Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure - Harford, Tim (Abacus, 2012)
Everything we know about solving the world's problems is wrong. Out: Plans, experts and above all, leaders. In: Adapting - improvise rather than plan; fail, learn, and try againIn this groundbreaking new book, Tim Harford shows how the world's most complex and important problems - including terrorism, climate change, poverty, innovation, and the financial crisis - can only be solved from the bottom up by rapid experimenting and adapting.From a spaceport in the Mojave Desert to the street battles of Iraq, from a blazing offshore drilling rig to everyday decisions in our business and personal lives, this is a handbook for surviving - and prospering - in our complex and ever-shifting world.

System Stewardship. The future of policy making? - Hallsworth, Michael (Institute for Government, 2011)
This working paper looks at the future of policy making in a world of decentralisation and more complex problems. It argues that policy makers need to see themselves less as sitting on top of a delivery chain, but as stewards of systems with multiple actors and decision makers – whose choices will determine how policy is realised. We are keen to open up a debate on what this means.

Mobilizing Accountability: Citizens, Movements and the State - Halloran, Brendan; Flores, Walter (Transparency & Accountability Initiative, 2015)

Accountability ecosystems: directions of accountability and points of engagement - Halloran, Brendan (IDS, 2016)
Accountability, the obligation of those in power to take responsibility for their actions, is a process involving relationships between different actors (in state and society) and mechanisms, and is influenced by many contextual factors. Using the lens of an accountability ‘ecosystem’ focuses our attention on the complexity of accountability processes. An ‘ecosystem’ perspective suggests that simple ideas about accountability – such as citizen feedback reaching decision-makers ensures more accountability, or that greater transparency equals greater accountability – are often actually much more complex.

Getting Strategic about Technology and Accountability: MAVC Learning and Inspiration Event in Manila - Halloran, Brendan (Politics, Governance and Development, 2016)
Two years ago, Jonathan Fox released a widely read and well-received paper looking at the evidence for citizen-led accountability.  In it, he noted the proliferation of short-term, isolated interve…

Navigating the Evidence on Transparency, Participation and Accountability: What Insights Have Emerged? What Gaps Remain? - Terms of reference for the Consultant Author(s) - Halloran, Brendan (2015)
Example of Terms of Reference for a Report on TAP.

Opening Governance: What have we learned and how do we translate into better practice? - Halloran, Brendan (Politics, Governance and Development, 2016)
In their introductory essay to the recent IDS Bulletin on Opening Governance (the entire issue is open access), Duncan Edwards and Rosie McGee critically appraise developments in the open governmen…

Politics, Political Change and International Development - Halloran, Brendan (Politics, Governance and Development, 2013)
As my inaugural post on my new blog, I thought I would re-post a short piece I wrote earlier this year about foreign aid (original here). Thomas Carothers and Diane de Garamont address this issue i…

Strengthening Accountability Ecosystems: a Discussion Paper - Halloran, Brendan (Think Piece, 2015)

Thinking and working politically in the transparency and accountability field - Halloran, Brendan (Transparency & Accountability Initiative, 2014)

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

Development is Going Digital: What is the role of INGOs? ICT for Development programmes in the Horn, East and Central Africa - Haikin, Matt; Flatters, George (Policy & Practice, 2017)
Development is going digital and INGOs like Oxfam have a vital convening role to play. This paper draws on ICT for Development in Oxfam’s programmes in the Horn, East and Central Africa to consider what this role is.  In order to realise the opportunities

Reflections on applying iterative and incremental software development methodologies to aid and development work in developing countries - Haikin, Matt (MattHaikin.com, 2013)

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

Governance for Growth in Vanuatu: Review of a decade of thinking and working politically - Hadley, Sierd; Tilley, Helen (ODI, 2017)

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

Open data: Empowering the empowered or effective data use for everyone? - Gurstein, Michael B. (First Monday, 2011)
Keywords: e-Government; open access; open data

Reforming donors in fragile states: using public management theory more strategically - Gulrajani, Nilima; Honig, Dan (Overseas Development Institute, 2016)
This paper identifies ways in which donors can be more effective in fragile and conflict-affected states by exploiting theories and concepts drawn from public management.

Accountability and Learning: Exploding the Myth of Incompatibility between Accountability and Learning - Guijt, Irene (NGO Management - The Earthscan Compendium, 2010)
When accountability is understood as reporting on pre-deined deliverables, it is often considered to be irreconcilable with learning. This conventional wisdom inhibits an appreciation of their connection. In this chapter, Irene Guijt exposes the laws and traps in reasoning that keep accountability and learning apart. She provides practitioners with principles and basic good ideas that open up prospects for accountability and learning to complement each other.

Participatory Approaches - Guijt, Irene (Methodological Briefs: Impact Evaluation, 2014)
This guide, written by Irene Guijt for UNICEF, looks at the use of participatory approaches in impact evaluation. Using participatory approaches means involving stakeholders, particularly those affected by intervention, in the evaluation process. This includes involvement in the design, data collection, analysis, reporting, and management of the study. Excerpt "By asking the question, ‘Who should be involved, why and how?’ for each step of an impact evaluation, an appropriate and context-specific participatory approach can be developed. Managers of UNICEF evaluations must recognize that being clear about the purpose of participatory approaches in an impact evaluation is an essential first step towards managing expectations and guiding implementation. Is the purpose to ensure that the voices of those whose lives should have been improved by the programme or policy are central to the findings? Is it to ensure a relevant evaluation focus? Is it to hear people’s own versions of change rather than obtain an external evaluator’s set of indicators? Is it to build ownership of the UNICEF programme? These, and other considerations, would lead to different forms of participation by different combinations of stakeholders in the impact evaluation."

Adaptive Learning - Guerzovich, Florencia; Poli, Maria (GPSA Note 5, 2014)

Can SMS-Mobilization Increase Citizen Reporting of Public Service Deficiencies to Politicians? - Grossman, Guy; Michelitch, Kristin; Santamaria, Marta (2015)

Information Technology and Political Engagement: Mixed Evidence from Uganda - Grossman, Guy (2016)

Citizens’ Use of New Media in Authoritarian Regimes: A Case Study of Uganda - Grönlund, Åke; Wakabi, Wairagala (The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 2015)
By subsidizing the costs of civic participation, the use of the Internet use is believed to stimulate participation but there are fears that intensive Internet use causes withdrawal from public life. This paper investigates the connection between the way individuals participate online and offline in authoritarian, low-income regimes, and the nature of eParticipation among citizens in authoritarian regimes such as Uganda. Based on personal interviews with 116 Internet users, the study found that common drivers of eParticipation, such as low cost, security and anonymity are hard to transplant into the offline world for citizens of authoritarian states such as Uganda. Perceived risks of retribution and intimidation for expressing a particular opinion or supporting a political cause mean that citizen-to-citizen participation is the predominant form but still at low levels, while citizen-to-government participation is negligible.

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.

