Future oriented conservation: knowledge governance, uncertainty and learning - Wyborn, Carina; van Kerkhoff, Lorrae; Dunlop, Michael; Dudley, Nigel; Guevara, Oscar (Biodiversity and Conservation, 2016)
Despite signiﬁcant progress in understanding climate risks, adaptation efforts in biodiversity conservation remain limited. Adaptation requires addressing immediate conservation threats while also attending to long term, highly uncertain and potentially transformative future changes. To date, conservation research has focused more on projecting climate impacts and identifying possible strategies, rather than understanding how governance enables or constrains adaptation actions. We outline an approach to futureoriented conservation that combines the capacities to anticipate future ecological change; to understand the implications of that change for social, political and ecological values; and the ability to engage with the governance (and politics) of adaptation. Our approach builds on the adaptive management and governance literature, however we explicitly address the (often contested) rules, knowledge and values that enable or constrain adaptation. We call for a broader focus that extends beyond technical approaches to acknowledge the sociopolitical challenges inherent to adaptation. More importantly, we suggest that conservation policy makers and practitioners can use this approach to facilitate learning and adaptation in the context of complexity, transformational change and uncertainty.

Future Democracies - Laboratory of Collective Intelligence for Participatory Democracy - Yago Bermejo (MediaLab Prado, 2019)
The Laboratory of Collective Intelligence for Participatory Democracy (2016-2019) is a project that arose out of Medialab Prado in coordination with the Government Area of Citizen Participation, Transparency and Open Government of the city of Madrid. Its work has been very connected with the analysis, reflection and innovation found on the digital participation platform Decide Madrid. The project has also organised many workshops and conferences that have brought together hundreds of people from the world of participatory democracy. This publication summarises the project’s core working principles as well as the open activities it has hosted over the course of these three years. These pilot experiences offer a possible vision of the future of democratic governance.
Keywords: Democracy

From Users and Choosers to Makers and Shapers. Repositioning Participation in Social Policy - Cornwall, Andrea; Gaventa, John (IDS Bulletin, 2000)

From Thinking Politically To Working Politically: Are We Really Doing Development Any Differently? (2019)
In June it will be seven years since the Center for Global Development published the Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) paper. Few academic papers have had such an impact on development thinking. The question is whether the paper – and subsequent debate and experimentation - have had a demonstrable and beneficial impact on development practice. Experience to date suggests thinking politically is easier than working politically. Practitioners in development agencies, governments and contractors find that convincing theoretical literature can be tricky to operationalize in a fractious environment. Still, a growing number of programs have set out to be politically informed in design and politically savvy in implementation. Engaging the reality of politics creates the potential to promote change. To consider these issues, Abt Associates is hosting a workshop for international development practitioners in Washington, DC, on June 18th, 2019, to discuss the successes and failures in operationalizing this agenda. The session will allow practitioners to discuss experiences in TWP and propose solutions or approaches. Please join us in this Innovations in Governance series finale where four internationally renowned thinkers and doers will join us to offer their perspectives.

From Silos to Synergy: Learning from politically informed, gender aware programs - Derbyshire, Helen; Siow, Orlanda; Gibson, Sam; Hudson, David; Roche, Chris (DLP Program, 2018)

From purposeful to meaningful adaptive programming: how about adaptive operations? - Nixon, Nicola (Devpolicy Blog from the Development Policy Centre, 2019)
Embracing adaptive programming approaches but sticking with rigid, traditional systems-based operations? It's time to take a long hard look at all the boring stuff, says Nicola Nixon.

From principle to practice: Implementing the Principles for Digital Development - Waugaman, Adele (2016)
The Principles for Digital Development (download PDF here) find their roots in the efforts of individuals, development organizations, and donors alike who have called for a more concerted effort by donors and implementing partners to institutionalize lessons learned in the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in development projects.
Keywords: IMPORTANT

From PRA to PLA and pluralism: practice and theory - Chambers, Robert (2007)
PRA (participatory rural appraisal) and the more inclusive PLA (participatory learning and action) are families of participatory methodologies which have evolved as behaviours and attitudes, methods, and practices of sharing. During the 1990s and 2000s PRA/PLA has spread and been applied in most countries in the world. Among the multifarious domains of application, some of the more common have been natural resource management and agriculture, programmes for equity, empowerment, rights and security, and community-level planning and action. Related participatory methodologies which have co-evolved and spread widely as movements include farmer participatory research, Integrated Pest Management, Reflect, Stepping Stones and Participatory Geographic Information Systems. Ideologically and epistemologically PRA/PLA seeks and embodies participatory ways to empower local and subordinate people, enabling them to express and enhance their knowledge and take action. It can be understood as having three main components: facilitators’ behaviours, attitudes and mindsets linked with precepts for action; methods which combine visuals, tangibles and groups; and sharing without boundaries. The interplay of these resonates with theories of chaos, complexity, emergence and deep simplicity, especially self-organising systems on the edge of chaos. Good practice has moved towards an eclectic pluralism in which branding, labels, ownership and ego give way to sharing, borrowing, improvisation, creativity and diversity, all these complemented by mutual and critical reflective learning and personal responsibility. Keywords: participatory methodologies; networks; pluralism; practice; theory.
Accepted: 2014-06-23T13:45:18Z Publisher: IDS

From poverty to power: how active citizens and effective states can change the world - Green, Duncan (2012)
From Poverty to Power From Poverty to Power argues that a radical redistribution of power, opportunities, and assets rather than traditional models of charitable or government aid is required to break the cycle of poverty and inequality. The forces driving this transformation are active citizens and effective states. Published in association with Oxfam GB. Full description

From Political Won't to Political Will: Building Support for Participatory Governance - Malena, Carmen (Kumarian Press, 2009)
* Geographically diverse examples of participatory governance in action* Practical case studies show how citizens can participate more fully in the political process Despite a recent wave of democratization around the world, traditional systems of representative democracy seem to be in crisis. Citizens in both the North and the South lack opportunities, rights and access to information and have expressed growing disillusionment with their governments. Ordinary citizens (especially women, poor people and other marginalized groups) are largely excluded from the political processes that directly affect their lives. There is now growing consensus that good governance is participatory governance (PG), but public officials are often reluctant to adopt such an approach. From Political Won’t to Political Will addresses the particular challenge of encouraging these officials to involve citizens in the political process. The book presents contributions by participants from CIVICUS’ 2008 conference on building political will for PG. Representing the perspectives of both civil society and government actors, they propose a number of strategies and lessons such as demonstrating the benefits of PG to governments, complementing formal democratic institutions, building trust, supporting PG champions and using strategic political timing. Their practical and highly original findings will interest anyone eager to see the empowerment of people around the world.
Google-Books-ID: xILlSXw3D5oC

From political economy analysis to doing development differently: a learning experience - Booth, David; Harris, Daniel; Wild, Leni (ODI, 2016)
A study of how development efforts can be strengthened by an awareness of political economy, reflecting on the experiences of PoGo policy researchers.
Keywords: IMPORTANT

From mouthset to mindset shifts in co-creating systems change - Blomkamp, Emma; Snow, Thea; Burkett, Ingrid (Griffith Centre for Systems Innovation, 2023)

From ‘Feedback Loops’ to ‘Responsive Governance’ - McGee, Rosie (Making All Voices Count, 2014)
Part of a sequenced learning process for MAVC's Research and Evidence Component, the summary of a thematic discussion led by researcher Rosemary McGee.

From Design Thinking to Systems Change - Conway, Rowan; Masters, Jeff; Thorold, Jake (RSA, 2017)
This report takes the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI), a twophase pre-procurement innovation programme that aims to match social challenges with new ideas, as its primary case study. It suggests augmenting the excellent design thinking deployed through SBRI with a think like a system, act like an entrepreneur lens in order to drive better social outcomes from SBRI-originating innovations. Programmes like SBRI have great potential to drive change and address pressing challenges, but must be guided by a more developed understanding of how change happens. The stakes are too high to not raise our game when it comes to social innovation. Wicked problems can be overcome but will require sophisticated theories of change able to account for the complexity and unpredictability of modern life. We offer think like a system, act like an entrepreneur as a contribution to this effort. This report is based on the following research: •• Desk based review of relevant literature; •• A series of structured interviews with participants in SBRI competitions; and •• An expert round table that brought together policymakers, commissioners, procurement experts and entrepreneurs to consider and develop initial findings.
Keywords: ⛔ No DOI found

From best practice to best fit: understanding and navigating wicked problems in international development - Ramalingam, Ben; Laric, Miguel; Primrose, John (ODI, 2014)

From analysis to action: operationalising learning and adaptation in Savings at the Frontier - Salehi, Yusef (2016)
Keywords: IMPORTANT

From a last mile century to a first mile revolution: the future is OSLO - Indy Johar (Medium, 2013)
The Future is OSLO

Framework for the Biodiversity Cross-Mission Learning Program - Environmental Incentives; Foundations of Success; ICF International (USAID, 2015)
USAID’s Bureau for Economic Growth, Education, and the Environment/Office of Forestry and Biodiversity (E3/FAB) launched the five-year Measuring Impact program (MI) to help strengthen USAID’s biodiversity programs by building the capacity of the Agency to design, monitor, and evaluate effective programs and by enhancing the evidence base that informs programming decisions. A core programmatic strategy of MI is to “Improve Biodiversity Conservation Approaches” with the life-of-project (LOP) objective that E3/FAB and the Missions engaged with MI have a greater understanding of conditions under which commonly deployed conservation strategic approaches are effective. To accomplish this, MI is working with E3/FAB to design and implement a Biodiversity Cross-Mission Learning Program (Learning Program) to systematically capture and share lessons on theories of change1 (TOCs) for common conservation strategic approaches in the USAID biodiversity portfolio.

Fractal approaches to scaling transformations to sustainability - O’Brien, Karen; Carmona, Rosario; Gram-Hanssen, Irmelin; Hochachka, Gail; Sygna, Linda; Rosenberg, Milda (Ambio, 2023)
Responses to sustainability challenges are not delivering results at the scale and speed called for by science, international agreements, and concerned citizens. Yet there is a tendency to underestimate the large-scale impacts of small-scale, local, and contextualized actions, and particularly the role of individuals in scaling transformations. Here, we explore a fractal approach to scaling sustainability transformations based on “universal values.” Universal values are proposed as intrinsic characteristics that connect humans and nature in a coherent, acausal way. Drawing on the Three Spheres of Transformation framework, we consider how enacting universal values can generate fractal-like patterns of sustainability that repeat recursively across scales. Fractal approaches shift the focus from scaling through “things” (e.g., technologies, behaviors, projects) to scaling through a quality of agency based on values that apply to all. We discuss practical steps involved in fractal approaches to scaling transformations to sustainability, provide examples, and conclude with questions for future research.
Keywords: Agency; Fractals; Relational paradigms; Scaling; Three Spheres of Transformation; Universal values

Four ways development practitioners can borrow from private sector adaptive approaches - Pett, Jamie (LearnAdapt, 2020)
Agile, lean startup and human-centred design can be an answer — if you’re asking the right questions

Fostering Systems Change - Gopal, Srik; Kania, John (2015)
Five simple rules for foundations seeking to create lasting social change.

Fostering Learning in Large Programmes and Portfolios: Emerging Lessons from Climate Change and Sustainable Development - Harvey, Blane; Pasanen, Tiina; Pollard, Alison; Raybould, Julia (Sustainability, 2017)
In ﬁelds like climate and development, where the challenges being addressed can be described as “wicked”, learning is key to successful programming. Useful practical and theoretical work is being undertaken to better understand the role of reﬂexive learning in bringing together different knowledge to address complex problems like climate change. Through a review of practical cases and learning theories commonly used in the areas of resilience, climate change adaptation and environmental management, this article: (i) reviews the theories that have shaped approaches to reﬂexive learning in large, highly-distributed climate change and resilience-building programmes for development; and (ii) conducts a comparative learning review of key challenges and lessons emerging from early efforts to promote and integrate reﬂexive learning processes in programmes of this nature. Using a case study approach, the authors focus on early efforts made in four large, inter-related (or nested) programmes to establish, integrate and sustain learning processes and systems. Eight themes emerged from the review and are considered from the perspective of learning programmes as emergent communities of practice. By investigating how these themes play out in the nested programming, the paper contributes to the limited existing body of evidence on learning in large climate change programmes and identiﬁes areas where future efforts might focus.

Fostering Learning and Effectiveness through Collaboration: A New Collaborative on Transparency, Accountability, and Participation (TAI, 2018)
What are the features, values, and practices of effective learning organizations? How do learning practices contribute to more effective programming? And, how can collaborations between academics, researchers and practitioners better support learning organizations in the global South? These are just a few of the questions that a new global learning collaborative seeks to explore. In …

Fostering Innovation and Entrepreneurialism in Public Sector Reform - Cummings, Clare (Public Administration and Development, 2015)
Summary There is growing recognition within the international development sector that there is a need for a new, more effective approach to engaging in public sector reform. This article builds on an emerging body of work that advocates more entrepreneurial and adaptive public sector reform programming. Drawing on knowledge and theory from public sector management, psychology and entrepreneurialism, this article aims to understand what motivates public sector workers to work entrepreneurially and suggest how these ideas can be applied to the way in which international development agencies engage in public sector reform work. This requires a shift in thinking from predesigned, large, externally led programmes promoting international best practice to interventions in which agencies adopt the role of a facilitator, helping to establish the enabling conditions for local partners to work entrepreneurially, developing their own solutions to the problems that they identify in their work. Copyright ? 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Keywords: Development; Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Public sector reform; motivation

Forward Look - A vision for the World Bank Group in 2030 - World Bank (World Bank, 2016)

Forget the money: De-linking technical assistance - Manuel, Clare (DFID-LASER Programme, 2016)

Foresight and International Development* - Bingley, Kate (IDS Bulletin, 2016)
This article provides an overview of the use of foresight-type approaches and techniques in policy-related work in international development. It draws primarily on published and grey literatures, as well as select interviews with foresight practitioners. It begins with a brief introduction to the approaches and tools used in the field of strategic foresight, and then a broad mapping of the foresight landscape as relevant to international development. It provides reflections on the evidence of use and impact of foresight initiatives, and makes suggestions around future directions for foresight in international development.

Foreign policy and complex adaptive systems: Exploring new paradigms for analysis and action - Frej, William; Ramalingam, Ben (Santa Fe Institute, 2011)

Foreign Aid and Its Unintended Consequences - Koch, Dirk-Jan (Routledge, 2023)
Foreign aid and international development frequently bring with it a range of unintended consequences, both negative and positive. This book delves into these consequences, providing a fresh and comprehensive guide to understanding and addressing them. The book starts by laying out a theoretical framework based on complexity thinking, before going on to explore the ten most prevalent kinds of unintended effects of foreign aid: backlash effects, conflict effects, migration and resettlement effects, price effects, marginalization effects, behavioural effects, negative spillover effects, governance effects, environmental effects, and ripple effects. Each chapter revolves around a set of concrete case studies, analysing the mechanisms underpinning the unintended effects and proposing ways in which policymakers, practitioners, and evaluators can tackle negative side effects and maximize positive side effects. The book also includes personal testimonies, a succinct overview of unintended effects, and suggestions for further reading. Providing a clear overview of what side effects to anticipate when planning, executing, and evaluating aid, this book will be an important resource for students, development practitioners, and policymakers alike.

Food security indicators - FAO (ESS Website, 2018)

Follow the rabbit: Field Guide to Systemic Design - CoLab (Government of Alberta, 2018)
This Field Guide is designed to support budding systemic designers to facilitate and lead systemic design projects. It’s designed for systemic designers who have basic familiarity with SD concepts and are looking for some practical tips and tools to put theory into action. While this Guide was designed with Government of Alberta staff in mind, the content applies across a range of issue areas, sectors, and intersections. The Guide goes through a systemic design project from concept to implementation. It takes you through the workshop planning process, and discusses workshop roles and client relations. In the FAQs, you’ll find explanations to some commonly asked questions about systemic design concepts to help you introduce others to SD and bring them along with you. You’ll get the most out of this field guide if you approach it with a systemic design mindset – open, willing to try things, a desire to learn, and a ‘yes, and’ orientation. Think of this field guide as an early stop in your systemic design journey: it’s not the end of your learning – it’s a jumping off point. In the Additional Resources section, you can connect to more in-depth explorations of concepts and practical applications.

