcomes measurement and keywork tools, which drive an ‘enabling help’ approach to service delivery. They support a person-centred, collaborative and trauma informed approach and give service users, workers, managers and commissioners vital information about needs and progress. Since the first version was published in 2006, the unique features of the Outcomes Star contributed to its popularity and widespread use, with over 1,000 organisations with licenses to use the Star including over 500 charities and 170 local authorities

What is technopolitics? A conceptual schema for understanding politics in the digital age Doctoral Student on the Programme on Political Science New School for Social Research - Kurban, Can; Peña-Lopez, Ismael; Haberer, Maria (Revista de Internet, Derecho y Política, 2017)
In this article we seek to revisit what the term ‘technopolitical’ means for democratic politics in our age. We begin by tracing how the term was used and then transformed through various and conflicting adaptations of ICTs (Information and

What is Social Learning? - Reed, Mark; Evely, Anna; Cundill, Georgina; Fazey, Ioan; Glass, Jayne; Laing, Adele; Newig, Jens; Parrish, Brad; Prell, Christina; Raymond, Chris; Stringer, Lindsay (Ecology and Society, 2010)
Reed, M. S., A. C. Evely, G. Cundill, I. Fazey, J. Glass, A. Laing, J. Newig, B. Parrish, C. Prell, C. Raymond, and L. C. Stringer. 2010. What is social learning? Ecology and Society 15(4): r1. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03564-1504r01

What is Rapid Action Learning and how was it developed? - Sanitation Learning Hub (2020)
To celebrate the publication of our latest Frontiers of Sanitation, we had a series of conversations with our colleagues and partners on our work on Rapid Action Learning so far. To download the publication in full, head to https://sanitationlearninghub.org/res...

What is Political Economy Analysis (PEA) and why does it matter in development? - Teskey, Graham (From Poverty to Power, 2020)
Graham Teskey shares a great internal links round up and guide to 'political economy analysis'

What is Outcome Harvesting? - Wilson-Grau, Ricardo (2014)
Ricardo Wilson-Grau, former Chair of the Board of Stewards of the Outcome Mapping Learning Community, introduces Outcome Harvesting, an approach for retrospective identification of outcomes based on the principles of Outcome Mapping. More details here: http://www.outcomemapping.ca/nuggets/outcome-harvesting

What is impact? - Hearn, Simon; Anne, Buffardi (2016)
• Impact is a multi-dimensional concept. Some definitions focus on very precise understandings of impact, while others cast a much broader net. • How impact is defined and used has a significant effect on the design, management and evaluation of development programmes. • Development programmes should hold explicit conversations with different stakeholders about how impact is used and understood, in order to come to a shared understanding. • There are six dimensions of impact that may help development programmes be clearer about what they mean.

What Is Disruptive Innovation? - Christensen, Clayton M.; Raynor, Michael E.; McDonald, Rory (Harvard Business Review, 2015)
For the past 20 years, the theory of disruptive innovation has been enormously influential in business circles and a powerful tool for predicting which industry entrants will succeed. Unfortunately, the theory has also been widely misunderstood, and the “disruptive” label has been applied too carelessly anytime a market newcomer shakes up well-established incumbents. In this article, the architect of disruption theory, Clayton M. Christensen, and his coauthors correct some of the misinformation, describe how the thinking on the subject has evolved, and discuss the utility of the theory. They start by clarifying what classic disruption entails—a small enterprise targeting overlooked customers with a novel but modest offering and gradually moving upmarket to challenge the industry leaders. They point out that Uber, commonly hailed as a disrupter, doesn’t actually fit the mold, and they explain that if managers don’t understand the nuances of disruption theory or apply its tenets correctly, they may not make the right strategic choices. Common mistakes, the authors say, include failing to view disruption as a gradual process (which may lead incumbents to ignore significant threats) and blindly accepting the “Disrupt or be disrupted” mantra (which may lead incumbents to jeopardize their core business as they try to defend against disruptive competitors). The authors acknowledge that disruption theory has certain limitations. But they are confident that as research continues, the theory’s explanatory and predictive powers will only improve.
Section: Disruptive innovation

What is different about how INGOs do Adaptive Management/Doing Development Differently? - Green, Duncan (From Poverty to Power, 2019)

What is democratic evaluation? - Picciotto, R. (2013)
This article from Robert Picciotto provides an overview of democratic evaluation, particularly with reference to its use in the European Union context. "Can evaluation strengthen the democratic process? Speciﬁcally can it help ﬁll the democratic deﬁcit (limited transparency; weak bureaucratic accountability, etc.) often ascribed to the European Union? First and foremost, evaluators operating in the European space should be committed to the ethical and democratic values of the European project and the promotion of its social inclusion and cohesion ideals. But two other sets of challenges must also be met: those that relate to evaluation in democracy and those that relate to democracy in evaluation. The former has to do with the macro positioning of evaluation processes in society. The latter has to do with the evaluation approaches and methods used in deliberative democratic decision making processes." (Picciotto, 2013)

What is adaptive management? - Wilson, Gregory (ΔNTYLLES, 2016)
Recently there has been growing recognition that most development challenges are in actual fact ‘wicked’ problem that requires development actors to recognize that the optimal management approaches…

What is a Theory of Change? Really. - Mack, Katelyn (FSG, 2015)
Recently thousands of evaluators came together in Chicago to celebrate the growing field, share exemplary practices, and to push our collective thinking on how evaluation responds to the complexity of social change efforts.

What Is a Case?: Exploring the Foundations of Social Inquiry - Ragin, Charles (Cambridge University Press, 2010)
The concept of the case is a basic feature of social science research and yet many questions about how a case should be defined, selected, and judged are far from settled. The contributors to this volume probe the nature of the case and the ways in which different understandings of the concept affect the conduct and the results of research. The contributions demonstrate that the work of any given researcher is often characterised by some hybrid of these basic approaches, and it is important to understand that most research involves multiple definitions and uses of cases, as both specific empirical phenomena and as general theoretical categories.

What have we learned about learning? Unpacking the relationship between knowledge and organisational change in development agencies - Yanguas, Pablo (DIE - Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik, 2021)
Development cooperation has spent decades wrangling over the merits, evidence, and implications of what we may term “the learning hypothesis”: the idea that increased knowledge by development organisations must logically lead to increased effectiveness in the performance of their development activities. Organisations of all stripes have built research and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) departments, adopted a multitude of knowledge management systems and tools, and tinkered with different ways to structure their organograms to stimulate knowledge sharing and learning. The topic of organisational learning is particularly significant as the global development community grapples with increasingly complex problems and the aspiration of evidence-based policymaking. This paper presents an analytical framework for interrogating “the learning hypothesis”, breaking it down into causal steps: knowledge causes learning, learning causes organisational change, change causes effectiveness. The framework focuses on the first two sub-hypotheses, mapping out the conceptual space around them by outlining potential relationships between different types of knowledge – tacit and explicit, internal and external – and between different types of learning – operational and strategic. This map provides a foundation for three key research questions: What impact has the rising knowledge agenda had on development organisations? Which factors appear to enable or inhibit organisational learning? What is the relationship between operational and strategic learning and organisational change? A review of available evaluations and studies, including two cases from former UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the World Bank, reveals that there is insufficient evidence to support the causal claim that knowledge leads to learning and thereby to organisational change in development agencies. Sources point to tacit learning prevailing while explicit knowledge management systems flounder, and external advocacy agendas appear more compelling than internal research and evaluation products. It is not entirely clear how, or indeed, whether operational and strategic learning intersect, with delivery-level lessons hardly aggregating into structural or policy shifts. Organisational change – even that aimed at enhancing learning – is rarely based on lessons learned from practice. More research is necessary to fully unpack the learning hypothesis, but what limited evidence is available disproves rather than confirms its central claim. This has significant implications for the future of learning in development agencies as advocated by thought leaders, researchers, and reformers. In particular, the latter should consider an evidence-based reassessment of the function and value-for-money of research and M&E in development practice, and a more critical examination of the politics of external advocacy efforts around innovative aid approaches like thinking and working politically, adaptive management, or results-based management.
Publisher: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) Version Number: 1.0

What exactly do we mean by systems? - Vexler, Dan (Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2017)
Everyone is talking about systems. Or at least, that's how it seems in my wonkish corner of the philanthropic world. You can't attend a conference or even have a meeting without hearing about systems, whether it's people trying to disrupt them, map them, learn from them, or catalyze them.

What Does the Evidence Tell Us about ‘Thinking and Working Politically’ in Development Assistance? - Dasandi, Niheer; Laws, Ed; Marquette, Heather; Robinson, Mark (Politics and Governance, 2019)
Abstract: This paper critically reviews evidence on ‘thinking and working politically’ in development. Scholars and practitioners have increasingly recognised that development is fundamentally political, and efforts are underway to develop more politically informed ways of thinking and working. The literature does not yet constitute a strong evidence base to link these efforts to more effective aid programming: much evidence is anecdotal, does not meet high standards of robustness, is not comparative, and draws on self-selected successes reported by programme insiders. We discuss factors commonly considered to explain the success of politically informed programmes in areas where conventional programming approaches fall short. We consider evidence in three areas—political context, sector and organization—and provide guidance on where to focus next. Finally, we outline ways of testing the core assumptions of the ‘thinking and working politically’ agenda more thoroughly, to provide a clearer sense of the contribution it can make to aid effectiveness.

What does ‘adaptive programming’ mean in the health sector? - Tulloch, Olivia (ODI, 2015)
• There is considerable interest in the concept of adaptive development and what it may look like in different sectors, including health. • Adaptive types of programming from the health sector are relatively advanced; as we work towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), experiences in health can provide useful lessons for other areas of development. • The international health community may not use the label ‘adaptive development’, but many are already conducting adaptive work. ‘Quality improvement’ is one such tried and tested approach. • Quality improvement is problem-driven, iterative and flexible. The methodology and principles can be used to identify, test and implement changes in any context or part of a health system. • Quality improvement is being used successfully, but there is still limited experience and evidence of how to apply its values and philosophy beyond the project level and embed it within national structures and systems. • Systems thinking and analysis of the political economy environment may help embed complex interventions like quality improvement and sustain their achievements

What difference does CLA make to development? Key findings from a recent literature review (2020 update) - Learning Lab (USAID, 2020)
USAID’s Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning and its LEARN support contract are working to integrate systematic, intentional and resourced collaborating, learning and adapting (CLA) throughout program planning and implementation to achieve more effective development programs. As part of this effort, USAID is exploring several approaches to understand whether and how strategic collaboration, continuous learning and adaptive management make a difference to organizational effectiveness and development outcomes. To begin this work, we have undertaken a foundational literature review of academic and gray literature to answer our key learning questions: • Does an intentional, systematic and resourced approach to collaborating, learning and adapting contribute to organizational effectiveness? To development outcomes? • If so, how? And under what circumstances? • How do we measure the contribution? The 13 key findings, mapped to the CLA Framework below, are described in greater detail in the following pages.

What can the Thinking and Working Politically community learn from peace and conflict mediation? - Douglas, Alex (From Poverty to Power, 2018)
Wily aid practitioners have long understood the importance of adapting their programs to the political environment, and even use their activities to push politics in a progressive direction. But this magic was spun secretly, hidden behind logframes and results frameworks. Only recently has a range of programs been permitted to escape the dead hand of technocracy. But there was one corner of the development and humanitarian world that never needed to shroud its political ambitions; those of us working on resolving violent conflicts. Donors have always understood our work could never be disembodied from politics. This field included elements of the UN, regional organisations, and NGOs, such as the one I work for: the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. With a new focus on development being enabled by a series of ‘deals’ between different actors, it seems timely to examine the strategies used to reach peace agreements and whether they contain broader lessons for TWP/DDD/Adaptive Management.

What can Australia learn from the public service revolution taking hold in Europe? - Hurcombe, Sarah (Centre For Public Impact (CPI), 2021)
Sarah Hurcombe shares what she's learning from the public service revolution building momentum in Europe.

What Barriers? What Bridges? - Holling, C.S. (Barriers and Bridges to the Renewal of Ecosystems and Institutions, 1995)
This volume uses a series of case studies to test an emerging theory of complex adaptive systems that forms the basis for explaining the interrelated dynamics of ecosystems, institutions and society. It deals equally with institutional organization and ecosystem structure.