Adaptive Programming in Fragile, Conflict and Violence-Affected Settings, What Works and Under What Conditions?: The Case of Institutions for Inclusive Development, Tanzania - Green, Duncan; Guijt, Irene (Action for Empowerment and Accountability Research Programme, 2019)
Adaptive Management involves a dynamic interaction between three elements: delivery, programming and governance. This case study focuses on a large DfID governance project, the Institutions for Inclusive Development (I4ID), a five-year initiative in Tanzania. The study forms part of a research project to examine whether and how adaptive approaches can strengthen aid projects promoting empowerment and accountability in fragile, conflict and violence-affected settings (FCVAS). The research examines some of the assertions around the adaptive management approach and explores if and how adaptive approaches, including rapid learning and planning responses (fast feedback loops and agile programming) are particularly relevant and useful for citizen empowerment and government accountability (E&A) in FCVAS.
Keywords: A4EA; Adaptive Development; Economy; Fishery

Summer School Course - Adaptive Management - Working Effectively in the Complexity of International Development (weekplan) - Green, Duncan; Guijt, Irene (Oxfam, 2018)

Adaptive Management looks like it’s here to stay. Here’s why that matters. - Green, Duncan (From Poverty to Power, 2016)
First installment of reflections on my US trip. This is on the rise of adaptive management approaches in USAID, and some of the questions it raises
Keywords: IMPORTANT

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

How Change Happens - Green, Duncan (OUP Oxford, 2016)
Human society is full of would-be 'change agents', a restless mix of campaigners, lobbyists, and officials, both individuals and organizations, set on transforming the world. They want to improve public services, reform laws and regulations, guarantee human rights, get a fairer deal for those on the sharp end, achieve greater recognition for any number of issues, or simply be treated with respect. Striking then, that not many universities have a Department of Change Studies, to which social activists can turn for advice and inspiration. Instead, scholarly discussions of change are fragmented with few conversations crossing disciplinary boundaries, rarely making it onto the radars of those actively seeking change. This book bridges the gap between academia and practice, bringing together the best research from a range of academic disciplines and the evolving practical understanding of activists to explore the topic of social and political change. Drawing on many first-hand examples from the global experience of Oxfam, one of the world's largest social justice NGOs, as well as the author's insights from studying and working on international development, it tests ideas on How Change Happens and offers the latest thinking on what works to achieve progressive change. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is available as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

NGOs Doing Development Differently - Green, Duncan (From Poverty to Power, 2017)
Report back from a meeting of international NGOs to set up a research and practice network on 'Doing Development Differently' that can complement other actors

Old Wine in New Bottles? 6 ways to tell if a programme is really ‘doing development differently’ - Green, Duncan (From Poverty to Power, 2018)
Some top adaptive management exponents give their top tips on how to distinguish spin from reality, when looking at an avowedly AM programme

The context v intervention 2x2 | From Poverty to Power - Green, Duncan (From Poverty to Power, 2016)
Lots of discussion on my US trip around the strengths/weaknesses of the context v intervention 2x2 that suggests particular theories of change acc to situation
Keywords: IMPORTANT

The NGO-Academia Interface: Realising the shared potential - Green, Duncan (The Social Realities of Knowledge for Development, 2017)
This edited collection of peer-reviewed papers explores critical challenges faced by organisations and individuals involved in evidence-informed development through a diverse set of case studies and t...

Theories of Change for Promoting Empowerment and Accountability in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings - Green, Duncan (IDS Working Paper, 2017)
This paper explores the current state of thinking among a range of aid actors (multilaterals, bilateral, applied scholars and international non-governmental organisations) on how to promote empowerment and accountability in fragile, conflict and violence affected settings. It seeks to identify trends, gaps and weaknesses in that thinking, and propose research questions and hypotheses to test. Three underlying sources of confusion are identified that are hindering progress on both understanding empowerment and accountability in fragile, conflict and violence affected settings, and taking helpful action to promote it. They are: Theory of endogenous change (e.g. on how empowerment and accountability arise in situ) versus the theory of action of an external intervention; Fragility versus conflict: there is no clear justification for combining these different aspects into a single category; and Empowerment versus accountability: donor analysis and practice has been overwhelmingly weighted towards accountability, exhibiting limited understanding or interest in the nature of power.
Keywords: A4EA; External actors; Participation

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

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

Calibrating adaptive programming across multi-country, multi-partner programs - Gray, Stephen; Carl, Andy (Adapt Peacebuilding, 2019)
This past week Andy Carl and I joined the international NGO Christian Aid Ireland team in Dublin to reflect on progress in a key feature of their work - adaptive programming. This post presents what Andy Carl and I learned in reflecting this week with the international NGO Christian Aid Ireland r

Innovation lifecycle and the missing middle - Gray, Ian; McClure, Dan (Managing Humanitarian Innovation - The cutting edge of aid, 2018)

Opening the black box: the contextual drivers of social accountability - Grandvoinnet, Helene; Aslam, Ghazia; Raha, Shomikho (New frontiers of social policy, 2015)
Keywords: Social accounting

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?

Open Policy Making toolkit - gov.uk (2016)
This manual includes information about Open Policy Making as well as the tools and techniques policy makers can use to create more open and user led policy.

Open Policy Making toolkit - Low cost tools - GOV.UK (2016)

Sense and Respond: How Successful Organizations Listen to Customers and Create New Products Continuously - Gothelf, Jeff; Seiden, Josh (Harvard Business Review Press, 2017)
The End of Assembly Line ManagementWe’re in the midst of a revolution. Quantum leaps in technology are enabling organizations to observe and measure people’s behavior in real time, communicate internally at extraordinary speed, and innovate continuously. These new, software-driven technologies are transforming the way companies interact with their customers, employees, and other stakeholders.This is no mere tech issue. The transformation requires a complete rethinking of the way we organize and manage work. And, as software becomes ever more integrated into every product and service, making this big shift is quickly becoming the key operational challenge for businesses of all kinds. We need a management model that doesn’t merely account for, but actually embraces, continuous change. Yet the truth is, most organizations continue to rely on outmoded, industrial-era operational models. They structure their teams, manage their people, and evolve their organizational cultures the way they always have.Now, organizations are emerging, and thriving, based on their capacity to sense and respond instantly to customer and employee behaviors. In Sense and Respond, Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden, leading tech experts and founders of the global Lean UX movement, vividly show how these companies operate, highlighting the new mindset and skills needed to lead and manage them—and to continuously innovate within them.In illuminating and instructive business examples, you’ll see organizations with distinctively new operating principles: shifting from managing outputs to what the authors call “outcome-focused management”; forming self-guided teams that can read and react to a fast-changing environment; creating a learning-all-the-time culture that can understand and respond to new customer behaviors and the data they generate; and finally, developing in everyone at the company the new universal skills of customer listening, assessment, and response.This engaging and practical book provides the crucial new operational and management model to help you and your organization win in a world of continuous change.

Agile vs Lean vs Design Thinking - Gothelf, Jeff (Medium, 2016)
There’s an unforgettable scene in my favorite movie, Goodfellas, where Joe Pesci, Robert DeNiro and Ray Liotta pay a late night visit to…

Lean vs Agile vs Design Thinking: What you really need to know to build high-performing digital product teams - Gothelf, Jeff (CreateSpace, 2017)
As companies evolve to adopt, integrate and leverage software as the defining element of their success in the 21st century, a rash of processes and methodologies are vying for their product teams' attention. In the worst of cases, each discipline on these teams -- product management, design and software engineering -- learn a different model. This short, tactical book reconciles the perceived differences in Lean Startup, Design Thinking and Agile software development by focusing not on rituals and practices but on the values that underpin all 3 methods.

Reflection methods: Tools to make learning more meaningful - Gordijn, Femke; Eernstman, Natalia; Helder, Jan; Brouwer, Herman (Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation, 2018)
This handbook summarises methods that can be used to facilitate the process of reflection on the knowledge and experiences people acquire during a capacity development trajectory or training event. We believe that by explicitly integrating reflection in the learning process the learning will become clearer and better articulated and will contribute more strongly to meaningful change. Therefore we advise facilitators to deliberately include reflective learning sessions in their process design and implementation. This handbook can inspire you to do so and provides many methods which help to facilitate this.