FOCEVAL – Promoting Evaluation Capacities in Costa Rica:: Smart(er) Implementation with Capacity WORKS? - Storm, Sabrina (Transformation, Politics and Implementation, 2017)
The National Monitoring and Evaluation System of Costa Rica and its corresponding laws were established during the 1990s. Since then, the country has endeavored to implement monitoring and evaluation (M&E) activities as part of its public policy framework. Nevertheless, hardly any systematic evaluations had been conducted, and monitoring activities had been reduced mainly to the institutional self-reporting of implementation compliance. Persisting regional disparities and growing levels of inequality among the population raised the level of pressure on the government to present reliable information on the effectiveness of public interventions. Hence, results-oriented evaluations were promoted by some Costa Rican departments as

Five Ways to Make a Difference: Perceptions of Practitioners Working in Urban Neighborhoods - Durose, Catherine; van Hulst, Merlijn; Jeffares, Stephen; Escobar, Oliver; Agger, Annika; de Graaf, Laurens (Public Administration Review, 2015)

Five tips for evaluating your impact in international development - Pasanen, Tiina (The Guardian, 2015)
How can impact evaluations actually be helpful? These top tips will save development professionals time, energy and money. International development can be messy – with uncertain, complex settings, and multiple partners with different interests, goals and capacities. At the same time, we are under increasing pressure to demonstrate impact. We have to show that our projects have made a real change in people’s lives and that donor or taxpayer money hasn’t been wasted. But impact evaluations, which are often seen as a solution to this, aren’t always used. And in some cases they are unhelpful. So how can we improve the quality of impact evaluations, so that they produce results that are useful? This is where evaluability assessments come in. By asking whether we should evaluate a project – and if so, when and how – these assessments can improve the quality of impact evaluations. Here are five other reasons to assess evaluability before starting an impact evaluation.

Five Misunderstandings About Case-Study Research - Flyvbjerg, Bent (Qualitative Inquiry, 2006)
This article examines five common misunderstandings about case-study research: (a) theoretical knowledge is more valuable than practical knowledge; (b) one cannot generalize from a single case, therefore, the single-case study cannot contribute to scientific development; (c) the case study is most useful for generating hypotheses, whereas other methods are more suitable for hypotheses testing and theory building; (d) the case study contains a bias toward verification; and (e) it is often difficult to summarize specific case studies. This article explains and corrects these misunderstandings one by one and concludes with the Kuhnian insight that a scientific discipline without a large number of thoroughly executed case studies is a discipline without systematic production of exemplars, and a discipline without exemplars is an ineffective one. Social science may be strengthened by the execution of a greater number of good case studies.

Finding the Spaces for Change: A Power Analysis - Gaventa, John (IDS Bulletin, 2006)

Finding and using causal hotspots: a practice in the making - Apgar, Marina; Snijder, Mieke (Institute of Development Studies, 2021)
This is the second blog in our series ‘Lessons on using Contribution Analysis for impact evaluation’. In our first blog, we introduced Contribution Analysis (CA) as an overarching approach to theory-based evaluation and the idea of causal hotpots as a way to zoom in, unpack and make the hard choices of where to focus evaluation research. Identifying specific links in the theory of change (ToC) with specific evaluation questions enables you to then choose appropriate methods. We have applied the approach in diverse settings, testing how robust Contribution Analysis can really be. Here we walk you through an example.

FeverBee’s Online Community Strategy Template - FeverBee (FeverBee, 2018)

Feedback Commons (Keystone Accountability, 2018)

Feasibility Study: Crowdsourcing High-frequency food price data in rural Indonesia - UN Global Pulse (2015)

FCDO Programme Operating Framework - FCDO (FCDO, 2021)
The Programme Operating Framework (PrOF) sets the standard for how the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) delivers its programmes and projects.

FCDO Beneficiary Engagement - FCDO (FCDO, 2021)
This guide has been developed to help build confidence and capability, distilling useful tips and considerations that may help teams think through programme delivery issues and interpret elements of the PrOF Rules. This PrOF Guide lays out: - The definition of beneficiary engagement. - The case for beneficiary engagement. - FCDO’s approach to beneficiary engagement. - Practical tips for how to integrate beneficiary engagement throughout the programme cycle, including guiding questions to ask, rules of thumb to apply, tools to use and challenges and special topics to consider during Design, Mobilisation, Delivery and Closure phases. At its core, beneficiary engagement is about processes that recognise the dignity and support the agency of the people whose lives we are trying to improve. It is about beneficiaries and programme constituents having a say over what assistance they receive and how they receive it. It is about engaging beneficiaries and programme constituents as people with valuable insights and capabilities, rather than a compliance exercise. It is about empowering all beneficiaries and programme constituents to improve their lives by engaging them in helping us make better design and delivery decisions for the programmes that affect their lives. It’s about ensuring that a diverse set of voices are heard. Harnessing the power of beneficiary engagement can also improve outcomes and help programmes reach them more efficiently. It helps define and promote Value for Money, improve transparency and ensure that beneficiaries are safe from harm and empowered to speak out wherever harm does occur. Beneficiary engagement is supported by FCDO policy commitments, PrOF Rules, internal guidance and key international commitments. Beneficiary engagement is applicable to, and valuable in, a range of contexts, including humanitarian contexts. Beneficiary engagement requires time and resources, but programmes can help ensure the benefits of engagement outweigh the costs by Doing No Harm, Engaging Early and Closing the Loop. It is ultimately the Programme Responsible Owner’s responsibility to determine what beneficiary engagement is suitable and feasible for a programme. Quality beneficiary engagement is not about applying the one “right” approach but rather thoughtfully considering key questions and applying key principles and proven tools to the programme’s context to achieve a programme that supports the dignity and agency of all beneficiaries as much as possible.

Fast Forwarding to Systems Maps of Corruption: Getting to Usable Analysis More Quickly - Woodrow, Peter (CJL, 2023)
For AC practitioners, systems mapping is essential but also difficult. To lessen obstacles, Peter Woodrow proposes a scaffolded approach. An Experiment in “Fast Forwarding” Drawing upon our near-decade work on corruption, we recently decided to try an experiment: we would present “common patterns” of corruption as tentative models to adapt and add to—rather than try to teach people to do systems mapping from scratch. In this teaching experiment, each common pattern would function as a kind of “scaffolding” or framework that participants can build on to generate a cogent systems map as the basis for identifying possible points of intervention and subsequent program planning.

Farewell DFID … a personal obituary - Mason, Phil (LinkedIn - Phil Mason, 2020)
Reflection on how DFID was created.

Fall in love with the solution, not the problem - Quaggiotto, Giulio; Leurs, Bas; Hazeldine, Shaun (Nesta, 2016)
Three strategies for international development organisations to solve problems without defining them.

Failure, Success and Improvisation of Information Systems Projects in Developing Countries - Heeks, Richard (Institute for Development Policy and Management, 2002)
Research on the Information Society, the Digital Divide and Information and Communication Technologies for development

Failing Forward: How CARE is focusing on what goes wrong to improve impact - Janoch, Emily (USAID LEARN, 2019)
CARE's Failing Forward initiative is sparking opportunities to showcase the ideas that don't work so we can spend more time implementing the ones that do. It's changing the conversation inside the organization, and leading to changes in the way we design and implement programs. It's also allowing us to make connections across a global portfolio of more than 900 projects, and with new and different partners to learn from their experience.

Failing Forward: How CARE is Focusing on What Goes Wrong to Improve Impact - Janoch, Emily (CARE, 2019)
CARE's Failing Forward initiative is sparking opportunities to showcase the ideas that don't work so we can spend more time implementing the ones that do. It's changing the conversation inside the organization, and leading to changes in the way we design and implement programs.

Facilities deserve a place in development - Lacy, Jacqui de (Devpolicy Blog from the Development Policy Centre, 2017)
There are different ways to deliver aid programs, DFAT often uses facilities in its larger relationships, what are the rationales and risks behind this?

Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Decision-Making - Kaner, Sam (John Wiley & Sons, 2014)
Unleash the transformative power of face to face groups The third edition of this ground–breaking book continues to advance its mission to support groups to do their best thinking. It demonstrates that meetings can be much more than merely an occasion for solving a problem or creating a plan. Every well–facilitated meeting is also an opportunity to stretch and develop the perspectives of the individual members, thereby building the strength and capacity of the group as a whole. This fully updated edition of The Facilitator′s Guide to Participatory Decision–Making guides readers through the struggle and the satisfaction of putting participatory values into practice, helping them to fulfill the promise of effective group decision–making. With previous editions already embraced by business and community leaders and consulting professionals around the world, this new book is even more insightful and easy to use. New for this edition: 60 pages of brand new skills and tools Many new case examples Major expansion and reorganization of the advanced sections of the book. New chapter: Teaching A Group About Group Dynamics Doubled in size: Classic Facilitator Challenges. Substantially improved: Designing Realistic Agendas now three chapters, with wise, insightful answers to the most vexing questions about meeting design.

Facilitating collaborative problem solving with human-centred design: the Making All Voices Count governance programme in 12 countries of Africa and Asia - Jackson, Carl (Knowledge Management for Development Journal, 2015)
Keywords: IMPORTANT

Extreme Teaming: Lessons in Complex, Cross-Sector Leadership - Edmondson, Amy C.; Harvey, Jean-Francois (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2017)
Extreme Teaming Lessons in Complex, Cross-Sector Leadership Today’s global enterprises increasingly involve collaborative work by teams of experts operating across different professions, organizations, and industries. Extreme Teaming provides new insights into the world of complex, cross industry projects and the ways they must be managed. Leading experts Amy Edmondson and Jean-François Harvey analyze contemporary cases that expose the complex demands of cross-boundary collaboration on management, and inform our understanding of teams. Containing powerful insights and practical guidelines that allow managers to bridge professional divides and organizational boundaries in order to work together effectively, this is a new exploration of the challenges involved in today’s global enterprises. The authors demonstrate that the work done in the modern organization is less and less about looking inward and creating strong teams inside the company, and more about teaming across boundaries – that often are in flux. Extreme Teaming is a must-read book for all courses related to leading open innovation; teamwork and collaboration; project management; and cross-boundary work.

External validity and policy adaptation. From impact evaluation to policy design - Williams, Martin J. (Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, 2017)
With the growing number of rigorous impact evaluations worldwide, the question of how best to apply this evidence to policymaking processes has arguably become the main challenge for evidence-based policymaking. How can policymakers predict whether a policy will have the same impact in their context as it did elsewhere, and how should this influence the design and implementation of policy? This paper introduces a simple and flexible framework to address these questions of external validity and policy adaptation. I show that failures of external validity arise from an interaction between a policy’s theory of change and a dimension of the context in which it is being implemented, and develop a method of “mechanism mapping” that maps a policy’s theory of change against salient contextual assumptions to identify external validity problems and suggest appropriate policy adaptations. In deciding whether and how to adapt a policy in a new context, I show there is a fundamental informational trade-o↵ between the strength and relevance of evidence on the policy from other contexts and the policymaker’s knowledge of the local context. This trade-o↵ can guide policymakers’ judgments about whether policies should be copied exactly from elsewhere, adapted, or invented anew.

External Review of the Building Effective and Accessible Markets (BEAM) programme - Snedden, Ewan; Freer, Gordon; Moffatt, Michelle (WYG International, 2016)

Extending epistemology for programme evaluation – can After Action Reviews become spaces for critical reflection? - Apgar, Marina; Snijder, Mieke (Methodspace - Sage, 2020)
The term After Action Review (AAR) is becoming more common in the world of development evaluation, particularly in programmes that focus on evaluation as a formative learning process. As structured and facilitated learning moments, AARs take many shapes always built to support a specific team in a specific moment on their journey. Across such a diversity of practice how do we understand the evolution of the AAR as a method with an action research orientation? Being mindful always of the risk of instrumentalising and co-opting participatory methods, there is danger that AARs become an empty programme ritual, remaining at the surface and failing to achieve critical reflection and so falling short of their intention of pushing for deeper change in our practice. As the evaluation and learning team of two large complex, multi-partner projects using research to address development challenges, we have been applying the AAR method while adapting to virtual COVID working with partners across the world. As action researchers we have been thinking about what critical reflection means within a programme AAR process and whether and how they can open up a second person inquiry space.

Exploring ways to reconcile accountability and learning in the evaluation of niche experiments - Regeer, Barbara J.; de Wildt-Liesveld, Renée; van Mierlo, Barbara; Bunders, Joske F. G. (Evaluation, 2016)
While evaluation is seen as a mechanism for both accountability and learning, it is not self-evident that the evaluation of niche experiments focuses on both accountability and learning at the same time. Tensions exist between the accountability-oriented needs of funders and the learning needs of managers of niche experiments. This article explores the differences in needs and expectations of funders and managers in terms of upwards, downwards and internal accountability. The article shows that as the multi-stakeholder contexts in which niche experiments take place give rise to various requirements, tensions in evaluation are essentially a specific manifestation of tensions between niche experiments and their multiple contexts. Based on our findings, an adjusted accountability framework is proposed, including several strategies that can reconcile a learning approach with accountability needs in niche experiments aiming to change current practices in a more sustainable direction.

Exploring the science of complexity: Ideas and implications for development and humanitarian efforts - Ramalingam, Ben; Jones, Harry; Reba, Toussaint; Young, John (ODI, 2008)
This paper draws on the science of complexity to outline alternative approaches to analysing and understanding problems faced in humanitarian and development work.

Exploring the prospects for adaptive governance in marine transboundary conservation in East Africa - Tuda, Arthur Omondi; Kark, Salit; Newton, Alice (Marine Policy, 2019)
This article explores the prospects for adaptive governance in a proposed marine transboundary conservation initiative in East Africa. Adaptive governance that involves interdependent state and non-state actors learning and taking action on joint environmental problems is suggested for effective transboundary resource governance. Using the concept of adaptive co-management, the current multi-stakeholder marine governance systems in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania are compared to illuminate opportunities and constraints for adaptive marine transboundary conservation governance between Kenya and Tanzania. The concept of networks and the formal method of social network analysis (SNA) are applied as the main methodological device. Using questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, social network data of 70 organizations (local resources users, government agencies and NGOs) was generated from Kenya (n = 33) and Tanzania (n = 37). Results show the existence of strong collaboration networks for marine resource governance in both Kenya and Tanzania. Social proximity is the common driver of network formation. Collaboration networks in Kenya and Tanzania have contributed to enhanced learning among marine resource managers. Conclusions point to the need to focus on common challenges relating to low levels of rule-compliance, limited access to information on the state of resources and poor integration of science into marine management decisions. Finally, differences in views regarding the state of marine ecosystems need to be addressed to improve prospects for joint problem-solving in marine transboundary conservation.
Keywords: Adaptive co-management; Adaptive governance; Collaboration; Marine transboundary conservation; Social network analysis

Exploring the potential for interactive radio to improve accountability and responsiveness to small-scale farmers in Tanzania - Gilberds, Heather; Handforth, Calum; Leclair, Mark (IDS, 2016)
What are the possibilities of using new digital technologies alongside radio to help ensure that agricultural development projects are farmer-centred, and meet the needs of the rural citizens they intend to serve? This research assesses Farm Radio International’s Listening Post – a model that combines radio and digital technologies with the aim of collecting and aggregating farmer feedback to aid decision-making and adaptive project implementation. The research shows that linking a mobile-based crowd-sourcing tool with radio is effective at ensuring engagement from a large number of farmers, who felt it was a useful way of raising their questions and concerns to NGOs, policy-makers and experts. The model has clear potential to strengthen the chain of relationships between citizens, extension services suppliers, projects and policymakers. It has also demonstrated its potential to collect real-time feedback from farmers that could be used to aid decision-making and improve accountability in agricultural development initiatives, helping to ensure they are more responsive to farmers. However, it also concludes that ‘closing the feedback loop’ – ensuring that farmer’s comments, questions and concerns are responded to – is a challenge for the Listening Post. Sometimes, the interactive radio programmes close the loop by disseminating answers to questions or concerns raised by farmers, or by connecting farmers to extension services – but only when a solid and systematic process had been developed for this to happen. Therefore is critical to identify and incentivise actors who are capable of responding during the design phase of a Listening Post, and to ensure that they are involved in every stage of the process. It also important that project partners who are interested in beneficiary feedback identify the flexible or actionable points in their project frameworks from the outset, rather than collecting data that they are not able to use to adapt their programmes

Exploring the new world: practical insights for funding, commissioning and managing in complexity - Lowe, Toby; Plimmer, Dawn (Collaborate & Newcastle University, 2019)
The world is complex. If we want to contribute to creating positive social outcomes, we must learn to embrace this complexity. This is the New World that funders and commissioners are discovering: • People are complex: everyone’s life is different, everyone’s strengths and needs are different. • The issues we care about are complex: issues – like homelessness – are tangled and interdependent. • The systems that respond to these issues are complex: the range of people and organisations involved in creating ‘outcomes’ in the world are beyond the management control of any person or organisation. Building on the findings from our previous report, A Whole New World, we have spent the last 12 months working with a growing movement of funders, public sector commissioners, and organisations working on the ground to begin to explore this New World: to find examples of practice that will help people to navigate it effectively. This report explores the key features of their response: working in a way that is human, prioritises learning and takes a systems approach.