What are you afraid of: Collective leadership and its learning implications - Raelin, Joseph A (Management Learning, 2018)
In this provocation, the author attempts to cite the advantages of collective leadership while acknowledging the objections and fears of challengers. Collective leadership is seen as remote because it defies the traditional view of leadership as an individualistic attractive quality that not only protects us but is efficient when applied. Nevertheless, the collective alternative may not only be advisable but required in a connected world featuring a networked economy. The contemporary socio-politico-economic environment requires the contribution of, creativity from, and collaboration among multiple agents providing a dynamic concentration of management and knowledge. If we are to accept and recognize the contribution of a collective leadership, its development would require an entirely different learning model. In particular, collective leadership development occurs as an acute immersion into the practices that are embedded within in situ material–discursive relations—in other words, among people, objects, and their institutions.

What are the Simple Rules that guide our Strategies? - Green, Duncan (From Poverty to Power, 2019)
A management treatise on 'simplre rules' for companies facing unpredictable situations could provide useful guidance to aid organizations

What Are the Next Steps in Innovation for Good Governance? - von Sturmer, Lucy (Making All Voices Count, 2015)
What are the next steps in innovation for good governance? Lucy von Sturmer reflects on lessons learned at Buntwani 2015.

What about the results? Lessons from long-term process support to strengthen results-based management (RBM) for Swedish framework NGOs operating in Western Balkans - Ørnemark, Charlotte (NCG, 2012)
The observations and lessons outlined in this report should be seen as a contribution to the on-going learning and reflections in a wider debate on how to assess and monitor results from support to CSOs involved in complex social change processes (as opposed to those involved in more ‘classical’ service delivery and more linear development assistance). These lessons, though directly emerging from the consultancy to provide long-term RBM support to the FOs and their local CSO partners in Western Balkans, also draws on previous experiences and similar lessons from on-going initiatives. In brief, these lessons call for a certain ‘paradigm shift’ in the way we (as development professionals) regard and support RBM for actors involved in less tangible social change processes in highly contested political spaces. Some of these shifts, outlined in more detail in different sections of this report, are summarised below:  From a linear, aggregated cause-and-effect thinking around RBM to one that is linked to human factors and is embedded in systems,  From pushing the burden of reporting down in the system to a clearer division of labour between donors, recipient governments, intermediary agents like framework NGOs (FOs) and implementing CSOs with each actor using its comparative advantage and appropriate role in the RBM process and for its own learning,  From operating in programming and results frameworks where outcomes and impact are largely assumed to be predictable to setting up systems that deal with uncertainty and that capture emerging result patterns through tracking of gradual changes,  From a project/programme perspective to a focus on institutions and systems as actors and arenas for change, where organisations are enabled to act as change agents towards clearly identified processes of social transformation,  From SMART to REAL results frameworks – although SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound) principles are always good to keep in mind for the formulation of goals and indicators, the danger of coming up with fictive measuring frameworks calls for a more systematic incorporation of ‘real’ concerns, including making RBM processes rights-based, embedded in local realities (and empowering for those involved), aligned to national reform efforts and national and international human rights commitments, and learning-oriented for all different levels of operations.

Werner Ulrich's Homepage - Ulrich, Werne (2018)
This website provides a variety of resources from Werner Ulrich's work in a range of philosophical and research areas with a particular focus on his own work in critical systems thinking and practice or, Critical Systems Heuristics (CSH).

Webinar - Sustainability Ready: what it takes to support & measure lasting change - Cekan, Jindra (Valuing Voices, 2020)
On June 24th under GLocal’s UNConference, “Co-creating our future stories of hope and action”, Jindra Cekan, Holta Trandafili, and Isabella Jean presented their work on sustainability evaluations and exit strategies via local voices. We chaired a 2-hour discussion session on the following topics: Sustainability of global development projects and exit from them, The importance of valuing local partners’ and participants’ voices, How to embed ex-post evaluation of sustainability into the project cycle, How expectations, benchmarking, and early joint planning in exit strategies, as well as considering long-term ownership & relevance will support projects to be sustained locally, including questioning who will maintain results, Considering power dynamics between donors and ultimate ‘beneficiaries’ and the value of the impact of the project from a variety of perspectives, and more Here is the recording of our presentation or see just the PowerPoint presentation. We harvested lessons from our three presentations: Jindra Cekan: · Fear of learning about failure in our global development industry – INGOs are “waiting for a successful enough project” to commission ex-post project sustainability evaluation · It needs to be a culture of learning, not a culture of success. · Lack of transparency in sharing program evaluation results with communities and local government is widespread, and even more rarely do we come back after many years and share learnings · Participatory approaches are vital, listening to participants about sustained impacts is key · It is never attribution, always contribution. To isolate impacts, we need to look for project sites that haven’t had multiple other organizations overlapping through all phases. · Building sustainability planning throughout the project cycle is key – but often doesn’t happen Holta Trandafili: · Sustainability needs to be planned to be researched, including evaluating why or why not were project elements sustained, and why? What has the project done to enable communities to sustain improvements? · Expectations of sustainability need to be more modest (as most results are mixed good/bad) · We need to ask: How are you defining and measuring sustainability – for how long should the results last? Among how many participants? Have you set benchmarks for success? · We should expand your toolbox on methodology to investigate sustainability. Stories of success are one of a myriad of methods used, including mixed-methods, cost-benefit, etc. · Start with the need for learning not [just] accountability Isabella Jean: · Sustainability investigation/evaluation/learning should be mindful that this is NOT about projects. It is about people. · We have a system that focuses on gaps and needs to be filled vs. existing capacities’ structures to be reinforced. How can our work on measuring sustainability bring this to light and call it out, so that we change the norm? · Planning for sustainability requires the insight to integrate resources and experiences of outsiders with the assets and capacities of insiders to develop context-appropriate strategies for change If you would like to discuss this with any of us, please send us comments and we’re happy to respond. Thanks again to the G-Local UnConference team! Below please find our bios: Jindra Cekan/ova has worked in global development for 33 years focused on participatory design and M&E for global non-profits. She founded Valuing Voices 7 years ago. For details, see: Valuing Voices Founder Holta Trandafili is the Research, Learning, and Analytics Manager with World Vision US and has been leading field research, monitoring, and evaluation since 2007. She has led sustainability measurement studies for World Vision programs in Uganda, Kenya, Sri Lanka, India, Burma, and Bolivia. Her areas of expertise and interest include program and community groups’ sustainability measurements; agency-level measurements; empowerment approaches to development; integrated programming; local capacities for peace; gender analysis; and outcome monitoring. Currently, Mrs. Trandafili serves as an Advisory Committee member for InterAction’s Effectiveness and Program Evaluation Working Group and chairs one of the sub-working groups under The Movement for Community-led Development. Isabella Jean supports international and local organizations and funders to document promising practices, facilitate learning and strengthen capacities for conflict sensitivity, peacebuilding and humanitarian effectiveness. She has facilitated action research, collaborative learning and advisory engagements in over 25 countries, and serves as an advisor to policymakers, senior leadership and program teams. Isabella co-authored the book, Time to Listen: Hearing People on the Receiving End of Aid and developed practical guidance to support accountability to communities, listening and feedback loops, and responsible INGO exits. She teaches graduate-level courses on aid effectiveness, program strategies and M&E of peacebuilding at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management. Previously, Isabella directed training at a community organizing network and conducted policy research for the Institute for Responsive Education, UNDP, and Coexistence International.

Webinar - Practicing Thinking and Working Politically (TWP): Voices from the Field - SID (Society for International Development., 2020)
Current thinking on effective international development interventions highlights the importance of “thinking and working politically” (TWP). Among the emerging lessons of experience is that thinking politically, using tools such as political economy analysis, is more easily undertaken than working politically. How can the two pillars of TWP be effectively integrated? What challenges exist and how have practitioners confronted them? This session focuses on listening to voices from the field to explore answers to these questions. The organizers solicited proposals from implementers, reaching out to SID-W members and the Washington, D.C.-based TWP community of practice. They selected the following four projects that illustrate different approaches to practicing TWP. • Mercy Corps: Integrated Maji Infrastructure and Governance Initiative for Eastern Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo • Asia Foundation: Tourism Strategy Project, Timor-Leste • Counterpart International: Rights and Dignity Project, El Salvador • RTI International: Knowledge Sector Initiative, Indonesia Their voices will be bookended by Sarah Frazer (RTI International), who will summarize a recent study, Thinking and Working Politically: Lessons from Diverse and Inclusive Applied Political Economy Analysis, and Alina Rocha Menocal (Overseas Development Institute), who will provide commentary on the four projects and the study findings. Ann Hudock (Counterpart International) will moderate.

Webinar: Operationalizing Adaptive Management: What it takes. Why it matters. - Mercy Corps (Mercy Corps, 2015)
Development actors increasingly agree that managing programs adaptively – especially complex interventions – can improve their effectiveness. A growing body of evidence supports this claim. But what does adaptive management look like in practice? What does it require of managers and donors to make happen? How can we reconfigure incentives and success metrics to support adaptation, while remaining compliant?

Webimar - Adaptive Management at the Strategy Level: Portfolio Reviews and Mid Course Stocktaking - USAID (USAID, 2017)
On Wednesday, November 15, 2017 at 8:00 a.m. EST, the Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning (PPL) held a one-hour webinar exploring Strategy-level Portfolio Reviews and Mid Course Stocktaking.

We Rise - Movement Building Reimagined - JASS (Just Associates, 2017)
In our virtual toolkit, We Rise: Movement Building Reimagined, we describe in detail four interconnected cycles of movement building – Rising Up, Building Up, Standing Up, and Shaking Up. At the heart of these cycles lies an analysis of how to challenge and transform power. Each cycle features key ideas, relevant tools, and practical tips from our work and activists in our network that movement builders around the world can learn from and adapt in their own work.

‘We have the solutions to our own problems’: supporting civil society in Nigeria - Overseas Development Institute (ODI, 2014)
Development assistance programmes that start from careful analysis of what works and what does not in country contexts are still remarkably rare. One reason for this is the lack of well documented examples of ‘politically’ smart aid programming. To this end, this film outlines the experience of the State Accountability and Voice Initiative (SAVI), a DFID-funded programme in Nigeria providing support to civil society, media and governmental organisations.

We have experimented with different approaches to systems transformation — here are five insights - Haldrup, Søren Vester (UNDP Innovation, 2021)
At UNDP Innovation we are on a journey to shift our approach to innovation to help tackle complex development challenges. In short, we are moving away from single point solutions, and instead we are…

We created this MEL system for you, now please own it! | From Poverty to Power - Pasanen, Tiina; Yanguas, Pablo (2021)
External consultants, learning partners or critical friends -whatever we call them- can seldom change the system or organisational (learning) culture from outside. So, how can Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL) consultants support real change instead of creating tools or processes that are quickly forgotten without any real institutional ownership? Consultants and learning partners can seldom change a learning system or organisational culture – it just does not work like that. What they can do is interrogate existing practices, introduce new ideas, and support change processes already underway to ensure lasting, transformative impact. They are a multiplier for homegrown change initiatives, not a substitute. Don’t hire MEL consultants to sell you tools or tell you what to do. Hire them because you need a critical friend along the path of organisational change. Own, then learn – not the other way round.

Watering the Grassroots: A Strategy for Social Movement Support - Joyce, Mary (Transparency & Accountability Initiative, 2015)
In this third and final think piece exploring the role of grassroots organizations and movements for state accountability (find the previous pieces here and here), the author Mary Joyce, proposes new thinking about how funders and other external organizations can best support social movements. Funding and other support for popular organizations and movements is not straightforward, and there are potential risks and distortions involved. Interested supporters need to clearly identify and articulate these obstacles in their discussions with movement activists before pursuing and funding or other support activities. This think piece outlines several potential avenues of support: small, flexible grants; funding intermediary organizations; providing external consultants or researchers to work with movements; and other options as well. These suggestions provide ideas for funders and other organizations seeking to move beyond projects to supporting robust accountability ecosystems, in which grassroots organizations and movements play a critical role.