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

State of the Art on Use of Theory of Change in the Development Sector - Goodier, Sarah; Apgar, Marina; Clark, Louise (SDC-IDS Briefing Note 7, 2018)
The purpose of this briefing note is to add to SDC’s understanding of Theory of Change (ToC), drawing on the literature and practice to sketch out the current state of the art approach. This involves expanding on ToC beyond SDC’s current practice of using Impact Hypotheses (IH) to bridge it to operational practice and use ToC more explicitly in the project/programme cycle management (PCM) processes. Sharing the state of the art on use of ToC in the development sector, this briefing note outlines what a ToC is, what it is used for and why it is needed in the development sector. It discusses ToC as both a process and a product, providing step by step guidance on how to facilitate a ToC process. The differences between a ToC and a logframe are highlighted. Some key criteria for recognising when you have a ‘good’ ToC are also included. This brief is aimed at SDC staff, in particular Programme Officers, and staff of partner organisations involved in the management of SDC interventions.

Opportunities for Using Complexity-Aware Approaches to Theory of Change - Goodier, Sarah; Apgar, Marina (SDC-IDS Briefing Note 8, 2018)
The purpose of this briefing note is to review opportunities for using complexity aware approaches to Theory of Change (ToC) to inform the SDC approach. It provides an overview of complexity-aware approaches and then focuses on demonstrating how complexity thinking can support programming by building on the frameworks currently being used in the project/programme cycle management (PCM) processes. It is aimed at SDC staff, in particular Programme Officers and staff of partner organisations involved in the management of SDC interventions.

Operationalizing the Science of Delivery Agenda to Enhance Development Results - Gonzalez Asis, Maria; Woolcock, Michael (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2015)
The clear development gains achieved in recent decades should not deflect attention from the scale and type of challenges that remain. The strategies largely responsible for these initial gains have been technical reforms promoting economic growth and logistical systems supplying basic inputs. Today, strategies are needed that focus on enhancing the quality of implementation— for example, ensuring learning and not just building schools and enrolling students. This concern now spans numerous domains of professional practice (especially health) and has entered World Bank discussions framed as the “science of delivery.” At the World Bank, the Global Delivery Initiative (GDI) is an operational manifestation and extension of these ideas. To date, the GDI has prepared a number of different case studies across numerous sectors on ways in which innovative teams solve particular problems during project implementation. On the basis of the initial case studies, the authors outline five key principles of how high-quality implementation occurs and invite others to add to this growing storehouse of knowledge. Specifically, task teams are encouraged to develop “live” case studies by and for their staff, documenting how, in real time, implementation challenges are being met. Projects must “learn” more rapidly and systematically how to solve the myriad range of complex implementation challenges they inevitably encounter, since most of these (by definition) cannot be anticipated ex ante. Delivery challenges of this kind will only intensify in the coming years as citizens demand effective responses to ever-more complex—and contentious—policy domains, such as justice, regulation, and taxation.

Integrating Livelihood and Conservation Goals: A retrospective Analysis of World Bank Projects - Gómez, Andrés; Price, Claire (Measuring Impact, 2017)
Using a database of World Bank project evaluations, E3/FAB’s new study called “Integrating Livelihood and Conservation Goals: A Retrospective Analysis of World Bank Projects” aims to contribute to building the evidence base around the integration of biodiversity conservation and livelihood goals.

Monitoring and Evaluating Conflict Sensitivity: Methodological Challenges and Practical Solutions - Goldwyn, Rachel; Chigas, Diana (DFID, 2013)

The Innovative Power of Positive Deviance - Goldstein, Jeffrey; Hazy, James; Lichtenstein, Benyamin B. (Complexity and the Nexus of Leadership, 2010)

NGO-IDEAs Impact Toolbox - Participatory Monitoring of Outcome and Impact - Gohl, Eberhard; Causemann, Bernward (Impact+, 2011)
NGO-IDEAs (NGO – Impact on Development, Empowerment and Actions) NGO-IDEAs is a cooperation of about 40 non-govermental organisations (NGOs) from South Asia, East Africa and the Philippines and 14 German NGOs working in the field of development cooperation. It identifies and develops jointly with all partners, concepts and tools for NGOs in the areas of Outcome and Impact Assessment and Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E). NGO-IDEAs is further being supported by VENRO, the umbrella organisation of development non-governmental organisations in Germany as well as PARITÄT, the legal holder of the project. The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has cofinanced the project. NGO-IDEAs is not just another study evaluating the impact of NGOs’ work – it combines research & development, knowledge management, learning & training as well as advice & coaching to initiate a collective learning process for all partners involved. Additionally, NGOIDEAs intends to create a valuable resource base for use by NGOs. NGO-IDEAs aims at: • Empowering community based organisations or groups and the poor among the rural communities to use and practice impact monitoring for project management • Empowering NGOs to further improve the effectiveness, impact and sustainability of their efforts • Making social changes more visible for implementing and funding NGOs, thus improving development practice • Improving public recognition of NGOs and CBOs and their contribution to development. The NGO-IDEAs “Impact Toolbox” is to enable NGOs and grassroots organisations to monitor projects together with the so called target groups involved, in a manner that will enhance positive outcomes and impacts, and reduce negative ones. It focuses on joint setting of goals, on monitoring them and finally on taking joint decisions about the further design and direction of interventions. The instruments of the NGO-IDEAs “Impact Toolbox” are simple and participatory. Simple means: setting out from people’s knowledge and know-how, therefore, easy to understand and apply. Application can easily be fitted into the “normal” activities of the NGOs or grassroots organisations. The participatory character emerges through democratic elements promoting a “Culture of Learning” that the people can assimilate

Appreciative Inquiry: Three decades of generative impact - Godwin, Lindsey N. (AI Practitioner, 2016)

Assessing Innovation Potential for Social Impact: Overview for Social Sector Leaders - Global Knowledge Initiative (2016)

Overview for Social Sector Leaders: Assessing Innovation Potential for Social Impact - Global Knowledge Initiative (2016)
We aim to provide decision makers with greater insight and confidence into the process of assessing innovation impact potential. Rather than considering the role innovation plays after an investment is made, or based on historic evaluations of how innovation has or has not delivered solutions to a problem, this approach is forward-looking. This customizable toolset assesses the future impact that innovation can deliver in a system to tackle particularly complex problems

Making All Voices Count: A Slam Dunk? - Global Integrity (Global Integrity, 2012)
Yesterday, I had the chance to attend the public launch of a new government transparency and accountability funding mechanism – Making All Voices Count. Held at USAID headquarters, the discussion featured a veritable who’s who of open government and transparency practitioners in the Washington area; probably 250 people were packed into the room. (Announcing a …

GLAM Monitoring and Learning Strategy (internal document) - GLAM (ODI, 2018)

GIZ’s evaluation system - GIZ Evaluation Unit (GIZ GmbH, 2018)
This provides a general description of GIZ’s new evaluation system, which is designed to implement our new policy and to achieve the objectives of evaluation reform. This general description is accompanied by two other documents that provide supplementary details of GIZ’s key evaluation instruments: project evaluations for BMZ business and corporate strategic evaluations. They are geared in particular to GIZ staff members who commission, implement or support evaluations and to evaluators who conduct evaluations on behalf of GIZ as well as repre-sentatives of commissioning parties, clients and cooperation partners. The current versions are very much a ‘work in progress’ in many regards. We are well aware that we will only be able to meet our own high expectations of our evaluations if we continue to develop their quality in dialogue with project staff, our commissioning parties, clients and partners and with evaluation practitioners and experts from the academic, scientific and research community. We look forward to taking on this task and to sharing our experience with all interested parties.

Capacity WORKS - GIZ (2014)
One of GIZ’s core competencies is understanding how cooperation works in societies, and supporting that process. The kind of process we mean is cooperation between state, civil society and private-sector actors who wish to jointly shape societal changes. GIZ has systematised its knowledge on how to achieve this, and made it available in the Capacity WORKS management model. The model describes how to manage cooperation systems.