Exploring new territories for evaluation - Provocative propositions - Sharp, Cathy (2018)

Exploring new territories for evaluation - Sharp, Cathy (Collective Leadership for Scotland, 2018)
Drawing on action research, this paper recasts evaluation as ‘action inquiry’, an embedded evaluative learning practice that can help navigate complexity when enacting collective leadership. It is offered as an invitation to inquiry amongst a reasonably well-informed audience of policy makers and practitioners who work in and for public services. It will particularly interest those who provide research, evaluation and facilitation support, and those seeking to develop a more relational approach to research and evaluation. Action inquiry is a model of practising change together in environments where ‘nothing is clear, and everything keeps changing’ that significantly challenges the prevailing discourse on evaluation. Action inquiry can be wrapped around and enmeshed within initiatives and programmes that work with complexity - anywhere where success will depend on the quality of relationships that can be developed. The paper reviews some important interrelated concepts that underpin the ideals of collective leadership and public service reform and which confront deeply embedded traditional notions of leadership, expertise and participation. These offer important challenges to ideas about how change happens and recognise that relationships are at the heart of practising change. This warrants a re-examination of the high expectations of evidence-based or informed practice. Collective leadership makes new demands of evidence as it rests on help to determine ‘wise actions’ in real-life situations. This confronts the practical reality of how to work together in conditions often expressed as ‘dynamic’ or ‘turbulent’ and the added human complexities of power, emotions and relationships; too often these elements are denied or avoided aspects of a change process. Facilitated action inquiry makes these elements part of the conversations, in the midst of ‘work-as-we-are-doing-it’, to increase areas of choice for individuals and a group as a whole. Within public policy, there is an overwhelming amount of evidence about ‘what works’ yet change seems to be stubborn and slow. The paper explores some of the deep-rooted vestiges of a ‘hierarchy of evidence’ and assumptions about standardisation and generalisability that act as a ‘barrier to transformation’. These include the narrow framing of what counts as evidence and consequent relegation of community perspectives, lived experience and practice-based evidence. The paper acknowledges the clear appetite for different approaches to evaluation, especially those that better reflect deeply held values and avoid creating a culture of ‘gaming’, rooted in fear of failure and loss of funding, at the expense of learning. The need for new forms of developmental evaluative thinking, collaborative inquiry and action research to create embedded learning is well overdue. Action inquiry is a desirable and necessary response to the complex situations and challenges of human services and recognises the essentialness of knowledge co-production. It is a model of co-creation at every stage and endorses the idea that people learn from participation in evaluation and by testing theories of change through action. Action inquiry builds on the idea of inquiry, or a moment-to-moment awareness and quality of attention and draws from several elements of action research practice. It sees inquiry as an intervention in itself, one that furthermore, explicitly seeks to enhance the probability of the success of a programme, focus on learning, the collaborative development of practice-based knowledge and positive relationships. The paper highlights the importance of building inquiry into living systems, the role of facilitation, systemic inquiry, and evaluative thinking. It proposes an expansion of ideas of appreciation as a relational and collaborative practice that is a driver of emergence. Social recognition that acknowledges someone’s social value to the community and implies mutual moral obligations to cooperation and participation is particularly crucial in a work context that requires successful coordination and multiple contributions to achieve results across hierarchies of position, professional rank and sectors. Hence, appreciation goes beyond the idea of positivity to include social recognition, valuing more explicit forms of inquiry, building participants’ aspirations to design new social systems and acting in new ways to embed change. In developing this discussion, the paper contributes to emerging dialogues about the need for a model of ‘5th generation evaluation’. Such a model would be based on the idea that appreciative and challenging inquiry that is contextual, relational and open-minded will create better opportunities for change and development. The paper sets out some ‘provocative propositions’ that can help us to navigate this terrain, perhaps of a fledgling ‘5th generation approach’ to inquiry. Facilitated action inquiry can hold the key to developing both new knowledge and an adaptive, collaborative and improvisational skill-set, able to respond in new ways to systemic and complex issues on the ground. It’s common to hear the expression ‘it’s all about relationships’ and it is clearly time to shift our focus to relationships; not relationships as ‘things’, but as co-created and dynamic relational processes in which we are embedded. In this way we can bring new qualities to our talking to each other about our various and shared visions of a better future.

Exploring a new governance agenda: What are the questions that matter? - Nixon, Nicola; Verhulst, Stefaan; Matin, Imran; Vermonte, Philips J. (From Poverty to Power, 2021)
The 100 Questions Initiative, pioneered by the GovLab, seeks to overcome the chasm between supply and demand. It begins not by searching for what data is available, but by asking important questions about the biggest challenges societies and countries face, and then seeking more targeted and relevant data solutions. In doing this, it narrows the gap between policy makers and constituents, providing opportunities for improved evidence-based policy and community engagement in developing countries. As part of this initiative, we seek to define the ten most important questions across several domains, including Migration, Gender, Employment, the Future of Work, and—now–Governance. On this occasion, we invited over 100 experts and practitioners in governance and data science –whom we call “bilinguals”– from various organizations, companies, and government agencies to identify what they see as the most pressing governance questions in their respective domains. Over 100 bilinguals were encouraged to prioritize potential impact, novelty, and feasibility in their questioning — moving toward a roadmap for data-driven action and collaboration that is both actionable and ambitious.

Explaining positive deviance in public sector reforms in development - Andrews, Matt (World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER), 2013)
Public sector reforms are commonplace in developing countries. Much of the literature about these reforms reflects on their failures. This paper asks about the successes and investigates which of two competing theories best explain why some reforms exhibi
Keywords: Development; Innovation; Reform; case survey; governance; growth; leadership

Experiential Learning: Fostering lasting behavioural change - Norton, Brittney M. (Mercy Corps, 2016)
The term ‘experiential learning’ is often mistakenly used to describe any learning experience that involves participatory activities. This paper presents an overview of what true experiential learning is and how this form of learning allows for real-world application - thus promoting lasting behavioural change. Furthermore, it explains how experiential learning was adopted as the methodological core of the Prospects psychosocial programme in Liberia, which builds ‘pre-employment skills’ in 3,500 vulnerable youth aged 15-24 years. The goal of the paper is to provide other youth and education development practitioners with a resource that can be used to strengthen youth and behaviour change programmes through the incorporation of the experiential learning theory. In addition, this paper explains its application in the Prospects programme, before concluding with key considerations of such a design. 1

Exit for Sustainability Checklists - Cekan, Jindra (Valuing Voices, 2020)
These Checklists for Exit along the Sustainability Project Cycle are based on lessons from ex-post evaluations that Valuing Voices has done or researched. Ex-post project completion evaluations are rare and even more so those that consulted partners and participants in the field about sustained impacts. Over $3.5 trillion has been spent on public foreign aid projects in the past 70 years (OECD 2019) yet we have evaluated less than 1% of these projects for sustainability. Our Valuing Voices ex-post research of 39 organizations’ evaluations of sustainability shows that most project results decrease (20-90%) as early as two years ex-post in addition to An Asian Development Bank study of post-completion sustainability found that “some early evidence suggests that as many as 40% of all new activities are not sustained beyond the first few years after disbursement of external funding,” Most project exits are in the last quarter and sustainability handover assumptions are not validated expost. Learning from what was sustained helps us know how to exit for sustainability from the very onset of the project (green slices) as compared to the typical project cycle (orange), above. We encourage those tasked with funding, designing, implementing, monitoring & evaluating projects to use these longer checklists and view the full recording shared with participants. A partial PowerPoint can also be found on „Sustaining All of our Hard Work“ presentation for the Vienna Evaluation Network (10/20). These checklists are aimed at donors/designers and implementers of foreign aid projects outcomes and impacts and can be adapted by local NGOs, national governments, private sector, academics, to create exit plans. Local participation in creating these and feedback on how well exit is going will help them sustain results.

Examining the results and adaptation ideas in foreign aid - Janus, Heiner (University of Manchester, 2020)
This thesis applies ideational and institutional theories to analyse how two specific ideas, results and adaptation, have changed the theory and practice of development cooperation. The thesis addresses the question of why the results and adaptation ideas are often treated as binaries and how this debate has evolved historically. In a first theoretical paper, the evolution of results and adaptation is conceptualised as a combination of institutional layering and diffusion within development organisations. The second theoretical paper applies ideational theory, in particular, the coalition magnet framework, to China as a donor country. The empirical papers apply ideational and institutional theories to study aid projects funded by the World Bank and China in the Rwandan agriculture sector. The third paper analyses through which mechanism, results-based principal-agent relationships or problem-driven iterative adaptation, the World Bankâs Program for Results in the agriculture sector in Rwanda has led to increased agricultural productivity. The paper combines causal process tracing and contribution analysis to investigate two underlying theories of change of the Program for Results. The fourth paper applies the same framework and methodology to the Chinese Agricultural Technology Demonstration Center in Rwanda. The fifth paper compares both projects, the World Bank project and the Chinese project. The thesis finds that the ideas of results and adaptation are often presented as mutually exclusive mainly at the general level of public philosophies or paradigms, but show overlap and potential for integration on the level of framing policy problems and policy solutions. The thesis also demonstrates that there is unexplored potential for convergence between China and Development Assistance Committee donors around âcoalition magnetâ ideas. The empirical part of the thesis reveals how results-based and adaptive causal mechanisms co-exist within given aid interventions by the World Bank and China, how these interact and how they ultimately contribute to achieving development outcomes. The key finding is that the broader political context of the Rwandan agricultural sector is the main factor for determining development outcomes, which neither the World Bank project nor the Chinese projects take into account. The comparison of the World Bankâs and Chinaâs interventions finds that donor organisations need to address how results-based ideas in combination adaptive development ideas can be better tailored to fit into the specific context of the Rwandan agriculture sector.

Evidence to Action: Research to Address Illegal Wildlife Trade - Milner-Gulland, E. J.; Cugniere, Laure; Hinsley, Amy; Phelps, Jacob; Rolfe, Michael 't Sas; Veríssimo, Diogo (2018)
Tools and expertise to improve the evidence base for national and international Illegal Wildlife Trade policy already exist but are underutilised. Tapping into these resources would produce substantive benefits for wildlife conservation and associated sectors, enabling governments to better meet their obligations under the Sustainable Development Goals and international biodiversity conventions. This can be achieved through enhanced funding support for inter-sectoral research collaborations, engaging researchers in priority setting and programme design, increasing developing country research capacity and engaging researchers and community voices in policy processes. This briefing, addressed to policy makers and practitioners, is part of the 2018 Evidence to Action: Research to Address Illegal Wildlife Trade event programme, organised by five of the UK’s most active IWT research institutions, to support the London 2018 IWT Conference.

Evidence-led adaptive programming: Lessons from MUVA - Sharp, Samuel; Riemenschneider, Nils; Selvester, Kerry (ODI, 2022)
Calls for more ‘adaptive programming’ have been prominent in international development practice for over a decade. Learning-by-doing is a crucial element of this, but programmes have often found it challenging to become more learning oriented. Establishing some form of reflective practice, against countervailing incentives, is difficult. Incorporating data collection processes that generate useful, timely and practical information to inform these reflections is even more so.This paper explores MUVA - an adaptive female economic empowerment programme in Mozambique. MUVA, we suggest, is atypically evidence-led. It combines systematic, inclusive reflective practice with extensive real-time data collection. We describe the fundamental features of MUVA’s monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) approach that supported this. One, how data collection and analysis are synchronised with set cycles for learning and adapting projects. Two, how MEL systems are designed to prioritise actionable learning, with data collection oriented more to the needs of implementing staff than to the reporting requirements of funders.This approach was enabled by building collective ownership over the programme’s objectives and the purpose of MEL from the outset. Implementers are asked about their motivations, and these are related to the programme’s Theory of Change. The evidence culture is supported by the proximity of MEL staff to implementing staff; and through structuring upwards accountability to funders around justifying evidence-based adaptations instead of reporting on more narrow indicators. We conclude by considering the relevance, or not, of MUVA’s approach to programmes in other contexts or issue areas trying to replicate a similarly evidence-informed approach to adaptive management. Key messages Learning-by-doing is essential to adaptive programming, but it can be challenging to establish data collection processes that generate useful, timely and practical information. MUVA – a female economic empowerment programme in Mozambique – has an atypically evidence-led adaptive management approach. This has two fundamental features. One, data collection and analysis are synchronised with set cycles for learning and adapting projects. Two, data collection is oriented more to the needs of implementing staff than to the reporting requirements of funders. Monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) systems are designed to prioritise actionable learning. This approach was enabled by building collective ownership over the programme’s objectives and the purpose of MEL from the outset. Implementers are asked about their motivations, and these are related to the programme’s Theory of Change. The evidence culture is supported by the proximity of MEL staff to implementing staff; and through structuring upwards accountability to funders around justifying evidence-based adaptations instead of reporting on more narrow indicators.

Evidence, hierarchies, and typologies: horses for courses - Petticrew, M; Roberts, H (Journal of epidemiology and community health, 2003)
Debate is ongoing about the nature and use of evidence in public health decision making, and there seems to be an emerging consensus that the "hierarchy of evidence" may be difficult to apply in other settings. It may be unhelpful however to simply abandon the hierarchy without having a framework or guide to replace it. One such framework is discussed. This is based around a matrix, and emphasises the need to match research questions to specific types of research. This emphasis on methodological appropriateness, and on typologies rather than hierarchies of evidence may be helpful in organising and appraising public health evidence.
Keywords: Decision Making; Policy making; Public Health; Public policy

Evidence base for Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting: summary of the literature review (2020 update) - Learning Lab (USAID, 2020)
The LEARN contract and the United States Agency for International Development/Bureau of Policy, Planning, and Learning (USAID/PPL) are managing an area of work known as the Evidence Base for Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (EB4CLA). The purpose of this work is to answer the following key learning questions: ● Does an intentional, systematic, and resourced approach to collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) contribute to organizational effectiveness and/or development outcomes? ● If so, how? And under what conditions? ● How do we know? How do we measure any contribution that CLA makes to development results? As we began this work, we identified the need to conduct a literature review looking at these questions to understand what is known, what remains unknown, and how others have tried to answer these questions to date. We were primarily interested in answering these questions: ● What evidence is there, if any, that collaborating, learning, and/or adapting contributes to organizational effectiveness, development outcomes, or both? What are the strongest pieces of evidence? ● Does the literature identify any factors critical to CLA that are not currently included in the CLA framework? ● Who else is working on measuring the impact of collaborating, learning and adapting? ● What methods and measures did researchers use to study the effects of collaborating, learning, and adapting? ● Where are there gaps in the research relevant to collaborating, learning, and adapting? ● When taken together, what practical guidance does the evidence for collaborating, learning, and adapting offer to practitioners and policy makers to improve organizational effectiveness and development outcomes?

Evidence Base for Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting: summary of the literature review (2017 update) - Learning Lab (USAID, 2017)
LEARN and USAID/PPL are managing an area of work known as Evidence Base for Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (EB4CLA). The purpose of this work is to answer key learning questions:

Evidence Base for Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting: summary of the literature review (2016.08) - Learning Lab (USAID, 2016)
LEARN and USAID/PPL are managing an area of work known as Evidence Base for Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (EB4CLA). The purpose of this work is to answer key learning questions:

Everyday Political Analysis - Hudson, David; Marquette, Heather; Waldock, Sam (Developmental Leadership Program, 2016)
This short note introduces a stripped-back political analysis framework designed to help frontline development practitioners make quick but politically-informed decisions. It aims to complement more in-depth political analysis by helping programming staff to develop the 'craft' of political thinking in a way that fits their everyday working practices. Everyday Political Analysis involves two steps: Understanding interests: What makes people tick? Understanding change: What space and capacity do people have to effect change? For each step five questions, accompanied by prompts, aim to help staff to conduct quick political analysis. The EPA framework can be used at any stage of the aid management cycle, and can help users to respond rapidly to unexpected change. We are keen to hear back from people on their experience of using EPA to help us adapt the framework. Was it useful (or not)? Do people tend to use just one or both steps? Are there missing statements or prompts that would improve the analysis? Please email us at info [at] dlprog.org.