Was bedeutet “Staying Engaged” im Kontext der aktuellen Krise in Nicaragua? Überlegungen und Strategien der ALAK (Internal memo) - SDC (SDC, 2018)
«Mitigation» (im Sinne von Notlinderung) und «Transformation» sind die zwei Schlagworte, an welchen sich die Neuausrichtung des Portfolios in Nicaragua über die nächsten Monate orientieren wird. Ziel ist es, dass die Schweiz ihr über die letzten Jahrzehnte akquiriertes politisches Kapital und ihre Expertise nutzt, um zu einer Linderung der Auswirkung der Krise für die Bevölkerung beizutragen und mithilft die Grundlagen für eine Transformation der politischen Kultur und eine langfristig angelegte Demokratisierung zu schaffen.

Walking the Long Road Together - Stilger, Bob (Afternow: When We Cannot See the Future Where Do We Begin?, 2017)
On March 11, 2011, overwhelming and incomprehensible disaster struck the northeast coast of Japan. Life for those in the region would never be the same. This book is about the awakening that follows disaster. About the minutes and months and years that come after now. It is about what happens when we're smacked on the side of the head and open our eyes, startled out of the trance in which we have been living our days. It is about the opportunities always present, often invisible, to create the lives we want, now. AfterNow chronicles the author's journey with the Japanese people over 6 years – his own story of awakening after plunging into this disaster and the stories from people who found where to take their first step, and the next. It offers the tools and processes and worldview people discovered to create what comes after now. It is built around two big ideas. The first is that after disaster, we find our way forward, together. We come awake, together. Disaster obliterates the past, plunges the present into chaos and cocoons the future. We need each other to see and build the new. The second idea is that we don't have to wait for the tragedy of disaster to make the communities and lives we want. We can engage each other with respect, curiosity and generosity and begin to co-create what we want, now. We live in a period of precipitous, unpredictable change. The book is for those who want to make this time more livable and less insane. In Japan and all over the world, we are living in the messy middle where old forms are falling apart and new possibilities are in early stages. The ground is pulled out from under us on a regular basis. Our work right now is to learn to coexist with the messiness. We need to keep trying things, to keep learning. We need to remain focused on our purpose and follow the braided strand of intention and surrender as we find our way forward. embracing radical uncertainty, showing up as fully as we can each moment, each breath.

Walking the adaptive talk - Denney, Lisa (Devpolicy Blog from the Development Policy Centre, 2018)
The first in a three-part series on adaptive aid.Lisa Denney clarifies the confusion.

W(h)ither sanctions? - Aston, Tom (Thomas Aston LinkedIn pulse, 2020)
Considerations on where and when sanctions fit into the conception of social accountability is a nudge toward better and more granular descriptions of what work is being undertaken effectively in which situations.

Volume 3: Participatory Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning in Complex Adaptive Environments - SACE (SACE Program, 2018)
This volume is the last in a series of papers about systems approaches in complex environments, which includes the use of the collective impact model to address large-scale social problems, and the application of participant-driven MEL techniques across 17 networks of civil society organizations. It is based on the experiences of Root Change and Chemonics, two development partners working on a USAID civic engagement project in Nigeria (2013-2018), as well as hundreds of civil society organization partners. This is the final paper in the series and aims to highlight how the adaptation of participatory monitoring, evaluation, and learning techniques (e.g., most significant change, outcome mapping, and outcome harvesting) evolved and ultimately empowered cluster members. The first paper in the series presented a brief introduction to systems approaches in advocacy settings, the SACE theory of change, and the scope of Root Change’s work as technical lead on capacity building and measurement. The second volume aims to address the innovative use of the advocacy strategy matrix, adapted from work by the Center for Evaluation Innovation, for collective impact and the Collective Impact Model, an approach that engages multiple players in working together to solve complex social problems.

VOICES - On speaking, mediation, representation and listening - Oswald, Katy (MAVC, 2014)

Voices of the poor: can anyone hear us? - Naraya, Deepa*Patel (The World Bank, 2000)
This book is the first in a three-part series, about the common patterns that emerged from the poor people's experiences in many different places. Chapter 1 sets out the conceptual framework and methodology. Chapter 2 discusses poverty from the perspective of the poor. Chapter 3 examines poor people's experience with the state, and includes case studies of access to health care and education. Chapter 4 addresses the nature and quality of poor people's interactions with civil society. Chapter 5 considers the household as a key social institution, and discusses gender relations within households and how these relations affect and are affected by larger institutions of society. Chapter 6 focuses on social fragmentation, and includes a discussion of social cohesion and social exclusion. Chapter 7 concludes the analysis and proposes some policy recommendations. The analysis leads to these conclusions: 1) poverty is multidimensional; 2) the state has been largely ineffective in reaching the poor; 3) the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the lives of the poor is limited, forcing the poor to depend primarily on their own informal networks; 4) households are crumbling under the stresses of poverty; and 5) the social fabric - poor people's only

Voice or chatter? Making ICTs work for transformative engagement: research report summary - Gurumurthy, Anita; Bharthur, Deepti; Chami, Nandini (IDS, 2017)
What are the conditions in democratic governance that make information and communication technology (ICT)-mediated citizen engagement transformative? While substantial scholarship exists on the role of the Internet and digital technologies in triggering moments of political disruption and cascading upheavals, academic interest in the sort of deep change that transforms institutional cultures of democratic governance, occurring in ‘slow time’, has been relatively muted. This study attempts to fill this gap. It is inspired by the idea of participation in everyday democracy and seeks to explore how ICT-mediated citizen engagement can promote democratic governance and amplify citizen voice. The study involved empirical explorations of citizen engagement initiatives in eight sites – two in Asia (India and Philippines), one in Africa (South Africa), three in South America (Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay) and two in Europe (Netherlands and Spain).

Virtuous cycles of learning (VCoL) and the +7 skills - Lectica (Lectica Live, 2020)
VCoL is a cycle of goal setting, information seeking, application, and reflection. Its +7 skills include reflectivity, awareness, seeking and evaluating information, making connections, applying knowledge, seeking and working with feedback, and recognizing and overcoming built-in biases. VCoLing engages the whole learner. By this, we mean that it engages learners emotionally, physically, and intellectually, leveraging both conscious and unconscious mental processes. VCoLing ensures that new knowledge is integrated into existing knowledge in a way that makes it useful and "sticky." When people work with our assessments, they're not only building knowledge, they're also nurturing the dispositions and skills required for a lifetime of learning and development.

Virtuous cycles of learning: Using formative, embedded, and diagnostic developmental assessments in a large-scale leadership program - Stein, Z.; Dawson, Theo; Van Rossum, Zachary; Rothaizer, Joel; Hill, S. (Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 2014)
This article presents preliminary results from a series of ongoing action-research projects involving the use of embedded diagnostic developmental assessments (called LectaTests™) in leadership education contexts. These findings are presented to support a particular metatheoretical approach to learning and education in which embedded assessments form a crucial part of ongoing virtuous cycles of action, feedback, support, and learning. We present two types of evidence. First, we compare developmental growth across eight program evaluations in which LectaTests were and were not embedded. Second, we examine how embedding LectaTests in a large-scale leadership development program affected the growth of managers and their direct reports. We review these findings with an eye toward detecting the benefits of using developmental assessment as embedded diagnostics alongside their use as research instruments. We begin by using Integral Theory to structure a discussion about the ideal function of developmental assessments in educational contexts.

Virtuous cycles of learning: Redesigning testing during the digital revolution - Dawson, Theo; Stein, Zachary (2011)
This paper explores positive new directions for the future of educational testing by examining trends at the interface of the learning sciences and advances in educational technologies. A brief history of the relation between testing and technology sets the stage for a look at emerging “edu-tech” trends and what these might mean for the future of testing. This historical-critical look at past and present testing practices reveals that the learning sciences have been less influential in shaping the growth of testing infrastructures than cumulative advances in technology that have enabled large-scale standardization and automation. We argue that during the current “digital revolution” the learning sciences ought to assume more responsibility for shaping the adoption of new testing technologies. We propose a set of principles that, if followed, would move tomorrow’s testing infrastructures toward learning-centric design. Combining the affordances of new digital technologies with advances in our understanding of learning make it possible to build tests that promote multi-level learning in educational systems, catalyzing virtuous cycles of learning for everyone they affect—students, teachers, school leaders, policy makers, and researchers. The DiscoTest™ Initiative is presented as a reform effort that is guided by these design principles, serving as an example of positive new possibilities for testing at the interface of the learning sciences and new educational technologies.

Virtual Facilitation Techniques for Work Teams and Communities of Practice. A guide for designing and running dynamic and engaging remote sessions and meetings - AKF (2023)
This free guide aims to build the skills and confidence of people designing and facilitating virtual meetings, including online community of practice sessions. By the time they have gone through this guide, community of practice facilitators will be able to: Design an engaging and participatory virtual session, Develop an effective, varied and realistic agenda for a virtual session, Apply a wide range of virtual facilitation techniques, and Using technology to facilitate virtual sessions. This toolkit was developed by the Aga Khan Foundation.

VCoL in action: How to use micro-VCoLs to learn optimally on the fly - Dawson, Theo (Medium, 2019)
VCoL (the virtuous cycle of learning), is designed to optimize learning while leveraging human´s natural motivational system. It’s easiest to tap into this motivational system when VCoLs are small, focused, relevant, and habitual. We call VCoLs with these characteristics micro-VCoLs. What is a micro-VCoL? Micro-VCoLs are frequently iterated learning cycles that are embedded in everyday activities. Like any VCoL, they involve setting a learning goal, gathering information, applying information, and reflecting on outcomes (preferably with input from others). But in the case of the micro-VCoL, the focus is on the smaller skills (micro-skills) that make up complex sets of skills.

Varieties of Participation in Complex Governance - Fung, Archon (Public Administration Review, 2006)
The multifaceted challenges of contemporary governance demand a complex account of the ways in which those who are subject to laws and policies should participate in making them. This article develops a framework for understanding the range of institutional possibilities for public participation. Mechanisms of participation vary along three important dimensions: who participates, how participants communicate with one another and make decisions together, and how discussions are linked with policy or public action. These three dimensions constitute a space in which any particular mechanism of participation can be located. Different regions of this institutional design space are more and less suited to addressing important problems of democratic governance such as legitimacy, justice, and effective administration.

VANUATU GOVERNANCE FOR GROWTH PROGRAM – REVIEW - Warner, Robert; Gouy, Jonathan; Samson, Anthony (2017)

Valuing peace: delivering and demonstrating mediation results - Dilemmas & options for mediators - Wadley, Ian (Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, 2017)
Essential points for practitioners and donors • Mediation offers a cost-effective and proven method for resolving armed conflict. Between 1985 and 2015, 75 per cent of armed conflicts in the world were resolved through agreement rather than by force. In most cases these processes will have involved third party facilitation or support. • Professional mediators understand the high stakes involved in their work to prevent, mitigate and resolve armed conflict. In addition, they and their financial supporters are increasingly required to demonstrate ‘value-for-money’ to ensure continued funding. • However, traditional monitoring and evaluation (M&E) methods are not well suited to this task, typically imposing artificially linear project models on a dynamic conflict situation, as well as compliance reporting that moves attention away from real value. • Traditional M&E methods tend to focus on documenting the past and generating vast amounts of data, rather than enabling timely adaptation of the project in the present. • Traditional M&E approaches rely heavily on external evaluation consultants. Even in the best of cases this may interfere with the mediation process and impose a heavy time burden on the project team, leading to low acceptance of traditional M&E approaches by mediation practitioners. • In contrast, an ideal M&E approach for mediation should deliver useful insights in even the most dynamic and sensitive mediation environments, impose a light reporting burden, and be readily accepted by mediation teams. It should protect discretion and trust, enable rapid adaptation, and also provide some assurance that donor funds are being well spent.

Value for money and adaptive programming - Approaches, measures and management - Laws, Ed; Valters, Craig (ODI, 2021)
- The United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)’s standard economy, efficiency, effectiveness/cost-effectiveness and equity (4E) framework is still relevant for approaching, measuring and managing value for money (VfM) for adaptive programmes. • However, this framework needs to be reframed to capture and incentivise flexibility, learning and adaptation. • VfM appraisal and reporting should be done in a way that draws on beneficiary feedback and informs good decision-making, rather than just being a compliance exercise. • If VfM appraisal and reporting cannot be done appropriately for adaptive programmes, it should be avoided or minimised. There is a risk of diverting time and resources from more suitable tools and methods.