Capacity Works - online training - GIZ (GIZ, 2014)

Cooperation Management for Practitioners: Managing Social Change With Capacity Works - GIZ (Springer Gabler, 2015)

GIZ's Evaluation Policy: Principles, guidelines and requirements of our evaluation practice - GIZ (GIZ, 2018)

Toolkit Digitalisation: Tools to Support Strategic Planning and Implementation - GIZ (2017)

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

One step to a thousand miles: building accountability in Liberia - Gilberds, Heather (Accountability Lab Liberia, 2017)
Lessons for enabling accountability and integrity in Liberia

Producer-led value chain analysis: The missing link in value chain development - Ghore, Yogesh (Coady, 2015)
Introduction and rationale The concept of a value chain is increasingly being applied in the design and implementation of development programs aimed at poverty reduction. As an analytical tool, it provides a useful framework for understanding key activities, relationships, and mechanisms that allow producers, processors, buyers, sellers, and consumers—separated by time and space—to gradually add value to products and services as they pass from one link of the chain to another, making it a “value chain” (UNIDO, 2009). While it has been popular in the private sector ever since it was conceptualized by Michael Porter in the 1980s, more recently various donors and governments have shown interest in its use and have applied it to a range of development interventions, particularly in the area of sector development, livelihoods promotion, small and medium enterprise (SME) development, and rural and economic development. Academics and development organizations have designed numerous instruments for value chain analysis (VCA) and implementation. Beginning in the early 2000s, international organizations and donor agencies have sponsored the development of these tools, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the International Labour Organization (ILO). These guides and tools have been used in many development programs to address organizational, donor and local and regional priorities for development. While VCA guides and tools are important in understanding markets and relationships among key stakeholders, a recent comparative review of popularly used guides by Donovan et al. (2013) suggests that most of these guides are designed to be implemented independently of the local context and do not sufficiently focus on mutual learning, whether related to tool design or to the outcomes and impacts of the designed project activities. VCA is often conducted by external experts and the knowledge generated in the process is often confined to reports. Without the capacity building and effective participation of women and men producers—smallholder farmers who hold critical knowledge about the local context—an important link is missing in the entire process of VCA. The insufficient attention to the human, social, and other contextual factors undermines the full potential of the value chain systems approach, not only for economic outcomes, but for the long term sustainability of the intended benefits. So what are the ways to effectively engage producers in the community in the VCA? The producer-led process described here tries to address this basic question. It introduces simplified tools and an approach that ensures farmer participation in data collection, analysis, and identification of opportunities and constraints, and design of value chain interventions. This participation requires: a) an environment in which they feel comfortable to share their knowledge and insights, which is often not the case when extractive surveys and questionnaires are administered to collect information; and b) the use of simple and participatory tools that will allow them to provide inputs into the process of VCA and also help them to understand complex value chain systems and use this understanding for making livelihood decisions. The key steps and tools described are aimed at empowering the women and men farmers to make informed decisions about their own enterprises and how they relate to the value chain, thereby directly contributing to, and influencing, the overall process of value chain development. The process of VCA involving these steps and tools was developed at Coady Institute and first tested with Oxfam Canada and its local partners in Ethiopia in August 2012.

Meant to Keep Malaria Out, Mosquito Nets Are Used to Haul Fish In - Gettleman, Jeffrey (The New York Times, 2015)
Nets like his are widely considered a magic bullet against malaria — one of the cheapest and most effective ways to stop a disease that kills at least half a million Africans each year. But Mr. Ndefi and countless others are not using their mosquito nets as global health experts have intended. Nobody in his hut, including his seven children, sleeps under a net at night. Instead, Mr. Ndefi has taken his family’s supply of anti-malaria nets and sewn them together into a gigantic sieve that he uses to drag the bottom of the swamp ponds, sweeping up all sorts of life: baby catfish, banded tilapia, tiny mouthbrooders, orange fish eggs, water bugs and the occasional green frog

Coping with Complexity - Gerard Seijts; Niels Billou; Mary Crossan (Ivey Business Journal, 2010)

The Social Realities of Knowledge for Development - Georgalakis, James; Jessani, Nasreen; Oronje, Rose; Ramalingam, Ben (IDS, 2017)
This edited collection of peer-reviewed papers explores critical challenges faced by organisations and individuals involved in evidence-informed development through a diverse set of case studies and t...

Advancing urban adaptation where it counts: reshaping unequal knowledge and resource diffusion in networked Indonesian cities - Geldin, Samuel (Environment and Urbanization, 2019)
Climate adaptation literature vocalizes the need for transnational municipal networks (TMNs) to expand activities in vulnerable medium-sized cities, but little work has examined the granular extent of city participation and processes constraining TMN growth. This study explores the effectiveness of TMNs in reaching adaptation outcomes and how financial, material, and knowledge exchanges of TMNs tend to exclude adaptation in high-priority intermediary cities. Nearly 40 semi-structured interviews with Indonesian city actors and a preliminary catalogue of cities participating in TMNs reveal that risk-averse selection criteria, insufficient impact assessments, and duplicative institutional efforts reinforce disparities between primary and intermediary cities. To effectively build adaptive capacity in the most vulnerable regions, TMNs should remove participation barriers for intermediary cities, improve incentives for institutional collaboration, and adopt more rigorous evaluative metrics. These results directly inform the governance, resource allocation, and operational goals of TMN stakeholders to advance distributive climate justice.

Global Delivery at the World Bank Group - GDI (Global Delivery Initiative, 2014)

Empowerment and Accountability in difficult settings: What are we learning? - Gaventa, John; Oswald, Katy (Key messages emerging from theAction for Empowerment and Accountability Programme, 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.

Introduction: Making change happen–citizen action and national policy reform - Gaventa, John; McGee, Rosemary (Citizen Action and National Policy Reform. London: Zed Books, 2010)

The Impact of Transparency and Accountability Initiatives - Gaventa, John; McGee, Rosemary (Development Policy Review, 2013)

Mapping the Outcomes of Citizen Engagement - Gaventa, John; Barrett, Gregory (World Development, 2012)
Summary Despite the normative beliefs that underpin the concept of participation, its impact on improved democratic, and developmental outcomes has proven difficult to assess. Using a meta-case study analysis of a sample of 100 cases, we inductively create a typology of four democratic and developmental outcomes, including (a) the construction of citizenship, (b) the strengthening of practices of participation, (c) the strengthening of responsive and accountable states, and (d) the development of inclusive and cohesive societies. We find that citizen participation produces positive effects across these outcome types, though in each category there are also important types of negative outcomes as well.
Keywords: Citizen engagement; Citizenship; Development outcomes; Participation; democratic outcomes; meta-analysis

5 Emerging Lessons from new research into Empowerment and Accountability in Messy Places - Gaventa, John (From Poverty to Power, 2019)
Research guru John Gaventa summarizes the emerging lessons from a new research programme on 'action for empowerment and accountability' in messy places

Applying Power Analysis: Using the ‘Powercube’ to explore forms, levels and spaces - Gaventa, John (Power, Empowerment and Social Change, 2019)
In a complex, globalised and rapidly changing world, power dynamics are multidimensional, constantly evolving, and full of complexity. The ‘powercube’ (Gaventa, 2006) is an approach to power analysis which can be used to examine the multiple forms, levels and spaces of power, and their interactions. Building on earlier work on power, and elaborated and popularised in collaboration with other colleagues through the web site powercube.net and numerous other resources, the powercube has been widely used around the world for analysis of power, education and awareness building, context analysis, programme and strategy development, and monitoring and evaluation. This article briefly outlines the evolution of the powercube, and provides examples of the issue areas in which it has been used, and for what purposes. Drawing on these, we then offer eight lessons of how to apply the powercube framework for analysing and transforming power relations.