Everyday patterns for shifting systems - Right scaling - GCSI (GCSI, 2022)

Everyday patterns for shifting systems - GCSI (GCSI, 2022)

Evaluative reasoning in complexity - King, Julian (Evaluation and Value for Investment, 2023)

Evaluation of the market systems development approach: Lessons for expanded use and adaptive management at Sida Volume II: Case studies - Ruffer, Tim; Bailey, Helen; Dahlgren, Stefan; Spaven, Patrick; Winters, Mark (Sida, 2018)
This report presents the findings of an evaluation of Sida’s management of the market systems development (MSD) approach. It aims to inform thinking on how Sida can best manage its growing portfolio of MSD programs. Beyond this, it provides insights relevant to Sida’s wider support to complex and adaptive programs. The evaluation identified several factors that affect Sida’s ability to ensure that conducive conditions are in place for effective MSD programs and good development programming more generally. Sida’s relatively flexible framework of rules, guidelines and systems for project management provide the space needed for staff to innovate and manage adaptively. But for this to happen consistently and effectively, Sida needs to invest more deliberately in building the capacity of its staff in relevant areas. In addition, leadership and incentives are key to shaping a culture of active experimentation and learning. This needs to be supported with clearer guidance for those involved in the design and appraisal of MSD projects; and strengthened oversight of project performance, including through adjustments to Sida’s contracts and funding agreements.

Evaluation of the market systems development approach: Lessons for expanded use and adaptive management at Sida Volume I: Evaluation Report - Ruffer, Tim; Bailey, Helen; Dahlgren, Stefan; Spaven, Patrick; Winters, Mark (Sida, 2018)
This report presents the findings of an evaluation of Sida’s management of the market systems development (MSD) approach. It aims to inform thinking on how Sida can best manage its growing portfolio of MSD programs. Beyond this, it provides insights relevant to Sida’s wider support to complex and adaptive programs. The evaluation identified several factors that affect Sida’s ability to ensure that conducive conditions are in place for effective MSD programs and good development programming more generally. Sida’s relatively flexible framework of rules, guidelines and systems for project management provide the space needed for staff to innovate and manage adaptively. But for this to happen consistently and effectively, Sida needs to invest more deliberately in building the capacity of its staff in relevant areas. In addition, leadership and incentives are key to shaping a culture of active experimentation and learning. This needs to be supported with clearer guidance for those involved in the design and appraisal of MSD projects; and strengthened oversight of project performance, including through adjustments to Sida’s contracts and funding agreements.

Evaluation of International Development Interventions: An Overview of Approaches and Methods - Vaessen, Jos; Lemire, Sebastian; Befani, Barbara (World Bank, 2020)
This guide provides an introductory overview of a range of methods that have been selected for their actual and potential use in the field of international development evaluation. For each method, a detailed guidance note presents the method’s main features and procedural steps, key advantages and disadvantages, as well as its applicability. Each guidance note includes references for relevant background readings (basic and advanced) as well as references to other additional resources of interest. Both the choice of approaches and methods and the associated guidance are by no means definitive. IEG plans to periodically update the guide as evaluation practices evolve.

Evaluation of development programmes - OECD - OECD (2019)
Data & research on evaluation of development programmes inc. paris declaration, budget support, multilateral effectiveness, impact evaluation, joint evaluations, governance, aid for trade

Evaluation for Improvement: A Seven Step Empowerment Evaluation Approach for Violence Prevention Organizations - Cox, PJ; Keener, D; Woodward, T; Wandersman, A (2009)
This guide, written by Pamela J. Cox, Dana Keener, Tifanee L. Woodard, & Abraham H. Wandersman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) outlines a seven step process for hiring an evaluator to implement an empowerment evaluation. The process begins with preparing for the hiring and concludes with an assessment of an evaluation to ensure its sustainability. Excerpt "...concerns and experiences with independent evaluation led to the development of participatory evaluation approaches as a way to promote an organization’s use of evaluation for the improvement of its strategies. Although there are many participatory evaluation approaches, empowerment evaluation places an explicit emphasis on building the evaluation capacity of individuals and organizations so that evaluation is integrated into the organization’s day-to-day management processes. Through empowerment evaluation, both individual and organizational evaluation capacity are increased through a “learn-by-doing” process, whereby organizations and their staff evaluate their own strategies. Specifically, organizations hire an evaluator to work with them in conducting an evaluation of their strategies. Rather than evaluating an organization’s strategies and presenting an evaluation “report card,” empowerment evaluators coach individuals and organizations through an evaluation of their own strategy(ies) by providing them with the knowledge, skills, and resources they need to conduct just such an evaluation." Contents Empowerment Evaluation: An Overview 11 Principles of Empowerment Evaluation 11 Step 1: Preparing for the Hiring Process 23 Step 2: Writing a Job Announcement 31 Step 3: Finding Potential Empowerment Evaluators 39 Step 4: Assessing the Candidates 45 Step 5: Writing An Evaluation Contract 55 Step 6: Building an Effective Relationship With Your Evaluator 61 Step 7: Assessing and Sustaining the Evaluation 65 Appendix A: Resources for General Evaluation and Empowerment Evaluation 73 Appendix B: Worksheets for Hiring an Empowerment Evaluator 75 Appendix C: Sample Hiring Committee Confidentiality Statement 89 Appendix D: Sample Job 90 Appendix E: Sample Request For Proposals 91 Appendix F: Sample Interview Questions 93 Appendix G: Sample Budget and Narrative for an Evaluation Team 95

Evaluation for equitable development results - Segone, M (UNICEF, 2011)
This document is made up of a range of Evaluation Working Papers (EWP) focused on evaluation for equitable development. Put together by evaluation specialists they present strategic evaluation findings, lessons learned and innovative approaches and methodologies. Part 1:Evaluation and equity Evaluation to accelerate progress towards equity, social justice and human rights 2 Human rights and gender equality in evaluation 13 When human rights is the starting point for evaluation 25 Strengthening Equity- focused evaluations through insights from feminist theory and approaches 39 Decolonizing evaluation in a developing world. Implications and cautions for Equity-focused evaluations 59 Part 2: Methodological implications for Equity-focused evaluations Methodological issues to design and implement equity-focused evaluations 86 Developmental evaluation for Equity-focused evaluations 102 Systems thinking and Equity-focused evaluations 115 Methodological challenges in using programme theory to evaluate pro-poor and equity-focused programmes by Patricia Rogers, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University and Richard Hummelbrunner, Independent consultant 142 Case Study and equity in Evaluationby Saville Kushner, University of the West of Englan 172 Values-Engaged Evaluationsby Jennifer Greene, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 192 Part 3: Examples of Equity-focused evaluations Evaluating the contribution of UNDP to equity-focused public policies in Brazil and China 210 Using a human rights approach to evaluate ILO’s discrimination strategy 222 CONEVAL experience in evaluating interventions for Indigenous populations in Mexico 244 UNICEF supported evaluations with elements of equity-focused evaluations 258

Evaluation Feedback for Effective Learning and Accountability - OECD (OECD, 2001)
Evaluation is a key tool in improving the quality and effectiveness of development co-operation. The Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Working Party in Aid Evaluation is the only international forum where bilateral and multilateral evaluation experts meet regularly. Its Members meet to improve evaluation practice and to learn lessons from development co-operation activities and experiences. A series "Evaluation and Aid Effectiveness" was launched to share selected pieces of work with a broader public. This publication is composed of two parts: The Workshop Report, based on the fore-mentioned meeting, highlights the various issues raised, topics of discussion and different feedback systems, and outlines the areas identified by participants as most relevant for improving evaluation feedback. The Background Synthesis Report, intended as a starting point for discussion at the workshop, outlines the main concerns and challenges facing evaluation feedback and the means to address these. The report is based on an analysis of questionnaire results, and a review of previous initiatives in this area. The print version of the above report is available free of charge from the Development Co-operation Directorate; please send an email to dac.contact@oecd.org to get a copy.
Google-Books-ID: kA39FghYYUgC

Evaluation Building Blocks: A Guide - McKegg, K.; Oakden, J.; Wehipeihana, N.; King, Julian (Kinnect Group, 2018)
This guide presents the Kinnect Group’s approach to evaluation. Developed through ten years of collaborative work, it has been well tested. While there are many other guides to evaluation and different ways to do it, our approach emphasises the place of evaluative reasoning in evaluation. The guide draws on the work of many evaluation theorists, as well as our practice-based body of knowledge. We hope that using the building blocks as explained in the guide will help you in your endeavour to do credible and useful evaluation. We find this approach works for us. Our clients tell us it gives them meaningful and insightful findings that they can use to take action. Our view to intellectual property is simple. What you read is yours to use. We just ask that you cite the guide when you draw from it. For those of you who engage with this guide and use it in your practice, we look forward to hearing from you. We are particularly interested in feedback where you find aspects of the guide work well for you. In that way we can all continue to build and evolve our practice.

Evaluation at IDRC - IDRC (IDRC, 2017)

Evaluation and learning in complex, rapidly changing health systems: China’s management of health sector reform - Xiao, Yue; Husain, Lewis; Bloom, Gerald (Globalization and Health, 2018)
Healthcare systems are increasingly recognised as complex, in which a range of non-linear and emergent behaviours occur. China’s healthcare system is no exception. The hugeness of China, and the variation in conditions in different jurisdictions present very substantial challenges to reformers, and militate against adopting one-size-fits-all policy solutions. As a consequence, approaches to change management in China have frequently emphasised the importance of sub-national experimentation, innovation, and learning. Multiple mechanisms exist within the government structure to allow and encourage flexible implementation of policies, and tailoring of reforms to context. These limit the risk of large-scale policy failures and play a role in exploring new reform directions and potentially systemically-useful practices. They have helped in managing the huge transition that China has undergone from the 1970s onwards. China has historically made use of a number of mechanisms to encourage learning from innovative and emergent policy practices. Policy evaluation is increasingly becoming a tool used to probe emergent practices and inform iterative policy making/refining. This paper examines the case of a central policy research institute whose mandate includes evaluating reforms and providing feedback to the health ministry. Evaluation approaches being used are evolving as Chinese research agencies become increasingly professionalised, and in response to the increasing complexity of reforms. The paper argues that learning from widespread innovation and experimentation is challenging, but necessary for stewardship of large, and rapidly-changing systems.

Evaluating with the Success Case Method - Gram, Tom (Performance X Design, 2011)
The method was developed by Robert Brinkerhoff as an alternative (or supplement) to the Kirkpatrick approach and its derivatives. It is very simple and fast (which is part of it’s appeal) and goes something like this: Step 1. Identify targeted business goals and impact expectations Step 2. Survey a large representative sample of all participants in a program to identify high impact and low impact cases Step 3. Analyze the survey data to identify: a small group of successful participants a small group unsuccessful participants Step 4. Conduct in-depth interviews with the two selected groups to: document the nature and business value of their application of learning identify the performance factors that supported learning application and obstacles that prevented it. Step 5. Document and disseminate the story report impact applaud successes use data to educate managers and organization The process produces two key outputs In-depth stories of documented business effect that can be disseminated to a variety of audiences Knowledge of factors that enhance or impede the effect of training on business results. Factors that are associated with successful application of new skills are compared and contrasted with those that impede training. It answers practical and common questions we have about training and other initiatives: What is really happening? Who’s using what, and how well? Who’s not using things as planned? What’s getting used, and what isn’t? Which people and how many are having success? Which people and how many are not? What results are being achieved? What value, if any, is being realized? What goals are being met? What goals are not? Is the intervention delivering the promised and hoped for results? What unintended results are happening? What is the value of the results? What sort of dollar or other value can be placed on the results? Does the program appear to be worthwhile? Is it producing results worth more than its costs? What is its return on investment? How much more value could it produce if it were working better? How can it be improved? What’s helping? What’s getting in the way? What could be done to get more people to use it? How can everyone be more like those few who are most successful?

Evaluating the ‘logical framework approach’ towards learning-oriented development evaluation - Gasper, Des (Public Administration and Development, 2000)
The logical framework approach has spread enormously, including increasingly to stages of review and evaluation. Yet it has had little systematic evaluation itself. Survey of available materials indicates several recurrent failings, some less easily countered than others. In particular: focus on achievement of intended effects by intended routes makes logframes a very limiting tool in evaluation; an assumption of consensual project objectives often becomes problematic in public and inter-organizational projects; and automatic choice of an audit form of accountability as the priority in evaluations can be at the expense of evaluation as learning.
_eprint: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/1099-162X%28200002%2920%3A1%3C17%3A%3AAID-PAD89%3E3.0.CO%3B2-5

Evaluating the impact of flexible development interventions using a ‘loose’ theory of change: Reflections on the Australia-Mekong NGO Engagement Platform - Davies, Rick (Methods Lab, 2016)
• For some interventions, tight and testable theories of change are not appropriate – for example, in fast moving humanitarian emergencies or participatory development programmes, a more flexible approach is needed. • However, it is still possible to have a flexible project design and to draw conclusions about causal attribution. This middle path involves ‘loose’ theories of change, where activities and outcomes may be known, but the likely causal links between them are not yet clear. • In this approach, data is collected ‘after the event’ and analysed across and within cases, developing testable models for ‘what works’. More data will likely be needed than for projects with a ‘tight’ theory of change, as there is a wider range of relationships between interventions and outcomes to analyse. The theory of change plays an important role in guiding the selection of data types. • While loose theories of change are useful to identify long term impacts, this approach can also support short cycle learning about the effectiveness of specific activities being implemented within a project’s lifespan.

Evaluating the Design of Behavior Change Interventions: A Case Study of Rhino Horn in Vietnam - Olmedo, Alegría; Sharif, Vian; Milner‐Gulland, E. J. (Conservation Letters, 2018)
Behavioral change interventions are increasingly widely used in conservation. Several projects addressing rhino horn consumption were recently launched in Vietnam. We used key informant interviews, document analysis, and marketing theory to explore their strategies for intervention design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. We developed a framework to evaluate whether they followed best practice and identify implementation challenges. Interventions could make greater use of key project design steps, including basing interventions on robust research to understand the behavior in question, identifying the target audience whose behavior interventions aim to change, and developing measures that can provide reliable evidence of success or not. Challenges include the need for law enforcement to complement campaigns; improving cooperation between NGOs; and clearly defining aims of demand-reduction initiatives. Using best practice from other fields and considering demand reduction within the wider context of wildlife, trade policy will help address these challenges.
Keywords: Awareness; Ilegal wildlife trade; Project design; demand reduction; social marketing

Evaluating Systems Change Results: an inquiry framework - Cabaj, Mark (Tamarack Institute, 2018)

Evaluating Research for Development: Innovation to Navigate Complexity - Apgar, Marina; Snijder, Mieke; Higdon, Grace Lyn; Szabo, Sylvia (The European Journal of Development Research, 2023)
Large publicly funded programmes of research continue to receive increased investment as interventions aiming to produce impact for the world’s poorest and most marginalized populations. At this intersection of research and development, research is expected to contribute to complex processes of societal change. Embracing a co-produced view of impact as emerging along uncertain causal pathways often without predefined outcomes calls for innovation in the use of complexity-aware approaches to evaluation. The papers in this special issue present rich experiences of authors working across sectors and geographies, employing methodological innovation and navigating power as they reconcile tensions. They illustrate the challenges with (i) evaluating performance to meet accountability demands while fostering learning for adaptation; (ii) evaluating prospective theories of change while capturing emergent change; (iii) evaluating internal relational dimensions while measuring external development outcomes; (iv) evaluating across scales: from measuring local level end impact to understanding contributions to systems level change. Taken as a whole, the issue illustrates how the research for development evaluation field is maturing through the experiences of a growing and diverse group of researchers and evaluators as they shift from using narrow accountability instruments to appreciating emergent causal pathways within research for development.