Value for Investment: Application and Insights. Youth Primary Mental Health and Addictions Evaluation - King, Julian; Crocket, Alicia; Field, Adrian (Dovetail Consulting, 2023)
What’s in the guide? This new document provides: An overview of the VfI approach, including the conceptual principles and processes underpinning it A worked example of the approach in action: evaluating the Youth Primary Mental Health and Addictions initiative in New Zealand Transferrable learning for others considering the use of the VfI approach.

Value for Investment. A Practical Evaluation Theory - King, Julian (Kinnect Group, 2016)
I am a public policy consultant from Auckland, New Zealand. My practice specializes in evaluation and economic analysis. In this booklet I set out a model for evaluating value for investment (VFI) in social programs. The model defines VFI as an evaluative question about an economic problem. It uses explicit evaluative reasoning to provide a clear answer to the VFI question. Methods are matched to context, to provide the specific mix of evidence (economic and/or other) needed to support a wellreasoned, well-evidenced evaluative judgment.

Utilization-Focused Evaluation (U-FE) Checklist - Patton, Michael Quinn (The Evaluation Center, 2013)
Utilization-Focused Evaluation begins with the premise that evaluations should be judged by their utility and actual use; therefore, evaluators should facilitate the evaluation process and design any evaluation with careful consideration of how everything that is done, from beginning to end, will affect use. Use concerns how real people in the real world apply evaluation findings and experience and learn from the evaluation process. The checklist is based on Essentials of Utilization-Focused Evaluation (Patton, 2012, Sage Publications). All references in the checklist to exhibits and menus refer to this book. Step 1 Assess and build program and organizational readiness for utilization-focused evaluation. Step 2 Assess and enhance evaluator readiness and competence to undertake a utilizationfocused evaluation. Step 3 Identify, organize, and engage primary intended users. Step 4 Conduct situation analysis with primary intended users Step 5 Identify primary intended uses by establishing the evaluation’s priority purposes. Step 6 Consider and build in process uses if appropriate. Step 7 Focus priority evaluation questions. Step 8 Check that fundamental areas for evaluation inquiry are being adequately addressed. Step 9 Determine what intervention model or theory of change is being evaluated. Step 10 Negotiate appropriate methods to generate credible findings and support intended use by intended users. Step 11 Make sure intended users understand potential controversies about methods and their implications. Step 12 Simulate use of findings. Step 13 Gather data with ongoing attention to use. Step 14 Organize and present the data for use by primary intended users. Step 15 Prepare an evaluation report to facilitate use and disseminate significant findings to expand influence. Step 16 Follow up with primary intended users to facilitate and enhance use. Step 17 Metaevaluation of use: Be accountable, learn, and improve

Utilization-focused evaluation for agricultural innovation - Patton, Michael Quinn; Horton, D (CGIAR, 2009)
Utilization-focused evaluation (UFE) is based on the principle that an evaluation should be judged by its utility. So no matter how technically sound and methodologically elegant, an evaluation is not truly a good evaluation unless the findings are used. UFE is a framework for enhancing the likelihood that evaluation findings will be used and lessons will be learnt from the evaluation process. This Brief, based on the book Utilization-focused evaluation, introduces this approach to evaluation, outlines key steps in the evaluation process, identifies some of the main benefits of UFE, and provides two examples of UFE in the context of programmes aimed at promoting agricultural innovation.

Utilization focused evaluation: a primer for evaluators - Ramirez, Ricardo; Brodhead, Dal (Southbound, 2013)
Ramírez, R., & Brodhead, D. (2013). Utilization focused evaluation: A primer for evaluators. Penang, Malaysia: Southbound. Retrieved from http://evaluationinpractice.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/ufeenglishprimer... This book, authored by Ricardo Ramírez and Dal Brodhead, is designed to support evaluators and program managers implement Utilization-focused evaluation (UFE). It includes detailed discussion of the 12 steps for implementing UFE and also provides a number of case studies to guide the user. Excerpt "Throughout this Primer we refer to the value of having a mentor to assist an evaluator who is using UFE for the first time. Our collective experiences with UFE indicated having a mentor was, for many UFE participants, an essential support and it reflects how we learned and mentored UFE. Evaluators may use elements of a UFE in their work naturally, for example by engaging users in planning the process or in assisting them in the utilization of findings. This Primer, however, walks the reader through UFE by systematically covering all of the 12 steps. It reflects deeply on the UFE evaluation practice and builds from it." (Ramírez & Brodhead 2013) Contents What is Utilization Focused Evaluation? 1 The UFE Framework Summarized in Steps 3 The DECI Project 6 The UFE Steps Illustrated with Project Examples 9 Step 1 Assessing Program Readiness 10 Step 2 Assessing Evaluators’ Readiness 18 Step 3 Identifying Primary Intended Users 24 Step 4 Situational Analysis 31 Step 5 Identification of Primary Intended Users 38 Step 6 Focusing the Evaluation 44 Step 7 Evaluation Design 54 Step 8 Simulation of Use 58 Step 9 Data Collection 62 Step 10 Data Analysis 65 Step 11 Facilitation of Use 68 Step 12 Meta Evaluation 72 Summary About What Each Step Entails 76 What Benefit Does UFE Bring to Commissioners of Evaluation? 81 Take Away Lessons 83 Postscript 87 The UFE Checklist 89 Case Studies 103 Recommended Reading 110
OCLC: 856648540

Utilization-Focused Evaluation - Better Evaluation (Better Evaluation)
Utilization-Focused Evaluation (UFE), developed by Michael Quinn Patton, is an approach based on the principle that an evaluation should be judged on its usefulness to its intended users. Therefore evaluations should be planned and conducted in ways that enhance the likely utilization of both the findings and of the process itself to inform decisions and improve performance.

Using what we know: How to ensure tech projects meet the brief - Walker, Tom (Making All Voices Count, 2017)
Making tech effective - building on what we already know

Using Systemigrams in Problem Definition: A Case Study in Maritime Resilience for Homeland Security - Sauser, Brian; Mansouri, Mo; Omer, Mayada (Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, 2011)
The concept of resilience has been used among a diversity of fields with a myriad of definitions. A systems approach to discovering the essence of resilience could aid in understanding its concept and provide opportunities to distinguish its systemic characteristics that can be identified, planned, or analyzed regardless of the field in which it is considered. In order to begin executing such an approach, a comprehensive study of the literature on the topic and circumstances in which resilience has been used or referred to in several fields of studies is necessary. In this paper, the conceptual common denominator of resilience is identified based on the results of a literature survey and according to the way it has been used in different contexts. This basis leads to the objective of this effort, and that is to recognize the systemic characteristics of resilience and demonstrate the defining of a universally accepted definition. Using a soft systems methodology and a supporting systemic diagramming technique entitled Systemigrams, we present the formulation of defining resilience in maritime homeland security. In this effort, many stakeholders contributed their thoughts and concerns on the meaning and operational use of resilience through a repetitive process to formulate a definition of the term. The result of this methodic approach is a general definition of resilience that has been refined in a collaborative environment via the application the Boardman Soft Systems Methodology.

Using Systemic M&E Tools in Feed The Future Uganda: Sensemaker ® - Webinar - USAID Learning Lab (2015)
This webinar is part of a series organized by SEEP's Market Facilitation Initiative (MaFI), USAID's LEO project and the BEAM Exchange as a part of the "Learning with the Toolmakers" webinar series. As part of a new cycle of webinars focusing on inclusive market facilitation tools. In this series, Eric Derks and Leanne Rasmussen will share learning from this five-year, multi-million dollar USAID program, the objective of which is to increase Ugandan farmers’ use of good quality agro-inputs by fostering more inclusive systemic changes in the agro-inputs industry. Using Systemic M&E Tools in Feed The Future Uganda: Sensemaker ® This third webinar in the series, titled “,” will look at how the project team used this tool and method to monitor systemic change. Leanne and Eric will share their experiences with using the tool and give recommendations to other practitioners who are interested in applying it. What is Sensemaker ®? SenseMaker combines an innovative research methodology with patented software to collect and analyze large quantities of narratives in order to understand complex change. It brings together insights from complexity sciences, anthropology, and cognitive science. It uses participants’ narratives to uncover foundational attitudes and norms that inform and influence behavior. This webinar is organized by SEEP's Market Facilitation Initiative (MaFI), USAID's LEO project and the BEAM Exchange as a part of the "Learning with the Toolmakers" webinar series.

Using stories in evaluation: Participatory Narrative Inquiry and Sensemaking (2022)
Sensemaking and Participatory Narrative Inquiry (PNI) are similar approaches, based on collecting stories about a real life experience from a large number of stakeholders on a topic of interest to the evaluation, and giving the storytellers themselves the responsibility for analyzing and making sense of the stories. Because a large number of stories are collected and self-interpreted, it is possible to conduct quantitative analysis of recurrent themes, perspectives and feelings emerging in the narratives. By combining elements of qualitative and quantitative research, these approaches help to make sense of complex and evolving realities. This session presented the general approach of Sensemaking and PNI. Panelists discussed their experiences with this method, recently used in IFAD and WFP’s evaluations and invited participants to share their own experiences with using stories in evaluation.

Using Research Evidence - A practice guide - Breckon, Jonathan (Alliance for Useful Evidence, 2016)

Using Randomization in Development Economics Research: A Toolkit - Duflo, Esther; Glennerster, Rachel; Kremer, Michael (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2006)
This paper is a practical guide (a toolkit) for researchers, students and practitioners wishing to introduce randomization as part of a research design in the field. It first covers the rationale for the use of randomization, as a solution to selection bias and a partial solution to publication biases. Second, it discusses various ways in which randomization can be practically introduced in a field settings. Third, it discusses designs issues such as sample size requirements, stratification, level of randomization and data collection methods. Fourth, it discusses how to analyze data from randomized evaluations when there are departures from the basic framework. It reviews in particular how to handle imperfect compliance and externalities. Finally, it discusses some of the issues involved in drawing general conclusions from randomized evaluations, including the necessary use of theory as a guide when designing evaluations and interpreting results.

Using political economy analysis in conflict, security and justice programmes - Denney, Lisa (ODI, 2016)

Using PDIA to Put Data Into Action - Bhatia, Vinisha; Powell, Josh (Development Gateway, 2017)
We recently wrote about how the data for development community needs to take a more context aware, demand-driven approach to data. Applying theories of change...

Using Participatory Statistics to Examine the Impact of Interventions to Eradicate Slavery: Lessons from the Field - Oosterhoff, P.; Bharadwaj, S.; Burns, D.; Raj, A. M.; Nanda, R. B.; Narayanan, P. (2016)
This CDI Practice Paper by Pauline Oosterhoff, Sowmyaa Bharadwaj, Danny Burns, Aruna Mohan Raj, Rituu B. Nanda and Pradeep Narayanan reflects on the use of participatory statistics to assess the impact of interventions to eradicate slavery and bonded labour. It deals with: (1) the challenges of estimating changes in the magnitude of various forms of slavery; (2) the potential of combining participatory approaches with statistical principles to generate robust data for assessing impact of slavery eradication; and (3) the practical and ethical questions in relation to working with people living within a context of modern slavery. The paper draws lessons from the realities of using participatory statistics to support the evaluation of a slavery eradication programme in North India.