Participation Makes A Difference: But Not Always How And Where We Might Expect - Gaventa, John (Development Outreach, 2011)

Scaling Science - Gargani, John; McLean, Robert (Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2017)

Adaptive Management in the Face of Climate Change and Endangered Species Protection - Gardner, Emily (Ecology Law Quarterly, 2013)

Assessing the Demand for a Global Evidence Network. Mapping Existing Initiatives and Understanding Network Lessons and Opportunities - Gandolfo, Ari; Taddese, Abeba (Results for all, 2018)

New communication technologies and citizen-led governance in Africa - Gagliardone, Iginio; Srinivasan, Sharath; Brisset-Foucault, Florence (Discussion Paper, 2012)

Canada's Feminist International Assistance Policy - GAC (Global Affairs Canada, 2017)

Global Affairs Canada: an approach to development innovation - GAC (Global Affairs Canada, 2018)
For Global Affairs Canada, development innovation includes new or improved business models, policy practices, approaches, technologies, behavioral insights or ways of delivering products and services that benefit and empower the poorest and most vulnerable people in developing countries.

Our priorities in international assistance - GAC (GAC, 2018)
For Global Affairs Canada, development innovation includes new or improved business models, policy practices, approaches, technologies, behavioral insights or ways of delivering products and services that benefit and empower the poorest and most vulnerable people in developing countries.

The Whistler principles to accelerate innovation for development impact - G7 (G7, 2018)
The Whistler principles to accelerate innovation for development impact : 2018 G7 Summit – Canada 2018 G7 Presidency – Charlevoix, Quebec

Purposeful Program Theory: Effective Use of Theories of Change and Logic Models - Funnell, Sue C.; Rogers, Patricia J. (Wiley, 2011)
Program Theory in Evaluation Practice is a ground-breaking reference that teaches how to develop an explicit causal model that links an intervention (project, program or policy) with its intended or observed impacts and using this to guide monitoring and evaluation. Peerless in its explanation of why and how to use and develop program theory, the book is rich with examples and alternative approaches. The book is an invaluable resource to faculty and students as well as professionals in professional development programs, education, social work, and counseling.

Purposeful Program Theory: Effective Use of Theories of Change and Logic Models - Funnell, Sue C.; Rogers, Patricia J. (2011)
Between good intentions and great results lies a program theory—not just a list of tasks but a vision of what needs to happen, and how. Now widely used in government and not-for-profit organizations, program theory provides a coherent picture of how change occurs and how to improve performance. Purposeful Program Theory shows how to develop, represent, and use program theory thoughtfully and strategically to suit your particular situation, drawing on the fifty-year history of program theory and the authors' experiences over more than twenty-five years."From needs assessment to intervention design, from implementation to outcomes evaluation, from policy formulation to policy execution and evaluation, program theory is paramount. But until now no book has examined these multiple uses of program theory in a comprehensive, understandable, and integrated way. This promises to be a breakthrough book, valuable to practitioners, program designers, evaluators, policy analysts, funders, and scholars who care about understanding why an intervention works or doesn't work." —Michael Quinn Patton, author, Utilization-Focused Evaluation"Finally, the definitive guide to evaluation using program theory! Far from the narrow 'one true way' approaches to program theory, this book provides numerous practical options for applying program theory to fulfill different purposes and constraints, and guides the reader through the sound critical thinking required to select from among the options. The tour de force of the history and use of program theory is a truly global view, with examples from around the world and across the full range of content domains. A must-have for any serious evaluator." —E. Jane Davidson, PhD, Real Evaluation Ltd.Companion Web site: josseybass.com/go/funnellrogers

Technology for Democracy in Development: Lessons from Seven Case Studies - Fung, Archon; Gilman, Hollie Russon; Shkabatur, Jennifer (Deliberation and Development: Rethinking the Role of Voice and Collective Action in Unequal Societies, 2015)

Minipublics: Designing Institutions for Effective Deliberation and Accountability - Fung, Archon (Accountability through public opinion : from inertia to public action, 2010)
“Accountability” has become a buzzword in international development. Development actors appear to delight in announcing their intention to “promote accountability”—but it is often unclear what accountability is and how it can be promoted. This book addresses some questions that are crucial to understanding accountability and for understanding why accountability is important to improve the effectiveness of development aid. We ask: What does it mean to make governments accountable to their citizens? How do you do that? How do you create genuine demand for accountability among citizens, how do you move citizens from inertia to public action? The main argument of this book is that accountability is a matter of public opinion. Governments will only be accountable if there are incentives for them to do so—and only an active and critical public will change the incentives of government officials to make them responsive to citizens’ demands. Accountability without public opinion is a technocratic, but not an effective solution. In this book, more than 30 accountability practitioners and thinkers discuss the concept and its structural conditions; the relationship between accountability, information, and the media; the role of deliberation to promote accountability; and mechanisms and tools to mobilize public opinion. A number of case studies from around the world illustrate the main argument of the book: Public opinion matters and an active and critical public is the surest means to achieve accountability that will benefit the citizens in developing countries. This book is designed for policy-makers and governance specialists working within the international development community, national governments, grassroots organizations, activists, and scholars engaged in understanding the interaction between accountability and public opinion and their role for increasing the impact of international development interventions.

Beyond the tools: supporting adaptation when organisational resources and capacities are in short supply - Fünfgeld, Hartmut; Lonsdale, Kate; Bosomworth, Karyn (Climatic Change, 2018)
Climate change adaptation is increasingly concerned with how organisations develop capacity to adapt to uncertain futures. A participatory action research project conducted in Victoria, Australia, examined how health and social service organisations developed their organisational adaptive capacity through the use of adaptation decision-support tools. It can be challenging for any organisation to select and apply a decision-support tool, but this is particularly the case where resources and capacities are limited. For most organisations, climate change is only one of a complex set of dynamic stressors they must consider in meeting organisational goals. This paper shows that while decision-support tools can help co-generate knowledge and facilitate customised organisational adaptation processes, for them to be practically helpful for organisations with limited resources and capacities, intensive collaborative and discursive processes are needed to adjust such tools to fit specific organisational contexts and needs. Facilitators and participatory approaches that enable co-inquiry can play a critical role in supplementing scarce resources and initiating adaptation processes that go well beyond the scope and purpose of the decision-support tool used. Organisations working effectively with decision-support tools to adapt to climate change will need to feel ownership of them and have confidence in modifying them to suit their particular adaptation needs and organisational goals.
Keywords: Adaptive capacity; Climate change; Community services; Decision-support tools; Facilitation; Health and social services; Organizational change

Marine Conservation Outcomes are More Likely when Fishers Participate as Citizen Scientists: Case Studies from the Mexican Mesoamerican Reef - Fulton, Stuart; Caamal-Madrigal, Jacobo; Aguilar-Perera, Alfonso; Bourillón, Luis; Heyman, William D. (Citizen Science: Theory and Practice, 2018)
Small-scale fishers on Caribbean coral reefs have exploited fish spawning aggregations (FSAs) for generations, but intense fishing has led to the loss of traditional aggregation sites. In many areas, the traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of fishers has contributed greatly to the characterization of spawning aggregations and implementation of local conservation initiatives. TEK has identified more than 40 potential FSA sites along the coast of the Mexican Mesoamerican Reef. These sites have been characterised and scientifically validated, in some cases with traditional western science and in others, with a participatory citizen-science approach. The objective of this work is to compare the science and conservation outcomes at these FSA sites. We report that those FSA sites where scientific surveys were conducted without community participation remain unprotected. By contrast, the FSAs where local fishers were engaged in characterization and subsequent monitoring are now protected at the behest of the fishers themselves. Conservation initiatives to protect FSAs can be more effective through a combination of TEK, western science, and participatory citizen science involving local fishers.
Keywords: Citizen science; Fishers; Spawning Aggregation; Traditional Ecological Knowledge