Evaluating programming that thinks and works politically: Challenges and emerging practice - Jacobstein, David; Swift, Sarah (New Directions for Evaluation, 2022)
Issues of power are not new to program evaluation. What is new is a consideration of how programming uses insights into incentives that shape and adapt implementation. How should one evaluate in a way that explicitly assesses the ways in which a program considers power? One of the innovative topics deriving from the democracy and governance space is the approach of thinking and working politically (TWP) which is seeing increased use in development programming. TWP suggests different mental models and practical approaches to achieving development objectives in ways that are more contextually grounded and informed by power dynamics. This article describes several of the core challenges to evaluation of TWP and also a rubric of considerations for more effective evaluation practices in this emerging field.
_eprint: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ev.20527

Evaluating megaprojects: From the ‘iron triangle’ to network mapping - Lehtonen, Markku (Evaluation, 2014)
Evaluation literature has paid relatively little attention to the specific needs of evaluating large, complex industrial and infrastructure projects, often called ‘megaprojects’. The abundant megaproject governance literature, in turn, has largely focused on the so-called ‘megaproject pathologies’, i.e. the chronic budget overruns, and failure of such projects to keep to timetables and deliver the expected social and economic benefits. This article draws on these two strands of literature, identifies shortcomings, and suggests potential pathways towards an improved evaluation of megaprojects. To counterbalance the current overemphasis on relatively narrowly defined accountability as the main function of megaproject evaluation, and the narrow definition of project success in megaproject evaluation, the article argues that conceptualizing megaprojects as dynamic and evolving networks would provide a useful basis for the design of an evaluation approach better able to promote learning and to address the socio-economic aspects of megaprojects. A modified version of ‘network mapping’ is suggested as a possible framework for megaproject evaluation, with the exploration of the multiple accountability relationships as a central evaluation task, designed to reconcile learning and accountability as the central evaluation functions. The article highlights the role of evaluation as an ‘emergent’ property of spontaneous megaproject ‘governing’, and explores the challenges that this poses to the role of the evaluator.

Evaluating interventions that prevent or counter violent extremism: A practical guide - Hofman, Joanna; Sutherland, Alex (RAND Corporation, 2018)

Evaluating Humanitarian Innovation - Obrecht, Alice; Warner, Alexandra; Dillon, Neil (ALNAP, 2017)

Evaluating development projects: exploring a synthesis model of the logical framework approach and outcome mapping - Yang, Ting (2018)
Under the current results-driven development agenda, sound evaluation, and a corresponding evaluation toolkit, need to be in place to examine whether and to what extent development interventions have achieved their targeted objectives and results, and to generate lessons for further development learning and improvement. My review of the literature shows that innovative and appropriate evaluation approaches are needed to address key challenges in evaluation such as the tension between learning and accountability objectives, the need to unpack the mechanisms linking outputs and outcomes or goal, and to add an actor perspective. Irrespective of project type, the Logical Framework Approach (LFA) is often a standard requirement of major official donor agencies on projects they fund, so as to fulfil bureaucratic imperatives. However, it is often considered inadequate in addressing key challenges in development evaluation. Given the dominant status of the LFA with such strong support from donors, it is helpful to seek a ‘middle way’: a combination of the LFA with other approaches in order to address some of its inadequacies, while satisfying donor agencies’ requirements. A synthesis of the LFA and Outcome Mapping (OM) is one such option. This thesis explores the practical value and usefulness of a synthesis model empirically. Applying the model in two case study aid projects, I found that it serves well as a theory-based evaluation tool with a double-stranded (actor strand and results chain) theory of change. The model helps reconcile learning and accountability and add explanatory power and an explicit actor perspective. It also helps establish causation and enable attribution claims at various results levels with its different elements. The model has some limitations but my results suggest it can be usefully adopted. The choice of its application depends on project evaluation context and purpose in specific cases.
Book Title: Evaluating development projects: exploring a synthesis model of the logical framework approach and outcome mapping

Evaluating Countering Violent Extremism: Practice and Progress - Fink, Naureen Chowdhury; Romaniuk, Peter; Barakat, Rafia (Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation, 2013)

Evaluating complexity, simplistically - Aston, Thomas (Medium, 2022)
A critical appraisal's of CEDIL papers on Evaluating Complex Interventions... A study was recently published by the Centre of Excellence for Development Impact and Learning (CEDIL) entitled Evaluating complex interventions in international development. This is the sort of title that raises great expectations. Complexity is a hugely popular theme and many of us are keen to know more about how to evaluate efforts that seek to achieve results amid complexity. In April 2021, CEDIL conducted a webinar on the paper, and in July 2021 CEDIL published a blog. In September 2021, I wrote a blog expressing some reservations regarding the focus of the study; its apparent over-emphasis on interventions, under-emphasis on context, as well as its choice of some supposedly under-used methods. These methods were: (1) factorial designs; (2) adaptive trials; (3) Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA); (4) synthetic control; (5) agent-based modelling, and system dynamics.

Evaluating Complexity. Propositions for improving practice - Preskill, Hallie; Gopal, Srik (FSG, 2014)
9 propositions can help evaluators measure progress on complex social problems.
Keywords: IMPORTANT

Evaluating complex interventions: What are appropriate methods? - Masset, Eduardo (CEDIL, 2022)
In the CEDIL Methods brief, ‘Evaluating complex interventions: What are appropriate methods?’ we identify four types of complex development interventions: long causal chain interventions, multicomponent interventions, portfolio interventions, and system-level interventions. These interventions are characterised by multiple activities, multiple outcomes, multiple components, a high level of interconnectedness, and non-linear outcomes.
Section: Publications

Evaluating complex interventions in international development - Masset, Edoardo; Shrestha, S.; Juden, M. (CEDIL, 2021)
This paper reviews promising methods for the evaluation of complex interventions that are new or have been used in a limited way. It offers a taxonomy of complex interventions in international development and draws on literature to discuss several methods that can be used to evaluate these interventions. Complex interventions are those that are characterised by multiple components, multiple stakeholders, or multiple target populations. They may also be interventions that incorporate multiple processes of behavioural change. While such interventions are very common and receive a large proportion of development aid budgets, they are rarely subject to rigorous evaluations. The CEDIL Methods Working Paper, ‘Evaluating Complex Interventions in International Development’, reviews promising methods for the evaluation of complex interventions that are new or have been used in a limited way. It offers a taxonomy of complex interventions in international development and draws on literature to discuss several methods that can be used to evaluate these interventions. The paper focuses its attention on methods that address causality and allow us to state conclusively whether an intervention works or not. It shows that several rigorous methods developed in different disciplines can be adapted and used to evaluate complex interventions in international development.
Section: Publications

Evaluating complex interventions: A theory-driven realist-informed approach - Douthwaite, Boru; Mayne, John; McDougall, Cynthia; Paz-Ybarnegaray, Rodrigo (Evaluation, 2017)
There is a growing recognition that programs that seek to change people’s lives are intervening in complex systems, which puts a particular set of requirements on program monitoring and evaluation. Developing complexity-aware program monitoring and evaluation systems within existing organizations is difficult because they challenge traditional orthodoxy. Little has been written about the practical experience of doing so. This article describes the development of a complexity-aware evaluation approach in the CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems. We outline the design and methods used including trend lines, panel data, after action reviews, building and testing theories of change, outcome evidencing and realist synthesis. We identify and describe a set of design principles for developing complexity-aware program monitoring and evaluation. Finally, we discuss important lessons and recommendations for other programs facing similar challenges. These include developing evaluation designs that meet both learning and accountability requirements; making evaluation a part of a program’s overall approach to achieving impact; and, ensuring evaluation cumulatively builds useful theory as to how different types of program trigger change in different contexts.

Evaluating Community Impact: Capturing and Making Sense of Community Outcomes - Tamarack Institute (2017)

Evaluating CLARISSA: Innovation Driven by a Participatory Learning Agenda - Apgar, Marina; Snijder, Mieke; Kakri, Shanta; Macleod, Shona; Paul, Sukanta; Sambo, Anna; Ton, Giel (Institute of Development Studies, 2020)
Children end up in child labour as a result of many, often unknown or hidden, interactions between multiple actors and multiple factors within households, communities, and labour systems, leading to unpredictable outcomes for children and other sector stakeholders and sometimes resulting in the worst forms of child labour (WFCL). It is a complex problem, and interventions aimed at tackling it are also, inevitably, complex and challenging. The way they influence change is non-linear, causality is uncertain, and unintended consequences may result. Programmes such as the Child Labour: Action-Research-Innovation in South and South-Eastern Asia (CLARISSA) that are engaging with such intractable challenges and aim to reach the most left behind (children in WFCL) are operating in conditions of complexity. This complexity poses significant challenges to the way programmes are designed, planned, implemented, and evaluated, and requires a move away from linear and predetermined models. In this Working Paper, we share our experience and early learning about how to design and implement monitoring, evaluation and learning that intentionally embraces the challenge of complexity.
Accepted: 2020-06-25T14:55:41Z

Evaluability Checklist for Post Project Evaluation - Zivetz, Laurie; Cekan, Jindra (Valuing Voices, 2020)
Considerations for planning a post project evaluation during the project, at the end, or after it has closed.

Evaluability assessment for Impact Evaluation: Guidance, checklists and decision support - Peersman, Greet; Guijt, Irene; Pasanen, Tiina (ODI, 2015)
This guidance note focuses on the utility of, and guidance for, evaluability assessment before undertaking an impact evaluation. The primary audience for this guidance note is evaluators conducting an evaluability assessment for impact evaluation. The secondary audience is people commissioning or managing an evaluability assessment for impact evaluation, as well as funders of an impact evaluation. Sections one and two provide an overview of evaluability assessment and how it can be used for impact evaluation. Section three provides guidance for planning to undertake an evaluability assessment for impact evaluation. This is informative for all intended users of the guidance note. Section four includes checklists and decision support for evaluability assessments. The checklist is geared to those conducting the evaluability assessment and can be adapted to suit a particular context or purpose. The decision support provides those conducting an evaluability assessment with evidence-based recommendations for impact evaluation funders and commissioners, about whether, when and how to proceed with the evaluation. Sections five and six provide guidance on what to do after the assessment is concluded, and offer lessons learned from evaluability assessments in practice.

EvalC3 - Davies, Rick (2019)
Tools for developing, exploring and evaluating predictive models of expected outcomes

Essentials of Utilization-Focused Evaluation - Patton, Michael Quinn (SAGE Publications, 2011)
Based on Michael Quinn Patton's best-selling Utilization-Focused Evaluation, this briefer book provides an overall framework and essential checklist steps for designing and conducting evaluations that actually get used. The new material and innovative graphics present the utilization-focused evaluation process as a complex adaptive system, incorporating current understandings about systems thinking and complexity concepts. The book integrates theory and practice, is based on both research and professional experience, and offers new case examples and cartoons with Patton's signature humor.
Google-Books-ID: BaMgAQAAQBAJ
Keywords: Reference / Research; Research

Escaping Capability Traps through Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) - Andrews, Matt; Pritchett, Lant; Woolcock, Michael (Harvard University, 2012)
Keywords: IMPORTANT

EPE Week: Lee-Anne Molony on Collaborative Outcomes Reporting - Molony, L A (AEA365 a Tip-a-day by and for Evaluators, 2013)
This AEA365 blog, written by Lee-Anne Molony a Principal Consultant at Clear Horizon, provides a brief overview on Collaborative Outcomes Reporting (COR).

Enhancing partner and system-level learning: 8 Tips from MEL Managers - Gover, Dun; Nasution, Zulka; Okutu, David; Bolder, Meghan; Henao, Lina (USAID, 2023)
Effective learning is a key driver of market systems change, with the potential to enhance system competitiveness, resilience, and inclusiveness. Shifting the Locus of Learning: Catalyzing Private Sector Learning to Drive Systemic Change recently outlined a rationale for enhancing the scale and quality of learning in a system and identifying 10 strategies programs can contextualize to catalyze learning. These strategies are also backed with robust examples from 13 programs doing this work across 11 countries. To deepen insights on what MSD Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Managers have experienced in putting several of those strategies into practice, the Feed the Future Market Systems and Partnerships (MSP) Activity convened a series of peer discussions as part of a larger initiative (see Figure 1). This brief shares the collective learning and experience on this topic of three senior MEL Managers who were interested in and had experience with this topic. The group represented full-time, program-based MEL Leads working on MSD programs funded by USAID and DFAT, based in Fiji, Albania, and Kosovo working for Adam Smith International, SwissContact, and DT Global, respectively. From those discussions, this paper synthesizes eight tips from MEL Managers for practically enhancing partner and system-level learning: 1. Identify the right decision-maker(s) at potential partners. 2. Use a co-creation process to identify learning opportunities. 3. Use diagnostics and assessments to strengthen partner and system capacity for actionable learning. 4. Use a phased capacity strengthening process tied to behavior change. 5. Measure partners’ continued investment in and use of learning—not the continuation of specific learning activities. 6. Work with sector-level institutions for scale but be aware of risks. 7. Leverage informal communities of practice to share learning. 8. Use the right terminology to talk about partner and system-focused learning.

Engines of Change: What Civic Tech can learn from Social Movements - Purpose; Omidyar Network (Omidyar Network and Purpose, 2016)

Engineering Complex Scaled Up Innovations in the Humanitarian and Development Sector - McClure, Dan; Gray, Ian (ThoughtWorks, 2015)

Engaging Stakeholders in Planning for Sea Level Rise and Resilience - Yusuf, Juita-Elena (Wie); John, Burton St; Covi, Michelle; Nicula, J. Gail (Journal of Contemporary Water Research & Education, 2018)
This case study describes a region-wide, multi-sectoral, and whole-of-community stakeholder engagement approach for addressing sea level rise (SLR) and flooding. This approach was implemented through a university-led community engagement event, the Hampton Roads Resilient Region Reality Check (H4RC), which allowed an examination of its effectiveness as a mechanism for capturing community-wide perceptions regarding SLR, flooding, and associated risks; engaging stakeholders in discussion within and across different groups; and assessing community willingness to address flooding and SLR. The results show that the event helped participants broaden their perspectives and understanding of flooding and SLR. In an approach that called for participants to engage in social learning across social networks, the event had some effect on individual efficacy. However, there was little impact on participants' already-established perception that the region does not possess significant willingness to take action.
Keywords: Social learning; flooding; resilience; social capital; stakeholder engagement

Engaging scientists through institutional histories - Prasad, Shambu; Hall, Andrew; Thummuru, Laxmi (CGIAR, 2006)
An institutional history is a narrative that records key points about how institutional arrangements – new ways of working – evolve over time creating more effective ways to achieve goals. It can be used to document institutional innovations in projects and to highlight barriers to change. An institutional history draws out and synthesizes lessons for research organizations and partners as well as for others in similar circumstances.

Engaging Farmers in Climate Change Adaptation Planning: Assessing Intercropping as a Means to Support Farm Adaptive Capacity - Himanen, Sari J.; Mäkinen, Hanna; Rimhanen, Karoliina; Savikko, Riitta (Agriculture, 2016)
Agriculture is one of the most vulnerable and adaptation-prone sources of livelihood facing climate change. Joint adaptation planning by farmers and researchers can help develop practically feasible and environmentally and economically sound adaptation actions as well as encourage the proactive building of farm adaptive capacity. Here, the perceptions of Finnish farmers and rural stakeholders regarding intercropping, the cultivation of two or more crop genotypes together in time and space, as a means to prepare for climate change, were collected in an open workshop. Our aim was to identify the potentials and challenges associated with intercropping, its role as an adaptation strategy, and in farm adaptive capacity. Qualitative analysis revealed better yield security, increased nutrient and protein self-sufficiency, soil conservation and maintenance, reduced pathogen pressure and regulation of water dynamics as the main perceived potentials of intercropping. Potentials relating to the farm economy and environment were also recognized. The main challenges associated with intercropping were related to the lack of information on crop variety performance and optimal yielding in mixtures, industry and policy requirements for seed purity, more complicated crop management and harvesting, and the economic risks associated with experimenting with novel mixtures. Nitrogen-fixing legumes; deep-rooted species, such as lucerne (Medicago sativa L.); special crops, such as herbs in forage mixtures; and autumn-sown winter oilseeds and cereals were highlighted as the most promising intercrops. Because the recognized potentials relate to the safeguarding of field cropping from anticipated climate change and the associated weather variability, we conclude that intercropping can serve as one adaptation strategy to strengthen the adaptive capacity of Finnish farms. However, assuring markets and policies that allow the development of intercropping, performing experiments to assess the benefits and implement options in practice, and providing farmers and farm advisors with more knowledge on the method represent the critical prerequisites for the broader adoption of intercropping.
Keywords: Adaptation planning; Adaptive capacity; Climate change; ecological intensification; intercropping; yield security

Engage. Empower. Enact. - Citizen Engagement & Democratic Innovation Programme White Paper - Doyle, Linda; Smith, Bethan (Cognitive Edge, 2021)
The Cynefin Centre’s Citizen Engagement & Democratic Innovation programme provides tools for collective sense-making in the areas of community development and youth work; civic engagement and democratic innovation; collaborative service/policy design and evaluation; housing/tenant engagement; futures and planning; shared learning and peer to peer knowledge exchange.