Using Participatory Process Evaluation to Understand the Dynamics of Change in a Nutrition Education Programme - Cornwall, Andrea (IDS Working Papers, 2014)
With roots in approaches to popular education and participatory action research that place the learner and the ‘beneficiary’ of development at the centre of enquiry and action, the participatory visualisation methods associated with Participatory Rural Appraisal have been widely used as tools for learning and accountability. In this article, I reflect on lessons learnt from using these methods in a participatory process evaluation of an educational programme aimed at addressing chronic malnutrition in an East African country. Building on this experience, I explore the educative and empowering dimensions of participatory visualisation methods, and consider the contribution that these methods can make to effective evaluation.
Keywords: Kenya; nutrition; participatory impact evaluation; process evaluation; randomised controlled trials

Using middle-level theory to improve programme and evaluation design - Cartwright, N (CEDIL, 2020)
What can middle-level theory do? Middle-level theory (MLT) has several uses in development planning and evaluation. It helps predict whether a programme can be expected to work in a new setting. It offers insights into what design features are needed for success. It provides invaluable information for monitoring to see if the programme is on track and to fix problems that arise. It reveals the causal processes and related assumptions to be tested in an evaluation and helps identify evaluation questions. It helps in interpreting evaluation findings, assessing their relevance and locating a description of them that is useful for programme design and evaluation in other settings

Using Information on Results in Program Management – The case of Samarth-NMDP in Nepal - Stewart, Tim; Joshi, Sanju; Miehlbradt, Alexandra (The Donor Committee for Enterprise Development, 2015)
Keywords: Case Report

Using Evidence - What works? - Breckon, Jonathan; Dodson, Jane (Alliance for Useful Evidence, 2016)

Using evidence to influence policy: Oxfam’s experience - Mayne, Ruth; Green, Duncan; Guijt, Irene; Walsh, Martin; English, Richard; Cairney, Paul (Palgrave Communications, 2018)
Policymaking is rarely ‘evidence-based’. Rather, policy can only be strongly evidence-informed if its advocates act effectively. Policy theories suggest that they can do so by learning the rules of political systems, and by forming relationships and networks with key actors to build up enough knowledge of their environment and trust from their audience. This knowledge allows them to craft effective inﬂuencing strategies, such as to tell a persuasive and timely story about an urgent policy problem and its most feasible solution. Empirical case studies help explain when, how, and why such strategies work in context. If analysed carefully, they can provide transferable lessons for researchers and advocates that are seeking to inform or inﬂuence policymaking. Oxfam Great Britain has become an experienced and effective advocate of evidence-informed policy change, offering lessons for building effective action. In this article, we combine insights from policy studies with speciﬁc case studies of Oxfam campaigns to describe four ways to promote the uptake of research evidence in policy: (1) learn how policymaking works, (2) design evidence to maximise its inﬂuence on speciﬁc audiences, (3) design and use additional inﬂuencing strategies such as insider persuasion or outsider pressure, and adapt the presentation of evidence and inﬂuencing strategies to the changing context, and (4) embrace trial and error. The supply of evidence is one important but insufﬁcient part of this story.

Using Emergence to Take Social Innovation to Scale - Wheatley, Margaret; Frieze, Deborah (The Shambhala Institute, 2007)
In spite of current ads and slogans, the world doesn’t change one person at a time. It changes as networks of relationships form among people who discover they share a common cause and vision of what’s possible. This is good news for those of us intent on changing the world and creating a positive future. Rather than worry about critical mass, our work is to foster critical connections. We don’t need to convince large numbers of people to change; instead, we need to connect with kindred spirits. Through these relationships, we will develop the new knowledge, practices, courage, and commitment that lead to broad-based change. But networks aren’t the whole story. As networks grow and transform into active, working communities of practice, we discover how Life truly changes, which is through emergence. When separate, local efforts connect with each other as networks, then strengthen as communities of practice, suddenly and surprisingly a new system emerges at a greater level of scale. This system of influence possesses qualities and capacities that were unknown in the individuals. It isn’t that they were hidden; they simply don’t exist until the system emerges. They are properties of the system, not the individual, but once there, individuals possess them. And the system that emerges always possesses greater power and influence than is possible through planned, incremental change. Emergence is how Life creates radical change and takes things to scale. Emergence has a life-cycle. It begins with networks, shifts to intentional communities of practice and evolves into powerful systems capable of global influence. Since its inception in 1992, The Berkana Institute has striven to learn how living systems work, how they emerge from networks to communities to systems of influence. In our global work—primarily with economically poor communities in many different nations—we have experimented actively with emergence in many different contexts. We have demonstrated what’s possible when we connect people across difference and distance. By applying the lessons of living systems and working intentionally with emergence and its life-cycle, we have become confident that local social innovations can be taken to scale and provide solutions to many of the world’s most intractable issues.

Using elements of DCED Standards for CLA - Mitra, Bilash; Jalil, Mohammad Muaz (2018)
Introduction used in the DCED-BEAM seminar in Nairobi

Using Data to Influence Government Decisions. Opportunities and Challenges for User-Centered Design to Improve Governance Data Impact - Reboot (Reboot & OSF, 2015)

Using case studies to do program evaluation - Balbach, Edith D. (California Department of Health Services, 1999)
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

Using beneficiary feedback to improve development programmes: findings from a multi-country pilot - World Vision (World Vision, 2016)
This briefing summarises the findings from Beneficiary Feedback Mechanisms pilots and is intended to inform organisations and their funders about the development and implementation of feedback mechanisms.

Using AI to disrupt business as usual in small evaluation firms - Sabarre, Nina R.; Beckmann, Blake; Bhaskara, Sahiti; Doll, Kathleen (New Directions for Evaluation, 2023)
While many knowledge workers may fear that the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) will threaten their jobs, this article argues that small evaluation businesses should embrace AI tools to increase their value in the marketplace and remain relevant. In this article, consultants from a research, evaluation, and strategy firm, Intention 2 Impact, Inc., make a case for using AI tools to disrupt business as usual in evaluation from theoretical and practical perspectives. Theoretically, AI may be another example of technology that was initially feared but is now ubiquitous in society. Using concrete examples, the authors describe how businesses and evaluators have evolved to keep up with changes in supply and demand. Lastly, it is posited that embracing AI will save time for those working in small businesses, which can ultimately increase added value and profitability.
_eprint: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ev.20562

Using adaptive processes and adverse outcome pathways to develop meaningful, robust, and actionable environmental monitoring programs - Arciszewski, Tim J.; Munkittrick, Kelly R.; Scrimgeour, Garry J.; Dubé, Monique G.; Wrona, Fred J.; Hazewinkel, Rod R. (Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, 2017)
The primary goals of environmental monitoring are to indicate whether unexpected changes related to development are occurring in the physical, chemical, and biological attributes of ecosystems and to inform meaningful management intervention. Although achieving these objectives is conceptually simple, varying scientific and social challenges often result in their breakdown. Conceptualizing, designing, and operating programs that better delineate monitoring, management, and risk assessment processes supported by hypothesis-driven approaches, strong inference, and adverse outcome pathways can overcome many of the challenges. Generally, a robust monitoring program is characterized by hypothesis-driven questions associated with potential adverse outcomes and feedback loops informed by data. Specifically, key and basic features are predictions of future observations (triggers) and mechanisms to respond to success or failure of those predictions (tiers). The adaptive processes accelerate or decelerate the effort to highlight and overcome ignorance while preventing the potentially unnecessary escalation of unguided monitoring and management. The deployment of the mutually reinforcing components can allow for more meaningful and actionable monitoring programs that better associate activities with consequences. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2017;13:877–891. © 2017 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC)
Keywords: Adaptive monitoring; Environmental management; Environmental monitoring; Tier; Trigger

Using adaptive monitoring, evaluation and learning in programme design - Nzegwu, Femi (INASP, 2018)

Using Adaptive Management to Meet Conservation Goals - Franklin, Thomas M; Helinski, Ronald; Manale, Andrew (Fish and Wildlife Response to Farm Bill Conservation Practices, 2007)
Natural resource professionals should know whether or not they are doing an effective job of managing natural resources. Their decision-making process should produce the kind of results desired by the public, elected officials, and their agencies’ leadership. With billions of dollars spent each year on managing natural resources, accountability is more important than ever. Producing results is the key to success. Managers must have the necessary data to make enlightened decisions during program implementation—not just at the conclusion of a program. Adaptive management is described as an adapt-and-learn methodology as it pertains to implementing Farm Bill conservation practices. Four regional case studies describe how adaptive management is being applied by practicing fish and wildlife managers. Indicators were identified to monitor and evaluate contributions to fish and wildlife habitat for each of the case studies. Data collected at each stage of the studies were used to make mid-course adjustments that enabled leadership to improve or enhance ongoing management actions.

Using adaptive development to support feminist action - O’Neil, Tam (ODI, 2016)
This paper looks at how adaptive development is being applied by gender programmes and argues that gender and adaptive development communities have much to offer each other.

Using Actor-Based Theories Of Change to Conduct Robust Contribution Analysis in Complex Settings - Koleros, Andrew; Mayne, John (Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 2019)
The use of theories of change (ToCs) is a hallmark of sound evaluation practice. As interventions have become more complex, the development of ToCs that adequately unpack this complexity has become more challenging. Equally important is the development of evaluable ToCs, necessary for conducting robust theory-based evaluation approaches such as contribution analysis (CA). This article explores one approach to tackling these challenges through the use of nested actor-based ToCs using the case of an impact evaluation of a complex police-reform program in the Democratic Republic of Congo, describing how evaluable nested actor-based ToCs were built to structure the evaluation.
Keywords: Behavioural strategy; COM-B

Using a social learning configuration to increase Vietnamese smallholder farmers’ adaptive capacity to respond to climate change - Phuong, Le Thi Hong; Wals, Arjen; Sen, Le Thi Hoa; Hoa, Nguyen Quoc; Lu, Phan Van; Biesbroek, Robbert (Local Environment, 2018)
Social learning is crucial for local smallholder farmers in developing countries to improve their adaptive capacity and to adapt to the current and projected impacts of climate change. While it is widely acknowledged that social learning is a necessary condition for adaptation, few studies have systematically investigated under which conditions particular forms of social learning are most successful in improving adaptive capacity of the most vulnerable groups. This study aims to design, implement and evaluate a social learning configuration in a coastal community in Vietnam. We make use of various methods during four workshop-based interventions with local smallholder farmers: interviews with key farmers and commune leaders, farmer-to-farmer learning, participatory observations and focus group discussions. The methods for evaluation of social learning configuration include in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and structured survey interviews. Our findings show that the social learning configuration used in this study leads to an increased problem ownership, an enhanced knowledge-base with regard to climate change impacts and production adaptation options, improved ability to see connections and interdependencies and finally, strengthened relationships and social cohesion. The results suggest that increased social learning in the community leads to increase in adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers and improves both their economic and environmental sustainability. We discuss the key lessons for designing learning configurations that can successfully enhance adaptive capacity and smallholder farmers’ agency and responsiveness to the challenges posed by climate change impacts.
Keywords: Adaptive capacity; Social learning; Vietnamese smallholder farmers

Using a ‘Partnership Rubric’ in Participatory Evaluations - Snijder, Mieke; Hicks, Jacky; Paul, Sukanta; Arulanantham, Amit; Apgar, Marina; Afroze, Jiniya; Karki, Shanta; Mareschal, Sophie; Prieto Martín, Pedro; Uddin, Forhad; Veitch, Helen (Institute of Development Studies, 2023)
Programmes that aim to tackle complex societal issues, such as the worst forms of child labour, require rich partnerships that bring together different perspectives. CLARISSA’s consortium partnership adopts an empowerment approach to the interventions we deliver and our ways of working together. Part of this approach involves ongoing reflection and learning about how we work together in our partnership, and how this can be adapted if needed. This learning note focuses on a method used in CLARISSA to both reflect on and strengthen how we work in partnerships – the partnership rubric. We found that using the rubric flexibly was key to mitigating some of the challenges of such a complex consortium. This included using it in different sizes of forum, with different levels of preparation. Periodically adapting it for country context and as new partners came on board also helped ensure a shared sense of our preferred ways of working as the project progressed.
Accepted: 2023-07-13T10:20:02Z Publisher: Institute of Development Studies

Using a Participatory Theory Driven Evaluation Approach to Identify Causal Mechanisms in Innovation Processes - Blundo‐Canto, Genowefa; Devaux‐Spatarakis, Agathe; Mathé, Syndhia; Faure, Guy; Cerdan, Claire (New Directions for Evaluation, 2020)
Applied agricultural research institutes play different roles in complex agricultural innovation processes, contributing to them with other actors. To foster learning and usable knowledge on how research actions influence such lasting innovation processes, there is a need to identify the causal mechanisms linking these actions and the effects of the changes they enable. A participatory, theory-driven, ex-post evaluation method, ImpresS, was developed by the French Agricultural Research Center for International Development (Cirad). ImpresS reconstructs the innovation history and its impact pathway by analyzing behavioral mechanisms linked to stakeholders' individual reactions and responses, and underlying process mechanisms at a group level. ImpresS relies on iterative updating and refinement and on triangulating data sources and collection methods to ensure internal validity and to increase credibility by enabling different actors to express their viewpoints. Drawing on an in-depth case study, we discuss how ImpresS makes it possible to draw robust conclusions on causal mechanisms while posing challenges linked to the group dynamics and power imbalances commonly encountered in participatory methods. As demonstrated by the case study, ImpresS generates policy-relevant knowledge for future research projects. It also demonstrates how research actions can help coconstruct lasting dynamics that can survive fluctuating institutional support. Distinguishing between behavioral and process mechanisms benefits knowledge use as it makes it possible to disentangle the conditions that trigger changes in a given context while generating research questions concerning the external validity of mechanism hypotheses.