Participatory adaptive management leads to environmental learning outcomes extending beyond the sphere of science - Fujitani, Marie; McFall, Andrew; Randler, Christoph; Arlinghaus, Robert (Science Advances, 2017)
Resolving uncertainties in managed social-ecological systems requires adaptive experimentation at whole-ecosystem levels. However, whether participatory adaptive management fosters ecological understanding among stakeholders beyond the sphere of science is unknown. We experimentally involved members of German angling clubs (n = 181 in workshops, n = 2483 in total) engaged in self-governance of freshwater fisheries resources in a large-scale ecological experiment of active adaptive management of fish stocking, which constitutes a controversial management practice for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning when conducted inappropriately. The collaborative ecological experiments spanned several years and manipulated fish densities in 24 lakes with two species. In parallel, we experimentally compared changes in ecological knowledge and antecedents of proenvironmental behavior in stakeholders and managers who were members of a participatory adaptive management treatment group, with those receiving only a standard lecture, relative to placebo controls. Using a within-subjects pretest-posttest control design, changes in ecological knowledge, environmental beliefs, attitudes, norms, and behavioral intentions were evaluated. Participants in adaptive management retained more knowledge of ecological topics after a period of 8 months compared to those receiving a standard lecture, both relative to controls. Involvement in adaptive management was also the only treatment that altered personal norms and beliefs related to stocking. Critically, only the stakeholders who participated in adaptive management reduced their behavioral intentions to engage in fish stocking in the future. Adaptive management is essential for robust ecological knowledge, and we show that involving stakeholders in adaptive management experiments is a powerful tool to enhance ecological literacy and build environmental capacity to move toward sustainability. Participatory active adaptive management leads to far-reaching environmental learning outcomes in stakeholders. Participatory active adaptive management leads to far-reaching environmental learning outcomes in stakeholders.

The relationship between adaptive management of social-ecological systems and law: a systematic review - Frohlich, Miguel F.; Jacobson, Chris; Fidelman, Pedro; Smith, Timothy F. (Ecology and Society, 2018)
Adaptive management has been considered a valuable approach for managing social-ecological systems involving high levels of complexity and uncertainty. However, many obstacles still hamper its implementation. Law is often seen as a barrier for moving adaptive management beyond theory, although there has been no synthesis on the challenges of legal constraints or how to overcome them. We contribute to filling this knowledge gap by providing a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature on the relationship between adaptive management and law in relation to social-ecological systems. We analyze how the scholarship defines the concept of adaptive management, identifies the legal barriers to adaptive management, and the legal strategies suggested for enabling this approach. Research efforts in this domain are still highly geographically concentrated in the United States of America, unveiling gaps concerning the analysis of other legal jurisdictions. Overall, our results show that more flexible legal frameworks can allow for adaptive management without undermining the role of law in providing stability to social interactions. Achieving this balance will likely require the reform of existing laws, regulations, and other legal instruments. Legal reforms can facilitate the emergence of adaptive governance, with the potential to support not only adaptive management implementation but also to make law itself more adaptive.

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

Re-imagining Inclusive Urban Futures for Transformation - Friend, Richard M; Anwar, Nausheen H; Dixit, Ajaya; Hutanuwatr, Khanin; Jayaraman, Thiagarajan; McGregor, J Allister; Menon, Meena R; Moench, Marcus; Pelling, Mark; Roberts, Debra (Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2016)

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

Can’t See the Wood For the Logframe: Integrating Logframes and Theories of Change in Development Evaluation - Freer, Gordon; Lemire, Sebastian (Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 2019)
There are numerous ways in which to model the underlying theory of programs. In the context of international development evaluation, the most ubiquitous are likely “logframes” and to some extent “theories of change,” both of which may serve to guide program development and management, monitoring, and evaluation. While logframes and theories of change are often developed in parallel, they are rarely fully integrated in their practical application. Drawing on lessons from a recent theory-based evaluation, this article argues that fully integrating the program theory of change within the program logframe provides for a stronger and more holistic understanding of program progress.

Guidelines for designing and monitoring social accountability interventions - Franco, Erika Lopez; Shankland, Alex (IDS, 2018)

Connecting the Dots for Accountability: Civil Society Policy Monitoring and Advocacy Strategies - Fox, Jonathan; Halloran, Brendan (Transparency & Accountability Initiative, 2016)
Keywords: IMPORTANT

Social Accountability: What Does the Evidence Really Say? - Fox, Jonathan A. (World Development, 2015)
Summary Empirical evidence of tangible impacts of social accountability initiatives is mixed. This meta-analysis reinterprets evaluations through a new lens: the distinction between tactical and strategic approaches to the promotion of citizen voice to contribute to improved public sector performance. Field experiments study bounded, tactical interventions based on optimistic assumptions about the power of information alone, both to motivate collective action and to influence the state. Enabling environments for collective action combined with bolstered state capacity to respond to citizen voice are more promising. Sandwich strategies can help ‘voice’ and ‘teeth’ to become mutually empowering, through state–society synergy.
Keywords: public information access; social accountability; state–society synergy; transparency; voice

Scaling accountability through vertically integrated civil society policy monitoring and advocacy - Fox, Jonathan (MAVC Working Paper, 2016)
This working paper argues that the growing field of transparency, participation and accountability (TPA) needs a conceptual reboot, to address the limited traction gained so far on the path to accountability. To inform more strategic approaches and to identify the drivers of more sustainable institutional change, fresh analytical work is needed. This paper makes the case for one among several possible strategic approaches by distinguishing between “scaling up” and “taking scale into account”. This proposition grounds an explanation of the vertical integration strategy, which involves multi-level coordination by civil society organisations of policy monitoring and advocacy, grounded in broad pro-accountability constituencies. To spell out how this strategy can empower pro-accountability actors, the paper contrasts varied terms of engagement between state and society, proposing a focus on collaborative coalitions as an alternative to the conventional dichotomy between confrontation and constructive engagement. The paper grounds this discussion by reviewing the rich empirical terrain of existing multi-level approaches, summarizing nine cases – three each in three countries – to demonstrate what can be revealed when TPA initiatives are seen through the lens of scale. It concludes with a set of broad analytical questions for discussion, followed by testable hypotheses proposed to inform future research agendas

Taking scale into account in transparency and accountability initiatives - Fox, Jonathan (MAVC Research Summary, 2016)
We know that gaining access to information and raising citizen voices are not the same as achieving accountability. It is important to look beyond the symptoms of accountability failure, and consider how to tackle the causes. This short research summary discusses different understandings of scale, one important aspect of making transparency and accountability initiatives more strategic. Scale shapes both the causes of accountability failure and the tactics and strategies needed to address it.