Energy Governance in Developing Countries — A New Approach - Mcculloch, Neil (The Policy Practice & Chemonics, 2021)
In 2015, leaders from around the world agreed to 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. 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 in the energy sector away from the use of fossil fuels. Yet, despite growing investments in clean energy in many developing countries, the transition is happening much more slowly than needed. The central reason for this is poor energy governance. This technical brief shows how poor energy governance damages energy access and efforts to improve the quality and reliability of power. It explains the political reasons why energy governance is so bad in many countries and contrasts this with the current system of procuring technical assistance, which largely ignores the energy governance challenge. It shows that a new approach to tackling energy governance is emerging that is better matched to the nature of the problems faced and provides recommendations on how to implement it.

Enabling Innovation: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Fostering Technological Change - Douthwaite, M. B. (Zed Books, 2002)
Enabling Innovation is an engrossing look at some of the disaster—and success—stories surrounding technological development and diffusion in industrialized and developing countries. The book tells the story of widely divergent technologies—agricultural appliances, wind turbines, Green Revolution high yielding seeds, the Linux computer operating system, and Local Economic Trading Systems. Boru Douthwaite has constructed a "how to do it" guide to innovation management that runs counter to so many current "top-down", "big is good", and "private sector is best" assumptions.
Google-Books-ID: QRwvkEwrWwAC
Keywords: Political science

Enabling collaborative synthesis in multi-partner programmes - Cochrane, Logan; Cundill, Georgina (Development in Practice, 2018)
Multi-partner consortia have emerged as an important modality for knowledge generation to address complex sustainability challenges. Establishing eﬀective multi-partner consortia involves signiﬁcant investment. This article shares lessons from the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA), which aims to support policy and practice for climate change adaptation through a consortium model. Key lessons include the need to facilitate collaborative spaces to build trust and identify common interests, while accepting that this is not a guarantee of success; the importance of programmatic leadership to achieve synthesis; and the value of strategic planning in supporting motivation and alignment between partners.

Enabling collaboration and synthesis: in brief - Cochrane, Logan; Cundill Kemp, Georgina; Landry, Marie-Eve; Lee, Rebecca (INBRIEF, 2017)
Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA) aims to build the resilience of vulnerable populations in climate change hotspots by building new knowledge and capacities to support better informed policy and practice. The program connects more than 450 researchers and practitioners from over 40 organizations. Initially, CARIAA was not directive in terms of the specific topics or forms of synthesis. This approach allowed new ideas to emerge from interactions between members of the network. However, as the brief outlines, lessons learned at mid-term regarding cross- consortia collaboration and synthesis indicate that greater programmatic leadership is required.

Enabling citizen-driven improvement of public services. Leveraging Technology to Strengthen Accountability in Nigerian Healthcare - ICT4SA (World Bank and Reboot, 2015)
Effective public service delivery begins with knowing whether the services offered are working as intended. We launched a system to enable citizen input on the delivery of public services.

Empowerment Evaluation Blog - Fetterman, David (2006)
This blog, by Dr David Fetterman, provides a range of resources on empowerment evaluation theory and practice. The blog includes links to videos, guides and relevant academic literature that provide a detailed analysis and discussion of using empowerment evaluation.

Empowerment evaluation - Fettermen, David (2014)

Empowerment and Accountability in difficult settings: What are we learning? - Gaventa, John; Oswald, Katy (IDS, 2019)
Empowerment and Accountability in Difficult Settings: What Are We Learning? Key Messages Emerging from the Action for Empowerment and Accountability Programme Empowerment and accountability have long been part of the international development vocabulary and a core part of governance, social development and civil society programmes. Yet, much of what has been learnt about these approaches has been drawn from studies in somewhat stable, open and middle-income places around the world. Less is known about how empowerment and accountability are achieved through social and political action in more difficult settings – those faced by institutional fragility, conflict, violence, and closing civic space. This document highlights key messages emerging from the work of the Action for Empowerment and Accountability Research Programme (A4EA), and the implications for how donors, policy makers and practitioners support strategies for empowerment and accountability in fragile, conflict and violence affected settings (FCVAS). Our eight key messages have strong implications for the theories of change used for effective programming in the field.

Emerging Technologies: Smarter ways to fight wildlife crime - Cressa, Douglas; Zommers, Zinta (Environmental Development, 2014)
The illegal trade of animals—for luxury goods, traditional medicine or cultural ceremonies, pets, entertainment, and even research—is a major threat to wildlife conservation and welfare (Baker et al., 2013). Poachers and illegal traders use highly sophisticated and rapidly changing techniques to avoid detection. To keep pace with the "war on wildlife", conservation and law enforcement communities have started to adopt cutting-edge military tools and techniques. High-tech equipment can magnify counter-poaching efforts without requiring armies of rangers or risking lives. Tools include acoustic traps, mobile technology, mikrokopters, radio frequency identification tags, encrypted data digital networks, camera traps, DNA testing, radio collars, metal scanners, and satellite imagery.

Emerging Technologies and Approaches in Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning for International Development Programs - Bruce, Kerry; Gandhi, Valentine J; Vandelanotte, Joris (MERL Tech, 2020)
Emerging technology is making monitoring, evaluation, research and learning (MERL) more precise and enriching data. However, this evolution is so rapid that it can be difficult to stay informed about the field overall. This paper presents examples of emerging technology that are most often used in MERL for development programs, describes the pros and cons of their use, and discusses technology and ethics concerns that practitioners should keep in mind. The paper covers new types of data sources (application data, sensor data, and drones), new ways to store data (distributed ledger technology and the cloud), and new ways to analyze data (text analytics and supervised and unsupervised learning).

Emerging Opportunities: Monitoring and Evaluation in a Tech-Enabled World - Raftree, Linda; Bamberger, Michael (ITAD & Rockefeller Foundation, 2014)
Monitoring and evaluation practice is using information and communication technologies for more timely data, and more inclusive voice and feedback.

Embracing the Chaotic: Cynefin and Humanitarian Response - Morealtitude (WanderLust, 2010)
Note: Many thanks to Dave Snowden for his willingness to comment on this article prior to release Because I’m always a little behind the eight-ball, a friend of mine* recently introduced me to the …

Embracing Emergence: How Collective Impact Addresses Complexity - Kania, John; Kramer, Mark (Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2013)
Collective impact is upending conventional wisdom on how we achieve social progress.

Embracing complexity - Towards a shared understanding of funding systems change - Ashoka (Ashoka, 2020)

Embracing Complexity: Strategic Perspectives for an Age of Turbulence - Boulton, Jean G.; Allen, Peter M.; Bowman, Cliff (Oxford University Press, 2015)
The book describes what it means to say the world is complex and explores what that means for managers, policy makers and individuals. The first part of the book is about the theory and ideas of complexity. This is explained in a way that is thorough but not mathematical. It compares differing approaches, and also provides a historical perspective, showing how such thinking has been around since the beginning of civilisation. It emphasises the difference between a complexity worldview and the dominant mechanical worldview that underpins much of current management practice. It defines the complexity worldview as recognising the world is interconnected, shaped by history and the particularities of context. The comparison of the differing approaches to modelling complexity is unique in its depth and accessibility. The second part of the book uses this lens of complexity to explore issues in the fields of management, strategy, economics, and international development. It also explores how to facilitate others to recognise the implications of adopting a complex rather than a mechanical worldview and suggests methods of research to explore systemic, path-dependent emergent aspects of situations. The authors of this book span both science and management, academia and practice, thus the explanations of science are authoritative and yet the examples of changing how you live and work in the world are real and accessible. The aim of the book is to bring alive what complexity is all about and to illustrate the importance of loosening the grip of a modernist worldview with its hope for prediction, certainty and control.

Eight Practices for Strategic Agility - Algoso, Dave (Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2019)
Rather than a glossy brochure that no one reads, your strategy should be an ongoing practice that informs your decisions and adapts as circumstances change. A Viewpoint from the Summer 2019 issue.

Effective Governance. Strategy for Australia’s aid investments - DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Government, 2015)

edX MOOC: Adaptive Leadership in Development - edX (edX, 2016)
Gain the skills to be an adaptive leader in development and learn how to uncover local solutions to complex problems in developing countries.

Dynamic knowledge management strategy development in international non-governmental organisations - Walsh, John N.; Lannon, John (Knowledge Management Research & Practice, 2020)
Knowledge management strategies are important for firms’ competitive positioning. This paper examines how knowledge management codification and personalisation strategies are developed in response to environmental and organisational dynamics in an international non-governmental organisation. A longitudinal case study of the organisation’s strategic reformulation of its KM strategy over a 2.5 period is drawn upon. The research examines how pressures in the firm’s operating environment led to the organisation identifying the need to leverage the value of local contextual knowledge. Subsequent reformulation required the organisation to change its strategic mix of codification and personalisation over time. Although efforts were focused on increasing personalisation, developments were supported through codification demonstrating a symbiotic, mutually supporting relationship between the strategies. The strategic reformulation involved processes of reflection, repackaging and support activities.
Publisher: Taylor & Francis _eprint: https://doi.org/10.1080/14778238.2020.1785348
Keywords: Knowledge management strategy; case study; international development; knowledge dynamics; non-governmental organisation

Dynamic gridlock: Adaptive Humanitarian Action in the Democratic Republic of Congo - Obrecht, Alice (ODI/ALNAP, 2018)

DRG Center practical tips to implement more context-adaptive programming - Jacobstein, David (#AdaptDev, 2018)
Hi #adaptdevers, The cross-sectoral programs team in the DRG Center have been working in support of ways that programming can be made more aware of, and responsive to, context considerations that have to do with incentives and relationships between different actors - often called power dynamics or political economy. Following several discussions with field folks, we were asked to come up with simple and practical tips that could help staff to implement more context-adaptive programming, or to better Work Politically to use TWP jargon. With assistance from many of our field staff and partners, we've put together three documents (to start) that have now been cleared to share publicly: • Tips on Making Your Solicitations Invite Context-Driven Adaptive Programming - suggestions spanning most sections of a typical solicitation to better weave in Thinking and Working Politically. I'm particularly excited that this document contains embedded links to excerpts from a set of solicitations that model good practice. You can also find a summary of all the excerpts from real solicitations, and links onward to the public posting of those solicitations on Fed Biz Ops or Grants.gov, here. • Tips on Power Dynamics and Theories of Change - suggestions relevant to those working on project designs and logic models. • Tips for Better Use of Advisory Councils - suggestions to set up better advisory bodies that help you to incorporate political economy more automatically into your programmatic adjustments. I hope that you'll find these practical and helpful! Feedback is always welcome. Best, David

(Draft) Managing to Adapt - Analysing Adaptive Management for Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (draft) - Schlingheider, Annika; Pellfolk, Erica; Maneo, Gabriele; Desai, Harsh (Oxfam, 2017)
Adaptive management is at the heart of ‘doing development differently’ (Wild et al., 2016). Whether it is here to stay depends on how much it is mainstreamed into existing development programming by donors and implementers alike, especially in planning, monitoring, evaluation, and learning (PMEL) cycles. In this report, we find that mainstreaming adaptive management in PMEL involves three strategies: 1. planning for flexibility; 2. developing locally owned monitoring and evaluation (M&E); and 3. creating an enabling environment for learning. Adopting these strategies contributes to virtuous cycles of PMEL

DPPD Handbook. A step-by-step guide for development practitioners to apply the Data Powered Positive Deviance method - DPPD (DPPD Initiative, 2021)
The Method Positive Deviance (PD) is based on the observation that in every community or organization, there are a few individuals who achieve significantly better outcomes than their peers, despite having similar challenges and resources. These individuals are referred to as positive deviants, and adopting their solutions is what is referred to as the PD approach¹. The method described in this Handbook follows the same logic as the PD approach but uses pre-existing, non-traditional data sources instead of — or in conjunction with — traditional data sources. Non-traditional data in this context broadly refers to data that is digitally captured (e.g. mobile phone records and financial data), mediated (e.g. social media and online data), or observed (e.g. satellite imagery). The integration of such data to complement traditional data sources generally used in PD is what we refer to as Data Powered Positive Deviance² (DPPD). The digital data opportunity Recent developments in the availability of digital data provide an opportunity to look for positive deviants³ in new ways and in unprecedented geographical and on temporal scales. A number of studies⁴ have described the challenges related to the application of the PD approach in development. Given these challenges, there are obvious opportunities for innovation in PD and our particular interest here is in the innovative opportunities offered by non-traditional data, following the increasing “datafication” of development and the growing availability of big datasets in a variety of development sectors⁵. DPPD builds on this and expands our ability to extract value from non-traditional digital data while providing a systematic process for leveraging local know-how and the collective wisdom of communities. Data Powered Positive Deviance The DPPD method described in this Handbook emerged from a process of research and testing and follows the same stages as the PD approach. The difference is that DPPD integrates pre-existing, non-traditional data across the five stages, requiring a series of new and specific methods and practices that are not required in the PD approach. The first stage is also somewhat different because it not only defines the problem, but it also checks if it is suitable and feasible to use the DPPD method for the proposed project. Table 1 lists the five stages of the DPPD method. This Handbook dedicates a section to each stage. Stage 1 Assess problem-method fit Stage 2 Determine positive deviants Stage 3 Discover underlying factors Stage 4 Design and implement interventions Stage 5 Monitor and evaluate

Donors' Learning Difficulties: Results, Relationships and Responsibilities - Eyben, Rosalind (IDS Bulletin, 2005)

Donor perceptions and processes: Risks to success of adaptive programming? - Browse - Knowledge Platform Security & Rule of Law - Donovan, Elbereth (Knowledge Platform - Security & Rule of Law, 2017)
Keywords: IMPORTANT

Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED, 2018)
The DCED is a forum for learning about the most effective ways to fulfil the SDGs – based on practical experience in Private Sector Development (PSD).

Don't Lead Alone: Think Like a System, Act Like a Network, Lead Like a Movement! - Justis, Cleveland; Student, Daniel (Fast Company Press, 2023)
Think. Act. Lead.It seems simple enough. But understanding your desired impact and how it fits into a larger picture, connecting your work to others and finding new collaborators, and bringing those collaborators together and moving them in a unified direction is never easy.Governments, businesses, and nonprofits all have unique approaches and ideas that many of us learn through our work. Yet, we rarely consider the skills needed to create and maintain the partnerships between them. Most of us learn those skills through trial, error, and often, failure. Worse, we typically stay in our self-reinforcing silos, sharing perspectives and frustrations with like-minded people, limiting our vision of what our work can become. By partnering with other sectors, we combine and adapt approaches to solve complex problems, and leaders in any industry can create large-scale change.Cleveland Justis and Daniel Student share a road map for effective partnerships that increase impact and profitability. Using real-life examples and practice exercises, the authors teach how to acquire and use skills to solve complex problems and propel your organization forward by combining a multitude of perspectives, split into three sections:Think Like a SystemAct Like a NetworkLead Like a MovementIt’s time to get out of our silos. Don’t lead alone.

Don’t Build It: A Guide For Practitioners In Civic Tech / Tech For Development - Jordan, Luke (Grassroot and MIT Governance Lab, 2021)
If you just remember these... If you can avoid building it, don’t build it; if you have to build it, hire a CTO, ship early, and mature long; and no matter what, draw on a trusted crew, build lean and fast, and get close to and build with your users as soon as possible. — This guide aims to help you avoid bad projects, structure the team right, ship and learn quicker, and mature longer. The guide starts with project selection, including why the best project to select is no project at all. It moves on to team structure, and the extreme importance of a full-time senior tech lead (or chief technology officer (CTO), understood as an excellent engineering manager). It then covers timelines, emphasizing shipping early but having enormous patience getting to maturity, above all in finding product-use-fit, and avoiding vanity metrics. The guide then goes into some detail on hiring, covering the CTO role, senior contractors, designers and young engineers. The longest section, by some distance, is that on hiring. Hiring is the one thing considered critical in every piece of the lore, by founders and investors and managers alike, across all sectors. It is also the field in which I think I got it mostly right, and for reasons I can explain in ways that I believe will be helpful.