Useful Theory of Change Models - Mayne, John (Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 2015)
Although theories of change are frequently discussed in the evaluation literature and there is general agreement on what a theory of change is conceptually, there is actually little agreement beyond the big picture of just what a theory of change comprises, what it shows, how it can be represented, and how it can be used. This article outlines models for theories of change and their development that have proven quite useful for both straightforward and more complex interventions. The models are intuitive, flexible, and well-defined in terms of their components, and they link directly to rigorous models of causality. The models provide a structured framework for developing useful theories of change and analyzing the intervention they represent.

Use of environmental sensors and sensor networks to develop water and salinity budgets for seasonal wetland real-time water quality management - Quinn, Nigel W. T.; Ortega, Ricardo; Rahilly, Patrick J. A.; Royer, Caleb W. (Environmental Modelling & Software, 2010)
Management of river salt loads in a complex and highly regulated river basin such as the San Joaquin River Basin of California presents significant challenges for current Information Technology. Computer-based numerical models are used as a means of simulating hydrologic processes and water quality within the basin and can be useful tools for organizing Basin data in a structured and readily accessible manner. These models can also be used to extend information derived from environmental sensors within existing monitoring networks to areas outside these systems based on similarity factors – since it would be cost prohibitive to collect data for every channel or pollutant source within the Basin. A common feature of all hydrologic and water quality models is the ability to perform mass balances. This paper describes the use of a number of state-of-the-art sensor technologies that have been deployed to obtain water and salinity mass balances for a 60,000ha tract of seasonally managed wetlands in the San Joaquin River Basin of California. These sensor technologies are being combined with more traditional environmental monitoring techniques to support real-time salinity management (RTSM) in the River Basin. Two of these new technology applications: YSI-Econet (which supports continuous flow and salinity monitoring of surface water deliveries and seasonal wetland drainage); and electromagnetic salinity mapping (a remote sensing technology for mapping soil salinity in the surface soils) – have not previously been reported in the literature. Continuous sensor deployments that experience more widespread use include: weather station sensor arrays – used to estimate wetland pond evaporation and moist soil plant evapotranspiration; high resolution multi-spectral imagery – used to discriminate between and estimate the area of wetland moist soil plant vegetation; and groundwater level sensors – used primarily to estimate seepage losses beneath a wetland pond during flood-up. Important issues associated with quality assurance of continuous data are discussed and the application of a state-of-the-art software product AQUARIUS, which streamlines the process of data error correction and dissemination, is described as an essential element of ensuring successful RTSM implementation in the San Joaquin River Basin.
Keywords: Environmental decision support; Forecasting; Sensor networks; Sensors; Water quality

Use Case and Requirements Analysis in a Remote Rural Context in Mali - Bon, Anna; de Boer, Victor; Gyan, Nana Baah; van Aart, Chris; De Leenheer, Pieter; Tuyp, Wendelien; Boyera, Stephane; Froumentin, Max; Grewal, Aman; Allen, Mary; Tangara, Amadou; Akkermans, Hans (Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality, 2013)
[Context & motivation] Few studies have reported on a systematic use case and requirements analysis of low-tech, low-resource contexts such as rural Africa. This, despite the widespread agreement on the importance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for social and rural development, and despite the large number of ICT projects targeting underprivileged communities. [Question/problem] Unfamiliarity with the local context and differences in cultural and educational backgrounds between end-users and software engineers are the challenges for requirements engineering (RE) we encountered. [Principal ideas/results] We describe a systematic approach to RE in developing areas, based on the Living Lab methodology. Our approach is supported by extensive field research and based on co-creation within a multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural team of developers and users. This approach creates a shared understanding of the problem and its local context, and optimizes communication. [Contribution] We illustrate the approach using a case study of web- and voice-based communication services, that we developed for a rural context in Mali.

USAID Wildlife Asia as a case study in adaptive rigour - Ziegler, Jessica (ODI/GLAM, 2020)
This briefing note looks at how the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Wildlife Asia programme has operationalised the concepts of adaptive rigour and adaptive management as part of its approach to collaborating, learning and adapting. As described by the Global Learning for Adaptive Management (GLAM) initiative, adaptive rigour is about ensuring that the data, information, methods, processes and systems that underpin adaptive management are robust, systematic and high‑quality. Key messages When faced with programmatic complexity, it is important to take an adaptive approach driven by continuous and iterative monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL). USAID Wildlife Asia, which works to advance regional action towards ending illegal wildlife trafficking in Southeast Asia and China, has embraced this approach as a way of operationalising adaptive rigour. Throughout programming, MEL approaches should reflect the characteristics of adaptive rigour: comprehensiveness, usefulness, practicality, timeliness and support. Utilising performance monitoring and research in order to test and revise technical approaches and employing mixed methods to collect both qualitative and quantitative data, as well as looking for relevant lessons generated by others, can ensure access to the most useful information for decision-making throughout implementation. For adaptive management, it is not enough to monitor, evaluate and learn; it is also essential to pause and reflect in order to analyse and process evidence gained through MEL with colleagues and stakeholders to reach the right conclusions and make good decisions.

USAID’s Data Quality Standards & Conducting a DQA - USAID (2014)

USAID Risk Appetite Statement - USAID (USAID, 2018)

USAID/Colombia Introduces Political Economy Analysis to Better Adapt Programming to Local Contexts - Sharp, Preston (USAID, 2015)

USAID Applied Political Economy Analysis - Field Guide - Cammack, Diana (USAID, 2016)
Political Economy Analysis (PEA) is a field-research methodology used to explore not simply how things happen in an aid-recipient country, but why things happen. It results in a written assessment with recommendations for a mission's County Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS), project or activity design, or course correction during implementation.USAID's Applied PEA is a problem-focused method specially intended to be used by Mission staff to inform the design of aid interventions at any phase of the USAID program cycle and at any level of effort.

USAID ADS 201 - Program Cycle Operational Policy (Update 10/29/2018) - USAID (USAID, 2018)

USAID ADS 201 - Program Cycle Operational Policy (Update 1/23/2017) - USAID (USAID, 2017)
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 projects and supportive activities to implement strategic plans; and 3) Learning from performance monitoring, evaluations, and other relevant sources of information to make course corrections as needed and inform future programming.

USAID ADS 201 - Operational Policy for the Program Cycle (Update 05/22/2023) - USAID (USAID, 2023)
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, and other relevant sources of information to make course corrections as needed and inform future programming.

USAID ADS 201 - Operational Policy for the Program Cycle (Update 01/23/2021) - USAID (USAID, 2021)
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 projects and supportive activities to implement strategic plans; and 3) Learning from performance monitoring, evaluations, and other relevant sources of information to make course corrections as needed and inform future programming.

Urban climate change adaptation as social learning: Exploring the process and politics - Fisher, Susannah; Dodman, David (Environmental Policy and Governance, 2019)
Responses to climate change that build on adaptive natural resource management conceptualise social learning processes as having the potential to form a key component of climate adaptation. Social learning processes represent a way of managing the inherent uncertainties and interconnectedness of adaptation issues through ongoing learning, iterative reflection, and change of responses over time. Although the theoretical case is emerging for social learning as adaptation, there is limited empirical evidence of how these processes play out as local governments engage in urban adaptation planning. This paper starts to address this gap by examining social learning processes in two cities in India. We show how the social learning processes interact with complex governance contexts in the two cities and how evidence of outcomes is emerging across individuals, networks, and systems. We go on to argue that there are several areas of social learning that need further theorisation to support its application in the urban context. First, theories of social learning need to allow for unequal power relationships to continue to shape learning processes and take into account structural and historical dynamics as well as relational forms of power. Second, the way that scale is understood needs to be reopened as a point of analysis to understand how scalar concepts are used by actors to frame and locate problems and solutions rather than being understood as fixed and immutable.
Keywords: Climate change; India; Social learning; governance; urban planning

Urban climate adaptation and the reshaping of state–society relations: The politics of community knowledge and mobilisation in Indore, India - Chu, Eric K (Urban Studies, 2018)
Current research on climate change adaptation in cities highlights the role of local governments in facilitating adaptation actions, but rarely assesses whether (and if so, how) local communities organise around emerging climate priorities to affect political change. This paper explores changing state–society relationships through the reconstitution of community collectives and advocacy organisations for advancing climate change adaptation in the Indian city of Indore. The paper shows that communities are indeed recognising the need for adaptation but are, at the same time, integrating adaptation actions with existing strategies for advocating development rights. Communities are also rebuilding alliances between municipal and local institutions for public service and infrastructure provision, which point to the centrality of community politics in urban climate adaptation processes. However, such mobilisations are often dependent on existing political networks and a legacy of advocacy around poverty alleviation needs, which sideline more transformative agendas around inclusiveness, equity, and resilient urban futures.

Unpacking the concept of political will to confront corruption - Brinkerhoff, Derek W. (U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, 2010)
Quite often, "lack of political will" is identified as the culprit for poorly performing anti-corruption programmes. Yet despite the frequency with which it is used to explain unsatisfactory reform outcomes, political will remains under-defined and poorly understood. Further, assessments are often conducted retrospectively, looking back at failed programmes. By applying a model of political will that specifies a set of action-based components that are observable and measurable, and amenable to external reinforcement and support, more clarity regarding the degree of political will can be achieved.

Unpacking 'Participation': models, meanings and practices - Cornwall, A. (Community Development Journal, 2008)

Unpacking Mechanisms in Climate Resilient Agriculture Interventions - Barrett, Sam; D'Errico, Stefano; Anderson, Simon; Nebsu, Bayu (New Directions for Evaluation, 2020)
The investigation of causal mechanisms has the capacity to provide donors and implementing institutions with a greater understanding of people's reasoning and reactions as they work with interventions. This chapter contributes to the literature by identifying behavioral mechanisms generated through engagement with climate-resilient agriculture interventions within a larger livelihood project in Ethiopia. It works through the steps that enabled the study to unpack the black box between the climate-smart interventions and the outcome of crop production. The first step was a matching-based sampling design, following households over 3 years with six biannual surveys, and setting up a quasi-experimental evaluation setting. The second step used the data generated from the surveys in difference-in-difference models to assess the impact of the intervention on crop production. Third, to gain insight into the mechanisms at work, Focus Group Discussions (FGD) were conducted with smallholder farmer project beneficiaries. The FGDs revealed what the beneficiaries themselves considered the key mechanisms generated from the intervention, thus forming the bridge between the interventions and outcome. The result was an evaluation design enabling deeper insight into attribution claims. The findings offered novel insights for policymakers about how the climate-resilient interventions worked for the people themselves and shedding light on the inner workings of the climate-smart technologies. Finally, they provided key stakeholders (commissioning agency and implementing organizations) with a powerful means by which to learn about the last project, so to better plan for the next iteration and improve the climate resilience of smallholder farmers.

Uniting Against Corruption - A Playbook on Anti-Corruption Collective Action - UN Global Compact (UN Global Compact, 2021)
The 2021 guide provides an easy-to-follow six-step approach on how to develop, implement, and sustain a CA, with respect to the reader’s local corruption landscape and potential stakeholders. The adaptive framework proposed can be used to address corruption challenges, mitigate possible business risks, and achieve optimal results.