Designing Monitoring and Evaluation Approaches for Learning An FOS How-To Guide - FOS (FOS, 2019)

Conceptualizing community resilience to natural hazards – the emBRACE framework - Forrester, John Martin; Kruse, Sylvia; Abeling, Thomas; Deeming, Hugh; Fordham, Maureen; Forrester, John; Jülich, Sebastian; Karanci, A. Nuray; Kuhlicke, Christian; Pelling, Mark; Pedoth, Lydia; Schneiderbauer, Stefan (Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 2017)
Abstract. The level of community is considered to be vital for building disaster resilience. Yet, community resilience as a scientific concept often remains vaguely defined and lacks the guiding characteristics necessary for analysing and enhancing resilience on the ground. The emBRACE framework of community resilience presented in this paper provides a heuristic analytical tool for understanding, explaining and measuring community resilience to natural hazards. It was developed in an iterative process building on existing scholarly debates, on empirical case study work in five countries and on participatory consultation with community stakeholders where the framework was applied and ground-tested in different contexts and for different hazard types. The framework conceptualizes resilience across three core domains: (i) resources and capacities, (ii) actions and (iii) learning. These three domains are conceptualized as intrinsically conjoined within a whole. Community resilience is influenced by these integral elements as well as by extra-community forces comprising disaster risk governance and thus laws, policies and responsibilities on the one hand and on the other, the general societal context, natural and human-made disturbances and system change over time. The framework is a graphically rendered heuristic, which through application can assist in guiding the assessment of community resilience in a systematic way and identifying key drivers and barriers of resilience that affect any particular hazard-exposed community.

Improving our legacy: Incorporation of adaptive management into state wildlife action plans - Fontaine, Joseph J. (Journal of Environmental Management, 2011)
The loss of biodiversity is a mounting concern, but despite numerous attempts there are few large scale conservation efforts that have proven successful in reversing current declines. Given the challenge of biodiversity conservation, there is a need to develop strategic conservation plans that address species declines even with the inherent uncertainty in managing multiple species in complex environments. In 2002, the State Wildlife Grant program was initiated to fulﬁll this need, and while not explicitly outlined by Congress follows the fundamental premise of adaptive management, ‘Learning by doing’. When action is necessary, but basic biological information and an understanding of appropriate management strategies are lacking, adaptive management enables managers to be proactive in spite of uncertainty. However, regardless of the strengths of adaptive management, the development of an effective adaptive management framework is challenging. In a review of 53 State Wildlife Action Plans, I found a keen awareness by planners that adaptive management was an effective method for addressing biodiversity conservation, but the development and incorporation of explicit adaptive management approaches within each plan remained elusive. Only w25% of the plans included a framework for how adaptive management would be implemented at the project level within their state. There was, however, considerable support across plans for further development and implementation of adaptive management. By furthering the incorporation of adaptive management principles in conservation plans and explicitly outlining the decision making process, states will be poised to meet the pending challenges to biodiversity conservation.

The Principle of the Malevolent Hiding Hand; or, the Planning Fallacy Writ Large - Flyvbjerg, Bent; Sunstein, Cass R. (Soocial Research, 2016)
We identify and document a new principle of economic behavior: the principle of the Malevolent Hiding Hand. In a famous discussion, Albert Hirschman celebrated the Hiding Hand, which he saw as a benevolent mechanism by which unrealistically optimistic planners embark on unexpectedly challenging plans, only to be rescued by human ingenuity, which they could not anticipate, but which ultimately led to success, principally in the form of unexpectedly high net benefits. Studying eleven projects, Hirschman suggested that the Hiding Hand is a general phenomenon. But the Benevolent Hiding Hand has an evil twin, the Malevolent Hiding Hand, which blinds excessively optimistic planners not only to unexpectedly high costs but also to unexpectedly low net benefits. Studying a much larger sample than Hirschman did, we find that the Malevolent Hiding Hand is common and that the phenomenon that Hirschman identified is rare. This sobering finding suggests that Hirschman’s phenomenon is a special case; it attests to the pervasiveness of the planning fallacy, writ very large. One implication involves the continuing need to de-bias decisions and decision support tools like cost-benefit analysis; another is that accountability for decision makers, planners, and forecasters is required for such de-biasing to be effective and lasting.
Keywords: Behavioral economics; Cost-benefit analysis; Hiding hand; Planning fallacy

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

The Fallacy of Beneficial Ignorance: A Test of Hirschman's Hiding Hand - Flyvbjerg, Bent (World Development, 2016)
Albert O. Hirschman's principle of the Hiding Hand stands stronger and more celebrated today than ever. The principle states that ignorance is good in planning,
Keywords: Behavioral economics; Development; Hiding hand; Ignorance; Management

Addressing gender in impact evaluation: What should be considered? - Fletcher, Gillian (Methods Lab, 2015)
Gender and sexuality are intimately entwined; we must not lose sight of the ways in which gender affects non-heterosexual people, transgender people and people who do not identify as either male or female. • Gender and gender-related injustice is a feature of all interventions, whatever the focus, be it agriculture, capacity building, disaster management, education, health, peace building, water, sanitation and hygiene, or other. • Showing an increase in the number of women participants in an intervention is not the same as demonstrating gender impact. An ‘add women and stir’ approach is not good enough. • A good intervention design will identify critical inequalities and conduct a needs assessment that clearly identifies gender-related issues. If this needs assessment feeds directly into the programme theory, it will facilitate assessment of the intervention’s gender-related impact and will be more likely it is to have positive gender-related impact.

Gendered voices for climate action - Fisher, Susannah; Shakya, Clare (iied Working Paper, 2018)
Including local women and men who have experienced the impacts of climate change in decision-making forums is key to developing a just process hearing local voices and experiences. The Paris Agreement signs up the international community to delivering countrydriven, gender-responsive climate action. Including local women and men will be critical to this transition and to achieving the scale and pace of change needed through both procedural and distributional justice. However, there is scarce evidence on how these voices and experiences can impact on and strengthen climate responses, or how best to enable and facilitate this participation.

The usability of climate information in sub-national planning in India, Kenya and Uganda: the role of social learning and intermediary organisations - Fisher, Susannah; Dodman, David; Epp, Marissa Van; Garside, Ben (Climatic Change, 2018)
Abstract Research on using climate information has often focused on the interaction between users and producers and the technical fit of information for real decision-making. However, due to resource and capacity constraints within both user and producer communities, this approach will not always be feasible or indeed necessary depending on the decisions at hand. These contexts have been relatively under-explored by scholars, and this paper provides an original empirical contribution using three case studies of sub-national governments in India, Kenya and Uganda. In the paper, we analyse how social learning supports changing the usability of climate information and the role of intermediary organisations in these processes. Firstly, the paper shows that intermediaries often choose to build the commitment to project aims rather than using climate information as an entry point to working on climate change, and this allows them to instigate challenging learning processes. Secondly, there are barriers to iterative processes and critical reflection with government stakeholders but these processes can gain traction when built into institutional practices such as formal M&E processes. Lastly, social learning can broaden the framing of climate change from a single sector issue to a multi-sectoral one. We conclude by arguing that bringing together scholarship on social learning with that on the usability of climate information can deepen understanding of the dynamic context in which the information becomes usable. The evidence from the case studies shows that learning processes can alter this context across scales.

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

Importing Democracy: The Role of NGO's in South Africa, Tajikistan, & Argentina - Fisher, Julie (Kettering Foundation Press, 2013)
While street protesters demanding democratic reforms make headlines in the international news, Importing Democracy: The Role of NGOs in South Africa, Tajikistan, and Argentina, written by Julie Fisher and published by the Kettering Foundation Press, focuses on a quieter movement led by democratization NGOs. In South Africa, the Good Governance Learning Network shares participatory tools to make local governments more responsive. In Tajikistan, Jahan teaches local police about human rights. In Argentina, seven democratization NGOs sponsor public deliberations in local communities and have organized a nationwide citizens network to combat municipal government corruption. The book is organized around three chapters for each country, South Africa, Tajikistan, and Argentina. The first chapter of each country s section begins with the historical, political, and economic context and continues with a discussion of the general contours of civil society. The second chapter in each section deals with the role of democratization NGOs in promoting both loyal opposition and law-based civil liberties. The third chapter focuses on their role in promoting political culture and political participation. Loyal opposition and law-based civil liberties help define democratization at the national level, whereas changes in political culture and increased political participation often occur throughout society. Following the nine country chapters, the book concludes with a comparative overview and implications for international policy. Fisher, a former Kettering Foundation program officer, writes that the idea that democracy can be exported has lost credibility in recent years. In many countries, however, democratization NGOs are importing democratic ideas and recovering local democratic traditions.