Doing weeknotes - What weeknotes are, how weeknotes work, and how to start writing weeknotes of your own - Turnbull, Giles (Use the Human Voice, 2024)
Doing weeknotes brings together various things I’ve written about weeknotes in different places. This text expands on things I wrote in The agile comms handbook, as well as various blog posts. Quite a lot of it is brand new. - Weeknotes for beginners - Why write weeknotes - The weeknotes rules - Weeknotes within the corporate environment - What weeknotes can bring about - Examples of good weeknotes - How to write weeknotes - Weeknotes tips and tricks - Further reading

Doing Urban Development Differently - Jones, Harry; Adhikari, Bishnu (From Poverty to Power, 2017)
Guest post from Harry Jones and Bishnu Adhikari, both of Palladium on what urban aid and development can learn from the Doing Development Differently movement

Doing things differently: Rethinking monitoring and evaluation to understand change - Saferworld (Saferworld, 2016)
Doing things differently: Rethinking monitoring and evaluation to understand change Learning paper Over the past four years, Saferworld has put in place a way of monitoring, evaluating and learning from our work focused on behaviour and relationship change. This paper outlines the process we have gone through to adapt, embed, and embrace an approach inspired by Outcome Mapping and Outcome Harvesting (OH). Key benefits of our monitoring, evaluation and learning approach are: It is simple, but promotes complex discussion and analysis. It allows conflict- and gender-sensitivity to be built into programmes; it promotes analysis of and adaptation to context. Bringing front-line staff and partners into wider conversations with others substantially increases cross-organisational learning.

Doing the Transparent State: open government data as performance indicators - Ruppert, Evelyn; others (A World of Indicators: The production of knowledge and justice in an interconnected world, 2013)

Doing Problem Driven Work - Andrews, Matt; Pritchett, Lant; Woolcock, Michael (Harvard University, 2015)
Keywords: IMPORTANT

Doing legal empowerment differently: Learning from pro-poor litigation in Bangladesh - O'Neil, Tam; Valters, Craig; Farid, Cynthia (ODI, 2015)
Marginalised groups and their allies can, and do, use the law and justice systems, including public interest litigation, to improve their access to rights, goods and services.  Yet there is no automatic link between legal action and improved outcomes for poor people.  Where some minimum conditions are met – a progressive legal framework, a sympathetic judiciary and legal advocacy organisation – pro-poor litigation is a potential tool in disputes over rights and resources.  But concrete benefits for poor people also requires state action to enforce progressive rulings.  Much depends on whether claimants, legal activists and state reformers cooperate around shared interests, and whether activists can negotiate power and interest structures to motivate government action to implement rulings.  Effective strategies are those that link litigation with grassroots legal action and other forms of political and social activism and advocacy.  Donors need to fund legal advocacy organisations in ways that enable them to select social issues that are locally relevant and political feasible – and allows activists and reformers to work in politically smart and adaptive ways.

Doing Iterative and Adaptive Work - Andrews, Matt; Pritchett, Lant; Woolcock, Michael (Center for International Development at Harvard University, 2016)
Many of the challenges in international development are complex in nature. They involve many actors in uncertain contexts and with unclear solutions. Our work has proposed an approach to addressing such challenges, called Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA). This paper is the most recent in a series intended to show how one can do PDIA, building on the first paper, "Doing Problem Driven Work.” The current paper addresses a key part of the approach one moves to once a problem has been identified, performing real-time experimental iterations. This is intended as a practical paper that builds on experience and embeds exercises for readers who are actually involved in this kind of work.
Keywords: IMPORTANT

Doing Digital Development Differently: Lessons in adaptive management from technology for governance initiatives in Kenya - Prieto Martin, Pedro; Hernandez, Kevin; Faith, Becky; Ramalingam, Ben (IDS, 2017)
Development projects don’t always work as planned. This has long been acknowledged by those in the sector, and has led to several approaches that seek to solve complex development problems through enabling and encouraging greater adaptiveness and learning within projects (e.g. Doing Development Differently and Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation). Digital development projects experience many of these issues. Using technology for transparency and accountability (Tech4T&A) projects in Kenya as case studies, our research analysed the many different theoretical approaches to learning and adaptation, and then tested how these play out in reality. Firstly, we conducted an extensive review of the literature on the spectrum of approaches to adaptive learning. The findings were used to develop a framework through which to analyse adaptiveness at the different layers of complexity in projects (e.g. software design and development, programme design and management). The second part of the research consisted of interviews and focus group discussions with participants in Tech4T&A projects in Kenya. Respondents helped us identify the main characteristics of adaptiveness in their projects (e.g. who needs to adapt, and how and when) and the challenges and issues that inhibit projects’ abilities to be adaptive. This process also revealed how accountability interplays with adaptiveness, and considered how better collaboration flows can enable adaptiveness. From our literature review and empirical study, we draw several conclusions for increasing adaptiveness in digital development projects. These include simplifying the many adaptive theories that abound, increasing responsiveness to project beneficiaries and stakeholders, and for stakeholders to keep on experimenting, networking and advocating.
Keywords: IMPORTANT

Doing Development Differently: Who we are, What we’re doing, What we’re learning - ODI (ODI, 2016)
In November 2014, the doing development differently community got together in Harvard to discuss what successful development interventions look like. Two years on, our community is broader than aid. It's broader than donors. It's about all organisations delivering change, producing real solutions to real problems that have real impact. It's about building trust, empowering people and promoting sustainability. Over the past two years, the community has been putting these ideas into practice across the world – being honest about what we are learning, including where we are not getting things right. This document aims to be an entry point for anyone interested in doing development differently. It explores the things that could be stopping you including: You are constrained by a disabling environment. You have strict reporting requirements. People aren't sold on the idea. It's easier to do things the way you've always done it. It's difficult to do in practice. If you are facing one, several, or all of these constraints, this document gives you a place to start. Using 43 case studies from practitoners within donors, governments, implementing organisations and NGOs across the globe, we aim to draw out some key lessons learnt, and give some advice for people considering this approach. These case studies are split across five categories: Swimming against the tide. Working in and with government. Feedback loops and data. Organisational change. Diffusion. Finally, if you want to know more, the document concludes with a suggested list of blogs and reports which explain these concepts in more detail.
Keywords: IMPORTANT

Doing Development Differently: Understanding the Landscape and Implications of New Approaches to Governance and Public-sector Reforms - Fritz, Verena (Transformation, Politics and Implementation, 2017)
Seeking to accelerate development, the agencies and individuals involved have regularly advanced new ideas of how external support can function better, deliver more, and achieve greater impact. There has been a particular flourishing of new ideas within the broad field of governance and public-sector reforms in the 2000s. This chapter starts off with a review of the “landscape of new ideas,” focusing on five proposed approaches in particular: political economy analysis (PEA), Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA), Doing Development Differently (DDD), Thinking and Working Politically (TWP), and the “science of delivery.” It sets out the “problem-diagnostic” that underpins each of these

Doing Development Differently in the Global South - Workshop Report - CARE (CARE and British Council, 2018)

Doing Development Differently at the World Bank: updating the plumbing to fit the architecture - Bain, Katherine A.; Booth, David; Wild, Leni (ODI, 2016)
Keywords: IMPORTANT

Doing Development Differently at Scale - Pellini, Arnaldo; Karetji, Petrarca C.; Soekadis, Ade (Knowledge, Politics and Policymaking in Indonesia, 2018)
In recent decades there has been an increasing recognition that politics and political institutions matter for development. There is also a much greater interest in contextually grounded approaches. This has stemmed from an acknowledgement that purely technocratic approaches to development often result in failure because they do not take into account the nature of political institutions. Nor do they take account of the context in a particular developing country and the interests and incentives of powerful national actors. Policy processes are embedded in specific social, political and organisational contexts. Approaches that focus on implementing universal best practices in evidence-informed policymaking are unlikely to be successful. Instead, what is needed is an approach that takes the local context as the starting point for understanding what issues are relevant to policymakers and developing contextually appropriate solutions. The authors of this chapter reflect on the management approaches and systems that may be required to enable and support large-scale development programmes to be flexible and adaptive to the local policy context and circumstances. The chapter argues that such programmes struggle to adopt adaptive management principle and that to do that at scale requires some changes in the way such programmes are managed.
Keywords: Adaptive Management; Doing development differently; Evidence-informed policymaking; Indonesia; Knowledge sector; Thinking and working politically

Doing Development Differently - Wild, Leni (Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2021)
International aid must use different approaches to address the massive systemic problems it seeks to solve.
Keywords: ⛔ No DOI found

Doing Anti-corruption Differently - Jorge (www.globalintegrity.org, 2016)
By Alan Hudson, Executive Director Corruption and how to tackle it is center-stage in London this week, with the spotlight brighter than ever as a result of the Panama Papers. This is welcome news. The Anti-Corruption Summit, hosted by the...

Doing adaptive management at Sida - Tim Ruffer; Helen Bailey; Stefan Dahlgren; Patrick Spaven; Mark Winters (SIDA, 2019)
Lessons from the market systems development approach The evaluation focuses on Sida’s management of MSD projects. The projects are applying the MSD approach with an aim to: - contribute to improved MSD programming by Sida through better management practices across the project cycle - generate recommendations on how Sida can create conducive conditions for systems approaches and adaptive programming more generally. The brief assesses Sida’s organisational capacity for adaptive management in three dimensions: - leadership and culture - staff capacities - skills, and systems and procedures

Doing Accountability Differently: A 'Vertically Integrated' Approach - Amakom, Uzochukwu; Fashola, Temitope; Gay, Charles; Shutt, Cathy (Christian Aid, 2018)

Does the whole add more than the SUM of its parts? - Guerzovich, Florencia (Medium, 2023)
This is a series about Monitoring, Evaluating and Learning (MEL) whether sets of interventions/portfolios are adding more together than each one would produce on their own. In post 1, I pointed to coherence, the new OECD-DAC evaluation criteria as a way to bridge the ambition of bringing bigger change with the MEL world. In post 2, I shared 3 of 4 practical lessons I’ve learned in experimenting with MEL systems and exercises that focus explicitly on interactions of interventions/portfolios. In the third post, I bring Paul Pierson’s groundbreaking argument for social science to MEL. Paraphrasing, most contemporary MEL takes a “snapshot” view of interventions and portfolios, distorting their effects and meaning by ripping them from their temporal context. Instead, we should place in time interventions/portfolios with the ambition to add more than the sum of the part by constructing MEL systems looking at “moving pictures” rather than taking snapshots.

Does Foreign Aid Really Work? An Updated Assessment - Riddell, Roger C. (Social Science Research Network, 2014)
This paper draws widely from the book Does foreign aid really work?, building on that discussion to provide an updated answer to the question based on recent evidence and contemporary debates on aid effectiveness. It starts with a brief discussion (Section 2) of the question: ‘does emergency aid work?’ This is important to the wider debate for two linked reasons. Firstly, the harshest critics of development aid are all supportive of emergency aid, with a number calling for its expansion in spite of evidence of major weaknesses and failures. Secondly, the sharp historical distinction made between emergency and development aid is becoming increasingly strained, as more emergency aid is being used a year or more after emergencies strike to rebuild lives and restore livelihoods, while more development aid is used to directly save lives.The rest of the paper focuses exclusively on development aid. Section 3 provides a rapid overview of the evidence of the impact of individual aid projects, including those of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). The picture is overwhelmingly positive: well over 75% of projects meet their immediate objectives and impact has improved, even though sustaining benefits remains a challenge and there continue to be aid failures. Section 4 reviews the evidence of the wider and long-term impact of aid at the sectoral and country level, including a brief discussion of academic studies on aid and growth. Though there are still major gaps in our knowledge, the quality of the data is improving. However, there is little firm, quantitative evidence to show the specific contribution that aid has made to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are a central purpose of many current donor programmes (Section 4.2). More widely, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that aid has contributed positively to both growth and wider development at the sector and country level, though some studies suggest aid has had little or no impact. Overall, the contribution that aid makes to aggregate development is lower than the public has been led to believe (Sections 4.1, 4.3. and 4.4). Assessments of the overall impact of the aid provided by NGOs are rare, but a recent study suggests it has been positive (Section 4.5). More attention is now given to the issues of corruption in aid. Although there is evidence of aid funds being used for corrupt purposes and of aid worsening corruption, on balance it remains a minor issue. Aid has had significant successes in helping the poor affected by corruption (Section 4.6). The second half of the paper shifts focus to the large gap between what aid has done and what it might do. Section 5 discusses a range of inefficiencies within and across the aid system and their costs in terms of reduced impact, including the way aid is allocated, its growing complexity, and the volatility and unpredictability of aid flows (Section 5.1 and 5.2). These inefficiencies place in a different light the evidence of aid’s overall positive impact. The paper looks at the different initiatives that have been mounted to begin to address these weaknesses and failures, including the 2005 Paris Declaration, and discusses why donors have failed to honour the promises they have made to change the ways that they give aid.In Section 5.3, the paper argues that the most critical debate about whether aid works concerns the assessment of whether the short-term, immediate and extensive benefits that aid undoubtedly brings are outweighed by the direct and indirect systemic problems that it risks creating or accentuating. As increasingly over the last decade donors have channelled more of their aid into short-term, quick-impact projects, assessing the wider negative systemic effects of aid has become even more important. Some recent studies suggest that aid’s systemic problems are large and growing, narrowing the gap between aid’s harshest critics and broader analyses of aid impact. Against the backdrop of already too many proposals of how to make aid work better, Section 6 lays out nine concrete proposals for doing this: deepening knowledge of local contexts; ensuring short-term uses of aid are consistent with and supportive of long-term development, and that all aid is more closely related to overall recipient development goals and processes; helping build local capacities for recipients to be able to coordinate aid better; moving from rhetoric to reality in learning lessons from aid; using aid to help the poor in middle income countries; reducing volatility in aid at the country level; encouraging budget support by addressing donor-country political concerns; and rethinking ways of communicating about aid. Section 7 concludes. It suggests that, paradoxically, aid’s impact may well have been harmed by focussing too narrowly on trying to make short-term aid work better, and that the main focus of attention needs to widen to assess how aid can contribute more to a recipient’s own development goals. Additionally, donors need to help build the capacity of developing countries and developing country scholars to enable them to play a bigger role in helping to answer the question of whether aid works; unsettling though their assessments may be.

DIY - Development Impact and You: Practical Tools to Trigger and Support Social Innovation - Nesta (NESTA, 2014)
Keywords: IMPORTANT

Dispatch on Switzerland's International Cooperation 2017–2020: Key points in brief - SDC (Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, 2016)
The “Dispatch on Switzerland’s International Cooperation, 2017–2020”, is a report to the Swiss Parliament outlining the strategic priorities proposed by the Federal Council in this area. It includes framework credits for each of the five policy instruments used by Switzerland to implement its international cooperation strategy. These are implemented by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), the Human Security Division (HSD) of the FDFA’s Directorate of Political Affairs, and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER).

Disentangling Government Responses: How Do We Know When Accountability Work is Gaining Traction? - Fox, Jonathan; Halloran, Brendan; Fölscher, Alta; McGee, Rosie (Accountability Research Center, 2024)
Advocacy for public accountability aims to produce certain reactions from government officials or service providers. However, the reactions can be many and diverse, and it is not always clear to advocates how to interpret them and decide on next steps—whether to intensify efforts or back off; continue the same strategy or make adjustments. This paper presents a framework to help accountability advocates and practitioners interpret government reactions to their efforts and move forward appropriately. The framework arises from learning and reflection in the context of the International Budget Partnership (IBP)’s Strengthening Public Accountability with Results and Knowledge (SPARK) program. SPARK seeks to bolster the collective agency of marginalized communities and coalitions to advance democratic and equitable fiscal governance systems that channel public resources to services that address the priority needs of these historically excluded groups. The paper: · unpacks the broad umbrella category of government responses to citizen-led accountability initiatives, discerning within it three overlapping categories of responses, responsiveness, and accountable responsiveness (RRA), and pinpointing what distinguishes them; · maps out the public financial management (PFM) system as the critical conduit for any public service to progress from non-response through these three categories, reflecting the terrain and priorities of the SPARK program and IBP more broadly. Looking at RRA in the context of this PFM map offers key insights for the twin tasks of tracing and unblocking bottlenecks in resource management systems that hinder responsiveness and accountability, as well as demanding specific reforms that make the fiscal governance system more open to citizen engagement; and · discusses how the RRA framework can be used to take stock of partial or incremental responses and assess whether change is moving towards accountable governance, by reference to the SPARK program and other IBP efforts. The RRA framework supports accountability-claiming practice by facilitating close attention to the actions of and influences on key government stakeholders, careful interpretation of these, and consequential adjustments to advocacy strategies. Its implications for monitoring, evaluating, and learning (MEL) from practice are also significant. MEL has been evolving in the accountability field in line with the thinking and practical challenges behind the development of the RRA framework. The framework adds to a range of emerging approaches that support the application theories of change, evidence-based adaptive programming, and politically aware systems thinking in the complex task of building accountable responsiveness towards constituencies historically excluded from public goods and services, and ultimately equitable development outcomes from an intersectional perspective.
Artwork Size: 936692 Bytes
Keywords: Development studies; Public policy; Social policy

Diseño transformacional de proyectos - 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.