UNDP Digital Leadership Learning Modules - UNDP (United Nations Development Programme, 2022)
In order to support the digital transformation of government operations Digital Learning Modules for Civil Servants are available, an off-the-shelf package of capacity development in form of replicable training modules to empower public servants at both the local and central government level to be leaders of digital transformation for delivering better public services. The modules cover a multitude of fundamental areas: comprehending digital government and services, human-centered design for inclusivity and agile learning cycles; feature the importance of security and privacy, the value of data and how to manage data and technology related risks; spotlight the key role of supportive leadership and offer practical tools for assessing and overcoming main barriers to ensure a successful digital transformation journey.

Understanding ‘theory of change’ in international development: A review of existing knowledge - Stein, Danielle; Valters, Craig (LSE, 2012)
This is a review by Danielle Stein and Craig Valters of the concepts and debates within ‘Theory of Change’ (ToC) material, resulting from a search and detailed analysis of available donor, agency and expert guidance documents. The review was undertaken as part of a Justice and Security Research Program (JSRP) and The Asia Foundation (TAF) collaborative project, and focuses on the field of international development.

Understanding ‘the users’ in Technology for Transparency and Accountability Initiatives - Wanjiku Kelbert, Alexandra; McGee, Rosemary; Carlitz, Ruth (2013)

Understanding the Conditions for fostering the right kind of innovation - Edwards, Duncan (Making All Voices Count, 2014)
MAVC's Duncan Edwards reflects on the first in a series of thematic discussions led by the Institute of Development Studies. The second of two posts.

Understanding Strategic Capacity in Constituency-Based Organizations - Jane Booth-Tobin; Kal Munis; Lynsy Smithson-Stanley; Hahrie Han (The P3 Lab, Johns Hopkins University, 2021)
Movement organizations work in inherently uncertain political environments. Whether an organization is advocating for a new minimum wage, working to close a private prison, or seeking to influence an election, the terrain they are operating on shifts nearly every day. That is increasingly true as political uncertainty rises in the 21st century, particularly for historically race-class subjugated communities. Any movement-based organization seeking to build, exercise, and win political power must have sophisticated strategic capacities to be able to navigate these uncertain, dynamic, and constantly shifting political environments. Yet, our knowledge of how movements can nurture the kind of strategic capacities that allows them to build constituencies and leadership that can operate in the flexible ways needed for these dynamic circumstances is limited. This report seeks to synthesize what is currently known about organizations that successfully build and wield strategic capacity, with a particular eye toward how it might apply to constituency-based organizations. The report concludes with an assessment and facilitated conversation guide to support movements and movement organizations in understanding how developed (or not) their strategic capacities are.

Understanding Social Accountability: Politics, Power and Building New Social Contracts - Hickey, Sam; King, Sophie (The Journal of Development Studies, 2016)
Calls to deepen levels of social accountability within social protection interventions need to be informed by the now extensive experience of promoting social accountability in developing countries. Drawing on a systematic review of over 90 social accountability interventions, including some involving social protection, this paper shows that politics and context are critical to shaping their success. We argue that the politics of social protection and of social accountability resonate strongly with the broader project of transforming state-society relations in developing countries. This requires a reconceptualisation of social accountability and social protection in terms of the broader development of ‘social contracts’, and that the current emphasis on promoting bottom-up forms of accountability needs to be balanced by efforts to strengthen and legitimise public authority in developing countries.

Understanding Political Economy Analysis and Thinking and Working Politically - Whaites, Alan; Piron, Laure-Hélène; Menocal, Alina Rocha; Teskey, Graham (FCDO and TWP CoP, 2023)
This guide is adapted from work by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) with inputs from members of the Thinking and Working Politically Community of Practice (TWP CoP). It outlines how to understand and use a set of analytical tools that are collectively known as Political Economy Analysis (PEA). The guide aims to equip practitioners to act in an informed manner, given that development objectives are invariably politically complex, and entail engaging with counterparts’ political incentives and preferences. The guide summarises different types of tools – from very light-touch to more in-depth approaches – and provides advice on how development professionals can decide what is most appropriate in a given context, with illustrations based on the experiences of teams working on these issues. This guide will help development professionals and others to make use of PEA and to apply it to their own specific needs. The first part of the guide offers a general picture of the approach. The second part provides more specific guidance for those who are tasked with deploying a PEA. Contents –> Main audience What is PEA, its role and purpose (Section 2) –> General information for all readers The main elements of PEA (Section 3) Thinking and Working Politically (Section 4) –> Core information for teams planning and using PEA How to ensure quality (Section 5) –> Essential reading for those directly responsible for a PEA Important concepts and terminology (Annex) –> General information for all readers

Understanding Networks: The functions of research policy networks - Mendizabal, Enrique (ODI, 2006)
We are constantly talking about networks. Banks use their networks to offer global services to customers; airlines fly passengers all over the world via their networks of partners; news agencies use media networks to keep us informed every minute of the day; and terrorist networks threaten citizens around the world. The importance of networks extends to the development sector: they organise civil society to advocate for and implement change; they link the local with the global, the private with the public; and they provide spaces for the creation, sharing and dissemination of knowledge. In a way, networks seem to make anything and everything happen. But we have yet to understand what they are and what they can and cannot do. In the development literature, a huge variety of policy and social network concepts and applications exists. This paper attempts to set out a framework to help clarify what research policy networks do.

Understanding Indicators And Monitoring For Sustainability In The Context Of Complex Social-Ecological Systems - Haider, L. Jamila; Iribarrem, Alvaro; Gardner, Toby; Latawiec, Agnieszka E; Alves-Pinto, Helena; Strassburg, Bernardo (De Gruyter Open, 2015)

Understanding Governance from the Margins: What Does It Mean In Practice? - Barnes, Katrina, Katrina, Barnes; Anderson, Colin; de Chassy, Stephanie; Ahmed, Affaf; Ali, Mudabbir; Aung, Myo Min; Chaimite, Egidio; Joshi, Anuradha; Khan, Danyal; Loureiro, Miguel; Posse, Lucio; Rowlands, Jo; et al. (Institute of Development Studies (IDS), 2021)
What does governance look like ‘from below’ – from the perspectives of poor and marginalised households? How do patterns of conflict affect that? These were the questions at the heart of the Governance at the Margins research project. Over three years from 2017-2020 we worked to explore this through in-depth study in conflict-affected areas of Mozambique, Myanmar, and Pakistan. Our research teams interviewed the same people regularly over that time, finding out how they resolved problems and interacted with authorities. In this paper we connect what we found to the realities and complexities of development practice, drawing on the input of 20 experienced practitioners working in bilateral and multilateral development agencies and international NGOs, who generously gave their time to help us think through the practical implications of our wealth of findings.

Understanding and governing learning in sustainability transitions: A review - van Mierlo, Barbara; Beers, Pieter J. (Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 2018)
Many transitions scholars underscore the importance of learning in sustainability transitions, but the associated learning processes have hardly been conceptualised. The diverse, well-established research fields related to learning are broadly ignored or loosely applied. In this paper, we systematically explore four interesting learning traditions in terms of their value for gaining an in-depth understanding of learning in sustainability transitions and their relevance for fostering learning, by connecting them to key features of transitions. The selected learning traditions from different disciplinary backgrounds provide valuable insights. None of them sufficiently addresses the complexity of transitions. They include, however, a diversity of relevant learning contexts. We conclude that they have value for investigating new areas such as learning in socio-technological regimes and in later phases of a transition, while enlightening forms of learning that have not yet been fully recognised in transition studies, such as superficial learning, unlearning, and learning to resist change.
Keywords: Collaborative learning; Interactive learning; Organizational learning; Social learning; Sustainability transition

Unconditional cash support sparks transformation: A story from CLARISSA Social Protection Intervention in Dhaka - Aktar, Afrin; Debnath, Raj; Kashfi, Sharmin (CLARISSA, 2023)
The CLARISSA Social Protection (SP) intervention provided six months of unconditional cash transfers to every household in the Gojmohol neighbourhood,...

Uncertainty, Precaution, and Adaptive Management in Wildlife Trade - Wiersema, Annecoos (Michigan Journal of International Law, 2015)

Uncertainty and COVID-19: A turning point for Monitoring Evaluation, Research and Learning? - A discussion note for aid actors, policymakers and practitioners - Tyrrel, Lavinia; Roche, Chris; Jackson, Elisabeth (Abt Associates, 2020)
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly shifted the context in which aid and development is being delivered. The global scale of the pandemic and the speed at which it is spreading mean that the ‘normal’ economic, ideological and organisational influences which shape (if not determine) aid delivery are in flux. This means that – for a relatively short-period – there is scope for aid actors to work collectively to embed more locally-led, politically-informed and adaptive forms of MERL in aid and development practice. These forms of Monitoring Evaluation Research and Learning (MERL) are not only well-suited to the current global pandemic. They also offer ways for aid program decision makers and practitioners to make sense of the complex and uncertain contexts in which much development work takes place. Applying locally-led, politically-informed and adaptive forms of MERL in the COVID-19 context and beyond requires a shift in mindset and approaches. Situations of complexity, in which it is difficult to predict the relationships between cause and effect, do not lend themselves to linear approaches and fixed indicators. Instead, they require ‘navigation by judgement’, ongoing learning and adaptation and greater privileging of local knowledge, and of the perspectives of those who are often excluded. Rather than being focused on upwards accountability, simple numbers and good news stories, the core function of MERL in this context is to support a better understanding – in real-time – of the changing operating context, to generate learning about the immediate impact of policy and program responses and their longer-term effects, and to inform decision making by front line staff. Whether the opportunities afforded by this ‘critical juncture’ are realised will depend on the degree to which those in the aid and development sector use this opportunity to promote a shift in the deep incentive structures within which development agencies are embedded. On the one hand, the pandemic underscores the limits of the linear understandings of change which underpin many orthodox approaches to planning, design and associated MERL. On the other hand, there is a vested interest in the status quo amongst many organisations, consultants, researchers and MERL practitioners. This is because approaches which promote locally-led development inevitably require those in power to relinquish control. While a range of factors make this shift difficult, there is more scope to change internal ways of working in development agencies than is commonly acknowledged. There is no time like the present to advocate for a ‘new normal’ for MERL.

Typology of sociotechnical transition pathways - Geels, Frank W.; Schot, Johan (Research Policy, 2007)
Contributing to debates about transitions and system changes, this article has two aims. First, it uses criticisms on the multi-level perspective as stepping stones for further conceptual reﬁnements. Second, it develops a typology of four transition pathways: transformation, reconﬁguration, technological substitution, and de-alignment and re-alignment. These pathways differ in combinations of timing and nature of multi-level interactions. They are illustrated with historical examples.

TWP CoP (Thinking and Working Politically - Community of Practice, 2016)

Two Tunes, One Dance: Keeping Programming Agile - Learning Lab (USAID Learning Lab, 2017)

Two Paths to Supporting Grassroots Innovation - Cooper, Nathan; Hazeldine, Shaun; Quaggiotto, Giulio (Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2017)
An innovation experiment in Indonesia yields insights on how international development organizations can effectively foster innovation within the communities they aim to help.

Two Loops Guide - Colchester, Joss (Si Network, 2023)
The Two Loop model is a nonlinear theory of change based upon the ideas of living systems created by Margaret Wheatley & Deborah Frieze. It provides us with insight into the simultaneous growth and decline process that are underway within a system during a transition period. In this way, it provides a heuristic for us to better try and recognize and connect the past to the future during a change process. It likewise gives us the possibility to try and come to some consensus about where we might be as a group in this process of change and the best actions to take at different stages. This guide will be of relevance for anyone involved in a complex organizational change process.

Two Loops – Excerpted from - Stilger, Bob

Two decades of public sector innovation: building an analytical framework from a systematic literature review of types, strategies, conditions, and results - Criado, J. Ignacio; Alcaide-Muñoz, Laura; Liarte, Irene (Public Management Review, 2023)
Scholarly attention in innovation in the public sector is growing rapidly, provoking analytical complexity. We developed a systematic literature review about Public Sector Innovation (PSI), analysing 169 articles published between 2001 and 2021, using PRISMA. We present a comprehensive approach to PSI testing and empirically develop an analytical framework based on the most common combinations of the studied dimensions. Additionally, we propose three main research avenues for the future of PSI: (1) studying PSI in different contexts, (2) expanding the analysis of configurations in PSI initiatives, and (3) analysing ambidextrous strategies to support the practical implementation of PSI.
Publisher: Routledge _eprint: https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2023.2254310

Twinning “Practices of Change” With “Theory of Change”: Room for Emergence in Advocacy Evaluation - Arensman, Bodille; van Waegeningh, Cornelie; van Wessel, Margit (American Journal of Evaluation, 2018)
Theory of change (ToC) is currently the approach for the evaluation and planning of international development programs. This approach is considered especially suitable for complex interventions. We question this assumption and argue that ToC’s focus on cause–effect logic and intended outcomes does not do justice to the recursive nature of complex interventions such as advocacy. Supported by our work as evaluators, and specifically our case study of an advocacy program on child rights, we illustrate how advocacy evolves through recursive interactions, with outcomes that are emergent rather than predictable. We propose putting “practices of change” at the center by emphasizing human interactions, using the analytical lenses of strategies as practice and recursiveness. This provides room for emergent outcomes and implies a different use of ToC. In this article, we make a clear distinction between theoretical reality models and the real world of practices.

Twenty years of UK governance programmes in Nigeria - Piron, Laure-Hélène; Cummings, Clare; Williams, Gareth; Derbyshire, Helen; Hadley, Sierd (ODI, 2021)
This Flagship report analyses 20 years of governance programmes in Nigeria funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in the North-western states of Jigawa (since 2001), Kano (since 2005) and Kaduna (since 2006), as well as the North-eastern state of Yobe (since 2011). The report’s main research question is whether, how, under what conditions and for whom UK-funded state-level governance programmes in Nigeria have contributed to sustained changes in governance, and related changes in health and education. ... The report concludes with the following recommendations: To international development partners: 1. Invest for the long term – 10 to 20 years – combining support for both state and nonstate actors. 2. Ensure programmes have the strategic-level mandate, managerial capacity and frontline staff skills to pursue politically savvy opportunities. 3. Take PEA to the next level by unpacking causal mechanisms, understanding incentives and designing interventions to make change happen. 4. Give governance programmes the ability to flex between core governance and service delivery issues. 5. Incentivise greater collaboration between governance and sector programmes. 6. Incentivise greater attention to gender, and to social inclusion beyond disability issues, in governance programming. To FCDO: 7. Empower and resource FCDO teams to enable TWP programmes, ensuring decision-making by country teams to respond to local priorities. 8. Re-imagine TWP for FCDO Nigeria, giving implementers the space to operate in TWP ways. 9. Incentivise stronger collaboration between PERL, Lafiya (health programme) and the Partnership for Learning for All in Nigerian Education. 10. Invest in impact data analysis. To partner governments in Nigeria and beyond: 11. Explicitly set out the objectives for which you would like to receive assistance. 12. Use TWP principles to decide how development partners can support your political objectives and the scope for politically-feasible and mutually-beneficial collaboration. 13. Invest in the coordination of development partners. To non-state partners in Nigeria and beyond: 14. Join coalitions to achieve your priorities. 15. Select development partners which can strengthen your skills, not just fund your activities.

Try, learn, adapt, repeat: T/A Learn reflections - Alan (www.globalintegrity.org, 2015)
By Alan Hudson — November 16, 2015. I spent last week in Rio de Janeiro (tough assignment, I know), participating in the Transparency and Accountability Initiative’s third T/A Learn Annual Workshop. As the report of the second Annual Workshop, held...

Triangulation, Respondent Validation, and Democratic Participation in Mixed Methods Research - Torrance, Harry (Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 2012)
Over the past 10 years or so the “Field” of “Mixed Methods Research” (MMR) has increasingly been exerting itself as something separate, novel, and significant, with some advocates claiming paradigmatic status. Triangulation is an important component of mixed methods designs. Triangulation has its origins in attempts to validate research findings by generating and comparing different sorts of data, and different respondents’ perspectives, on the topic under investigation. Respondent validation has sometimes been included in such processes, but it is an element that has not attracted significant attention from the MMR community. The article argues that attention to respondent validation is a significant issue for methodological debate and that it should be an important aspect of the development of democratic participation in MMR.

Trapped in a Treadmill: Bureaucratic Constraints on Aid Programs - Hoben, Allen (Harvard International Review, 1992)
Publisher: Harvard International Review

Transparency, Participation, & Accountability Grantmaking Strategy (THE WILLIAM AND FLORA HEWLETT FOUNDATION, 2015)

Transforming our work: Getting ready for transformational projects - Kehrer, Daniel; Flossmann-Kraus, Ursula; Ronco Alarcon, Sabrina Valeria; Albers, Vivien; Aschmann, Gwendolin (GIZ, 2020)

Transforming M&E for Uncertain and Complex Contexts: The UNDP’s Innovation Sandbox Approach - Fraser, Dugan; Haldrup, Søren (Powered by Evidence Podcast, 2022)
How can we transform monitoring and evaluation (M&E) into a more adaptive, emergent process to address uncertainty and complexity in todays’ world? How do we move from compliance and accountability to learning – to support better, more timely, decisions? Join GEI Program Manager, Dugan Fraser, as he discusses these questions and others with Special Guest, Søren Haldrup, from UNDP's Strategic Innovation Unit where he manages UNDP's innovation facility and leads a new initiative called the M&E Sandbox.

Transforming governance: what role for technologies? - Edwards, Duncan; Brock, Karen; McGee, Rosie (MAVC, 2016)
The technological innovations of the last two decades – cell phones, tablets, open data and social media – mean that governments and citizens can interact like never before. Around the world, in different contexts, citizens have fast-increasing access to information and communications technologies (ICTs) that enable them to monitor government performance and express their views on it in real time. In February 2016, a learning event in Manila, convened by Making All Voices Count, brought together 55 researchers and practitioners from 15 countries. They all work on using new technologies for accountable governance. They shared their diverse experiences, reflected on how they approach transformative governance, and visited Filipino accountable governance initiatives. This report shares some of what they learned.
Keywords: IMPORTANT

Transforming governance: how can technology help reshape democracy? - Leighninger, Matt (Institute of Development Studies, 2016)
Around the world, people are asking how we can make democracy work in new and better ways. We are frustrated by political systems in which voting is the only legitimate political act, concerned that many republics don’t have the strength or appeal to withstand authoritarian figures, and disillusioned by the inability of many countries to address the fundamental challenges of health, education and economic development. If we want to create democracies in which citizens have meaningful roles in shaping public decisions and solving public problems, we should be asking a number of questions about civic tech, including: • How can online tools best support new forms of democracy? • What are the examples of how this has happened? • What are some variables to consider in comparing these examples? • How can we learn from each other as we move forward? This background note has been developed to help democratic innovators explore these questions and examine how their work can provide answers.

Transformative project design - Kehrer, Daniel (GIZ, 2020)
There are many definitions of the term ‘transformation’ or ‘transformational change’. The first section of the report develops a basic understanding of transformations or transitions (used synonymously) viewed from various perspectives. In this, transformations are defined as processes that use disruptive innovations to change systems into fundamentally new systems that subsequently form the new mainstream. Section two describes existing approaches to environmental and climate finance in international cooperation and discusses them in light of the proposed definition. All of the approaches have the potential to be further refined and in that process often to increase the precision of what is understood by each type of transformation. The definitions already state which criteria and indicators are referred to and how relevant they are. There is wide diversity in the type of criteria and indicators used by the various organisations, and how they are classified, but certain common features can be identified and with the aid of the literature on transformations they can be combined to form a comprehensive framework. With this in mind, the derivation of quality criteria for transformative interventions is explained in section 3.1. Transformational change at one and the same time calls for big decisions and innumerable projects in a particular field of transformation; the projects cannot be planned on the drawing board but still should be coordinated with each other. Section 3.2 offers guidance on this. Section 3.3 argues in favour of focusing more closely on the ‘process promise’ and employing a more iterative and more adaptable commissioning procedure. Finally, section 3.4 introduces two types of indicators under the various criteria: design indicators, which measure the quality of interventions that are aimed at influencing transformations (process orientation), and outcome indicators, which measure the process and/or progress of a transformation itself.

Transformative Networks Are Multiscalar - Holley, June (NetworkWeaver, 2018)
This is an excerpt from the Network Weaver Handbook. I’ll be writing an update with my latest research and thinking on the topic in the coming weeks so stay tuned! June Holley How does tr…

Transformation, politics and implementation: smart implementation in governance programs - Kirsch, Renate; Siehl, Elke; Stockmayer, Albrecht (Nomos, 2017)
Working in environments characterised by a high degree of uncertainty, uncontrollability and unpredictability, development agents try to organise complex realities into manageable units. What principles influence the decision on adequate approaches and necessary steps? Through theoretical considerations and nine case studies, the GIZ traces implementation processes and identifies underlying guiding principles which provide the flexibility and adaptability that is necessary for acting in complex contexts. Main findings show that an adaptive and reflexive management structure is crucial for successful implementation. Quick iteration and tight feedback loops facilitate adaptation and reorientation. Contextsensitive knowledge and constant monitoring create a space for learning and innovation. A joint vision for the future which is used for orientation purposes and can be modified according to new findings and developments fosters fruitful cooperation.
OCLC: 1000398466

Toyota production system: beyond large-scale production - Ōno, Taiichi; Bodek, Norman (Productivity Press, 1988)
OCLC: 255047797
Keywords: Lean Production; Production management; Toyota-Jidōsha-Kōgyō-KK

Towards transformative social learning on the path to 1.5 degrees - Macintyre, Thomas; Lotz-Sisitka, Heila; Wals, Arjen; Vogel, Coleen; Tassone, Valentina (Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2018)

Towards ‘Targeted Systems Change’ - Rye, Sam (Fieldnotes by Sam Rye, 2019)
Modelling and communicating how to shift systems

Towards informed and multi-faceted wildlife trade interventions - Challender, Daniel W.S.; Harrop, Stuart R.; MacMillan, Douglas C. (Global Ecology and Conservation, 2015)
International trade in wildlife is a key threat to biodiversity conservation. CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, seeks to ensure international wildlife trade is sustainable, relying on trade bans and controls. However, there has been little comprehensive review of its effectiveness and here we review approaches taken to regulate wildlife trade in CITES. Although assessing its effectiveness is problematic, we assert that CITES boasts few measurable conservation successes. We attribute this to: non-compliance, an over reliance on regulation, lack of knowledge and monitoring of listed species, ignorance of market forces, and influence among CITES actors. To more effectively manage trade we argue that interventions should go beyond regulation and should be multi-faceted, reflecting the complexity of wildlife trade. To inform these interventions we assert an intensive research effort is needed around six key areas: (1) factors undermining wildlife trade governance at the national level, (2) determining sustainable harvest rates for, and adaptive management of CITES species, (3) gaining the buy-in of local communities in implementing CITES, (4) supply and demand based market interventions, (5) means of quantifying illicit trade, and (6) political processes and influence within CITES.
Keywords: CITES; Community conservation; Compliance; Economics; Regulation; Wildlife trade

Towards excellence: Policy and action research for sustainable development - iied (The International Institute for Environment and Development, 2012)

Towards evidence-informed adaptive management - Hernandez, Kevin; Ramalingam, Ben; Wild, Leni (ODI/GLAM, 2019)
Development and humanitarian organisations seeking to be adaptive have emphasised the need to be transparent about complexity and uncertainty; to be honest about their inability to control what happens; and to design programmes that change over time to become more appropriate and relevant. At their heart, adaptive management approaches emphasise the ability to lean, 'unlearn' and adapt programming accordingly. The cornerstone of effective learning is the creation, gathering, accumulation, interpretation and use of data and evidence. This working paper provides development professionals with tools, strategies and ideas to help them use evidence for adaptive management in practical and evidence-informed ways. Key messages - Evidence is central to effective and rigorous adaptive management. However, despite this central importance, exactly how evidence has been used to inform decisions for adapting development and humanitarian programmes in the past remains unobservable to many. - There is a need to strengthen and document evidence-informed adaptive management. This working paper proposes a roadmap to do this. - Those seeking to use evidence for adaptive management will need to manage trade-offs between ensuring a rigorous, documented (and auditable) trail of evidence-informed actions, being pragmatic about the time and resources allocated to documentation and recognising that it may be necessary to proceed without rigorous evidence when it is unavailable.