Discussion Note: Complexity-Aware Monitoring - USAID (USAID, 2018)
This Discussion Note complements ADS 201 and outlines general principles and promising approaches for monitoring complex aspects of USAID development assistance. Complexity-aware monitoring is a type of complementary monitoring that is useful when results are difficult to predict due to dynamic contexts or unclear cause and-effect relationships. Key principles of the Program Cycle include applying analytic rigor, managing adaptively, and utilizing a range of approaches to achieve results. ADS 201.3.5.5 identifies three types of program monitoring – performance, context, and complementary. All USAID programming incorporates performance monitoring and should include context monitoring. Performance monitoring “is the ongoing and systematic collection of performance indicator data and other quantitative or qualitative information to reveal whether implementation is on track and whether expected results are being achieved.” Context monitoring is “[t]he systematic collection of information about conditions and external factors relevant to the implementation and performance of an operating units (OU’s) strategy, projects, and activities.” As stated in ADS 201.3.5.5, complementary monitoring may be used by missions and Washington OUs to complement performance and context monitoring in situations where results are difficult to predict due to dynamic contexts or unclear cause-andeffect relationships. This Discussion Note provides an explanation of when to use complementary monitoring approaches that are complexity-aware and summarizes the three principles of complexity-aware monitoring.

Discussing Adaptive Approaches for Development Programmes - Pett, Jamie (Medium - LearnAdapt, 2020)
What can adaptive approaches from other sectors teach development practitioners about dealing with uncertainty?

Digitally-induced change in the public sector: a systematic review and research agenda - Haug, Nathalie; Dan, Sorin; Mergel, Ines (Public Management Review, 2023)
Digital transformation has become a buzzword that is permeating multiple fields, including public administration and management. However, it is unclear what is transformational and how incremental and transformational change processes are linked. Using the PRISMA method, we conduct a systematic literature review to structure this growing body of evidence. We identified 164 studies on digitally-induced change and provide evidence for their drivers, implementation processes, and outcomes. We derive a theoretical framework that shows which incremental changes happen in public administrations that are implementing digital technologies and what their cumulative, transformative effects are on society as a whole.
Publisher: Routledge _eprint: https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2023.2234917

Digital Technologies for Democratic Governance in Latin America: Opportunities and Risks - Breuer, Anita; Welp, Yanina (Routledge, 2016)
This book is the first to comprehensively analyse the political and societal impacts of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in a region of the Global South. It evaluates under what conditions some Latin American governments and people have succeeded in taking up the opportunities related to the spread of ICTs, while others are confronted with the pessimist scenario of increased, digitally induced social and democratic cleavages. Specifically, the book examines if and how far the spread and use of new ICT affected central aims of democratic governance such as reducing socio-economic and gender inequality; strengthening citizen participation in political decision making; increasing the transparency of legislative processes; improving administrative processes; providing free access to government data and information; and expanding independent spaces of citizen communication. The country case and cross-country explore a range of bottom-up driven initiatives to reinforce democracy in the region. The book offers researchers and students an interdisciplinary approach to these issues by linking it to established theories of media and politics, political communication, political participation, and governance. Giving voice to researchers native to the region and with direct experience of the region, it uniquely brings together contributions from political scientists, researchers in communication studies and area studies specialists who have a solid record in political activism and international development co-operation.

Digital Principles into practice - HDIF (HDIF, 2018)

Digital lives in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda - Bailur, Savita; Donner, Jonathan; Locke, Chris; Schoemaker, Emrys; Smart, Charlotte (Caribou Digital, 2015)
Keywords: IMPORTANT

Digital habitats: stewarding technology for communities. Chapter 10 - Action Book - Wenger, Etienne; White, Nancy; Smith, John D. (Cpsquare, 2009)
OCLC: 602796157

Digital habitats: stewarding technology for communities - Wenger, Etienne; White, Nancy; Smith, John D. (CPsquare, 2009)
OCLC: 602796157

Digital Development: Elements of a Critical ICT4D Theory and Praxis - Bon, Anna; Akkermans, Hans (Information and Communication Technologies for Development. Strengthening Southern-Driven Cooperation as a Catalyst for ICT4D, 2019)
In recent years, critical research literature in ICT4D has grown. It is widely accepted that theory is to inform practice. However, the inverse directionality, practice informs theory, is much less present in ICT4D, including in critical research. In this paper, we discuss ways how ICT4D research and theory may be better informed by practice—in terms of (i) recognizing praxis-oriented research paradigms and integrating their results, (ii) development of foundational theories, (iii) critical analysis of ICT4D emerging policies, and (iv) positioning ICT4D in the wider development debate. This suggests several elements or directions in which critical research has the potential to push current boundaries of ICT4D in terms of content as well as relevance.
Keywords: Action research paradigm; Critical research; Network complexity theory; Principles for Digital Development

Digital Democracy: The Tools Transforming Political Engagement - Simon, Julie; Bass, Theo; Boelman, Victoria; Mulgan, Geoff (NESTA, 2017)
This paper shares lessons from Nesta’s research into some of the pioneering innovations in digital democracy which are taking place across Europe and beyond

Digital authoritarianism in Bangladesh: Weaponising a draconian law to silence dissent in the pandemic era | Association for Progressive Communications - Siddiki, Zayed (2022)

Diffusion Of Innovations Theory, Principles, And Practice - Dearing, James W.; Cox, Jeffrey G. (Health Affairs, 2018)
Aspects of the research and practice paradigm known as the diffusion of innovations are applicable to the complex context of health care, for both explanatory and interventionist purposes. This article answers the question, “What is diffusion?” by identifying the parameters of diffusion processes: what they are, how they operate, and why worthy innovations in health care do not spread more rapidly. We clarify how the diffusion of innovations is related to processes of dissemination and implementation, sustainability, improvement activity, and scale-up, and we suggest the diffusion principles that can be readily used in the design of interventions.
Publisher: Health Affairs

Diffusion of Innovations, 5th Edition - Rogers, Everett M. (Free Press, 2003)
Now in its fifth edition, Diffusion of Innovations is a classic work on the spread of new ideas.In this renowned book, Everett M. Rogers, professor and chair of the Department of Communication & Journalism at the University of New Mexico, explains how new ideas spread via communication channels over time. Such innovations are initially perceived as uncertain and even risky. To overcome this uncertainty, most people seek out others like themselves who have already adopted the new idea. Thus the diffusion process consists of a few individuals who first adopt an innovation, then spread the word among their circle of acquaintances—a process which typically takes months or years. But there are exceptions: use of the Internet in the 1990s, for example, may have spread more rapidly than any other innovation in the history of humankind. Furthermore, the Internet is changing the very nature of diffusion by decreasing the importance of physical distance between people. The fifth edition addresses the spread of the Internet, and how it has transformed the way human beings communicate and adopt new ideas.

Different kinds of rubrics - King, Julian (Evaluation and Value for Money, 2023)
Generic, analytic, holistic, orbic, asterisc, escalieric, cephalopodic

Dialogic Organization Development: The Theory and Practice of Transformational Change - Bushe, Gervase R. (EDS Publications Ltd., 2015)
Dialogic Organization Development is a compelling alternative to the classical action research approach to planned change. Organizations are seen as fluid,socially constructed realities that are continuously created through conversations and images change happens when those conversations and images change. Leaders and consultants can help foster, support, or accelerate the emergence of transformational possibilities by encouraging disruptions to taken-for-granted ways of thinking and acting and the use of generative images to stimulate new organizational conversations and narratives. Dialogic OD is a different mindset, but it s also the previously unrecognized underpinning of such diverse change methods as Appreciative Inquiry, the Art of Convening, Future Search, and many more.

DFID Smart Rules: Better Programme Delivery - version X (2019.01) - DFID (DFID, 2019)

DFID Smart Rules: Better Programme Delivery - version VIII (2018.04) - DFID (DFID, 2017)
Smart Rules provide the operating framework for the Department for International Development’s (DFID’s) programmes.
Keywords: IMPORTANT; Practice

DFID Smart Rules: Better Programme Delivery - version VII (2017.04) - DFID (DFID, 2017)
Smart Rules provide the operating framework for the Department for International Development’s (DFID’s) programmes.
Keywords: IMPORTANT; Practice

DFID Smart Rules: Better Programme Delivery - version VI (2016.10) - DFID (DFID, 2016)
Smart Rules provide the operating framework for the Department for International Development’s (DFID’s) programmes.
Keywords: IMPORTANT; Practice

DFID’s partnerships with civil society organisations - A performance review - ICAI (Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI), 2019)
DFID values civil society organisations (CSOs), but its funding and partnership practices do not fully support the long-term health of the civil society sector.

DFID’s approach to value for money in programme and portfolio management - ICAI (Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI), 2018)
ICAI published this review on DFID’s approach to value for money in February 2018, and as value for money is both a process and an outcome and cuts across all aspects of DFID’s operations, did not score this review. We made five recommendations and published a follow-up to this review in July 2019. All UK government departments are required to achieve value for money in their use of public funds. In recent years, DFID has been working to build value for money considerations further into its management processes and its relationships with implementers and multilateral partners, establishing itself as a global champion on value for money. Review This review was published in February. Though it was not rated, ICAI made five recommendations, and found that the Department for International Development’s approach to value for money was helping to make UK aid spending go further, but improvements are still needed. Findings This review found that DFID has strengthened its processes and systems for ensuring it gains maximum value for each pound spent, has taken swift remedial action to tackle under-performing programmes, and has become a strong global champion on value for money. The review also found that DFID has been diligent in its efforts to cut waste, detect fraud, and improve efficiency, and that this work is improving the return on the UK investment in aid. However, the review found that DFID’s approach was not adequately reporting and capturing results and value for money at the country portfolio level, or how programmes work together to deliver lasting impact, including reducing future dependency on aid. It also found that weakness in the annual review process could undermine DFID’s approach to value for money. It found that targets were frequently revised, and that there could be pressures for optimistic scoring of programmes. Recommendations Based on this review, we made the following five recommendations to help DFID improve its approach to value for money still further: DFID country offices should articulate cross-cutting value for money objectives at the country portfolio level, and should report periodically on progress at that level. Drawing on its experience with introducing adaptive programming, DFID should encourage programmes to experiment with different ways of delivering results more cost-effectively, particularly for more complex programming. DFID should ensure that principles of development effectiveness – such as ensuring partner country leadership, building national capacity and empowering beneficiaries – are more explicit in its value for money approach. Programmes should reflect these principles in their value for money frameworks, and where appropriate incorporate qualitative indicators of progress at that level. DFID should be more explicit about the assumptions underlying the economic case in its business cases, and ensure that these are taken into account in programme monitoring. Delivery plans should specify points in the programme cycle when the economic case should be fully reassessed. Senior responsible owners should also determine whether a reassessment is needed following material changes in the programme, results targets or context. Annual review scores should include an assessment of whether programmes are likely to achieve their intended outcomes in a cost-effective way. DFID should consider introducing further quality assurance into the setting and adjustment of logframe targets.

DFID’s approach to delivering impact - ICAI (Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI), 2015)
UK aid, at its best, makes a real and positive difference to the lives and livelihoods of poor people around the world. Ensuring the best possible performance across a large and multifaceted aid programme is, however, a complex management challenge. This report reviews ICAI’s previous 44 reports and looks at how well DFID ensures positive, long-term, transformative impact across its work.

DFID Data Disaggregation Action Plan: Better Data for Better Lives - DFID (2017)

Developmental Evaluation in Practice: Tips, Tools, and Templates - USAID (USAID, 2017)

Developmental Evaluation: How Barriers & Enablers Emerge Over Time - Baylor, Rebecca; Fatehi, Y. K.; Esper, H. (USAID, 2019)

Developmental evaluation: Bridging the gaps between proposal, program, and practice , Developmental evaluation: Bridging the gaps between proposal, program, and practice - Lawrence, Rachael B.; Rallis, Sharon F.; Davis, Laura C.; Harrington, Karen (Evaluation, 2018)
Developmental evaluation supports grant-funded initiatives seeking innovation and change. Programs born from aspirational grant language and plans often need guidance as they work toward creating workable models for social innovation. This article describes the challenge of designing and implementing complex programs and presents a case that illustrates how a program moves from proposal to practice. The Massachusetts Charter Public School Association Capacity Building Network is a complex intervention, funded by the US federal government, aimed at raising school capacity to serve students with disabilities and English language learners. Developmental evaluation served to bridge the gaps between an aspirational proposal, an ambitious and ambiguous program plan, and emerging practices to serve this population of students. Jointly reviewing our experience in this developmental evaluation, the evaluation team and a program director share important thematic lessons learned about the developmental evaluation approach., Developmental evaluation supports grant-funded initiatives seeking innovation and change. Programs born from aspirational grant language and plans often need guidance as they work toward creating workable models for social innovation. This article describes the challenge of designing and implementing complex programs and presents a case that illustrates how a program moves from proposal to practice. The Massachusetts Charter Public School Association Capacity Building Network is a complex intervention, funded by the US federal government, aimed at raising school capacity to serve students with disabilities and English language learners. Developmental evaluation served to bridge the gaps between an aspirational proposal, an ambitious and ambiguous program plan, and emerging practices to serve this population of students. Jointly reviewing our experience in this developmental evaluation, the evaluation team and a program director share important thematic lessons learned about the developmental evaluation approach.

Developmental Evaluation: Applying Complexity Concepts to Enhance Innovation and Use - Patton, Michael Quinn (Guilford Press, 2010)
Developmental evaluation (DE) offers a powerful approach to monitoring and supporting social innovations by working in partnership with program decision makers. In this book, eminent authority Michael Quinn Patton shows how to conduct evaluations within a DE framework. Patton draws on insights about complex dynamic systems, uncertainty, nonlinearity, and emergence. He illustrates how DE can be used for a range of purposes: ongoing program development, adapting effective principles of practice to local contexts, generating innovations and taking them to scale, and facilitating rapid response in crisis situations. Students and practicing evaluators will appreciate the book's extensive case examples and stories, cartoons, clear writing style, "closer look" sidebars, and summary tables. Provided is essential guidance for making evaluations useful, practical, and credible in support of social change.See also Developmental Evaluation Exemplars, edited by Michael Quinn Patton, Kate McKegg, and Nan Wehipeihana, which presents 12 in-depth case studies.
Keywords: Evaluation; Measurement; Organizational effectiveness; Project management

Developmental Evaluation - Patton, Michael Quinn (The Nonprofit Quarterly, 2006)

Developmental Evaluation - Tamarack Community (2012)
This webpage from Tamarack Community provides links to audio files of an interview between Mark Cabaj and Michael Patton in which they discuss the topic of development evaluation. This is an "approach that has proven particularly useful and effective at addressing the unique challenges of evaluating the real nature of community change work. Learning Objectives: To deepen appreciation for the role of evaluation and evaluation thinking To explore the distinctions between various types of evaluation To understand more about developmental evaluation and its use To investigate concepts, tools and resources available to support working with developmental evaluation methods" (Tamarack Community)

Development Policy and Impact Evaluation: Learning and Accountability in Private Sector Development - Ton, Giel (Handbook of Development Policy, 2021)
There is broad recognition of the challenges in evaluating policy and programmes on their contribution to sustainable development. Impact evaluations of PSD programmes are carried out at the behest of a particular configuration of interest groups with different expectations. Some groups want to know whether a programme has worked, others want to know how to do these programmes better, others fear that PSD programmes might result in sub-optimal or adverse development outcomes in recipient countries, and some want to be sure that the programme benefits the private sector in the donors' domestic economies. This chapter discusses these with reference to private sector development programmes and explores how contribution analysis, which is a structured stepwise process of theory-based evaluation, can address these challenges and generate findings to improve learning and accountability.
Accepted: 2021-11-05T12:43:15Z Journal Abbreviation: Chapter 33: Development policy and impact evaluation: learning and accountability in private sector development