Adaptive Management in the Courts - Fischman, Robert L.; Ruhl, J.B. (Minnesota Law Review, 2010)
Adaptive management has become the tonic of natural resources policy. With its core idea of “learning while doing,” adaptive management has infused the natural resources policy world to the point of ubiquity, surfacing in everything from mundane agency permits to grand presidential proclamations. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to suggest that these days adaptive management is natural resources policy. But is it working? Does appending “adaptive” in front of “management” somehow make natural resources policy, which has always been about balancing competing claims to nature’s bounty, something more and better? Many legal and policy scholars have asked that question, with mixed reviews. Their evaluations, however, have rested on theory, program-specific surveys, and isolated case studies. This article provides the first comprehensive review of adaptive management from the perspective that likely matters most to the natural resource agencies practicing adaptive management - how is it faring in the courts? Part I of the Article examines the theory, policy, and practice of adaptive management, focusing on the experience of the federal resource management agencies. The end product in practice is something we call “a m-lite,” a watered down version of the theory that resembles ad hoc contingency planning more than it does planned “learning while doing.” This gap between theory and practice leads to profound disparities between how agencies justify decisions and how adaptive management in practice arrives at the courthouse doorsteps. In Part II we review how these disparities have played out in courts considering claims that agency practice of adaptive management has not lived up to its theoretical promise or to the legal demands of substantive and procedural environmental law. We extract three key themes from the body of case law in this respect. Part III extends from the existing case law to draw lessons for agencies and Congress about the future practice of adaptive management. Our ultimate message to agencies is that a m-lite can be an effective decision method - and one that survives judicial scrutiny - but agencies must be more disciplined about its design and implementation. This includes resisting the temptation to employ adaptive management to dodge burdensome procedural requirements, substantive management criteria, and contentious stakeholder participation. If faithfully followed and enforced, this model, despite its flaws, could serve as an important component of natural resources policy to confront problems of the future as daunting as climate change.

Beyond Participation and Accountability: Theorizing Representation in Local Democracy - Fischer, Harry W. (World Development, 2016)
Recent decades have seen growing emphasis on enhancing public participation and accountability in governance processes. Yet the valence of these discussions has focused almost entirely on the character of citizen engagement itself, with little attention to the ways in which citizens’ agency is constituted in relation to changing forms of public authority. In this paper, I advance a theoretical account of political representation, a concept that is central to analysis of democracy, but which has seen only limited attention in the scholarship on democratic decentralization. I draw on two contrasting models—selection and sanction—to elaborate an understanding of representation that recognizes both mechanisms that enable citizens to hold their leaders to account as well as the character of leaders’ own intrinsic motivations. Through a qualitative account of three decades’ political change from a locality in the Indian Himalayas, I document a gradual process of institutional and social change that has enabled a new generation of more diverse elected leaders to ascend to positions of elected authority, including many from historically marginalized sections of society. By examining the experiences of three such individuals in detail, I demonstrate the importance of understanding who leaders are and what they do—their skills and aspirations, their identity and aﬃliations, and the kinds of representative relationships that they embody. Placing the selection and sanction models in dialog reveals new and productive avenues to explore the interplay between external incentive structures and leaders’ intrinsic motivations in shaping broader process of political change.

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

Learning to Adapt: Exploring Knowledge, Information and Data for Adaptive Programmes and Policies - Workshop Summary Report - fhi360 (IDS, 2015)
Adaptive management is increasingly seen as critical capability for development programmes and policies that are more effective, efficient, relevant and sustainable. There is increasing recognition that such work requires significant changes to the organizational structures, management processes, accountability and performance cultures and indivi

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

Survey Template - Help decide the future of the [name] Community Survey - FeverBee (FeverBee, 2018)

Empowerment evaluation - Fettermen, David (2014)

Measuring the Barriers to Big Data for Development: design-reality gap analysis - Fernando Gomez, L.; Heeks, R. (Manchester University Development Informatics Working Paper Series, 2016)

Adaptive Development Switchboard - Final Report (Internal Document) - Feedback Labs (LearnAdapt Programme, 2018)

Switchboard Survey Analysis (Internal Document) - Feedback Labs (LearnAdapt Programme, 2018)

Development entrepreneurship: how donors and leaders can foster institutional change - Faustino, Jaime; Booth, David (Working Politically in Practice, 2014)
Various communities of practice have been established recently to advance the general idea of thinking and working politically in development agencies. This paper makes a contribution by describing the practice of what has been called development entrepreneurship and explaining some of the ideas from outside the field of development that have inspired it.

Food security indicators - FAO (ESS Website, 2018)

The Politics of Evidence and Results in International Development: Playing the Game to Change the Rules? - Eyben, Rosalind; Guijt, Irene; Roche, Chris; Shutt, Cathy (Practical Action Publishing, 2015)
Understanding and demonstrating the effectiveness of efforts to improve the lives of those living in poverty is an essential part of international development practice. But who decides what counts as good or credible evidence? Can the drive to measure results do justice to and promote transformational change change that challenges the power relations that produce and reproduce inequality, injustice and the non-fulfillment of human rights? The Politics of Evidence in International Development provides a critical examination of the results agenda, with practical strategies for rendering it more helpful in supporting transformative development. The book deconstructs the origins and concepts of the results and evidence agendas employed in international development. It describes with concrete examples the current effects and consequences of the agenda, and goes on to outline a range of strategies used by individuals and organizations to resist, adapt or comply with the useful and problematic demands for results-oriented measurement and evidence of value for money."

How do we know what works? Interview with Prof. Michael Woolcock, Lead Social Scientist at the World Bank - Evans, Alice (2018)
Dr Alice Evans and leading experts discuss growth, governance, & gender inequalities. Alice is a Lecturer at King's College London, and Faculty Associate at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Is there a new Washington Consensus? An analysis of five World Development Reports - Evans, Alice (From Poverty to Power, 2017)
Is there a new Washington Consensus? Alice Evans analyses the last five World Development Reports and finds significant changes in orthodoxy, but also big gaps

'Leaving No One Behind': Why Ideas Matter - Evans, Alice (2016)

A systematic review of adaptations of evidence-based public health interventions globally - Escoffery, Cam; Lebow-Skelley, E.; Haardoerfer, R.; Boing, E.; Udelson, H.; Wood, R.; Hartman, M.; Fernandez, M. E.; Mullen, P. D. (Implementation Science, 2018)
Adaptations of evidence-based interventions (EBIs) often occur. However, little is known about the reasons for adaptation, the adaptation process, and outcomes of adapted EBIs. To address this gap, we conducted a systematic review to answer the following questions: (1) What are the reasons for and common types of adaptations being made to EBIs in community settings as reported in the published literature? (2) What steps are described in making adaptations to EBIs? and (3) What outcomes are assessed in evaluations of adapted EBIs?

Participatory Budgeting in Scotland: An overview of strategic design choices and principles for effective delivery - Escobar, Oliver; Harkins, Chris (2015)
Description

Desired and unwanted: Policy work by participation practitioners - Escobar, Óliver (XXII World Congress of Political Science: ‘Reordering Power, Shifting Boundaries’, 2012)
"This paper presents findings from doctoral research in a Scottish Local Authority Area, where I am developing an interpretive ethnography of ‘the work of participation’ (cf. Colebatch, 2005c, 2006). My focus is on engagement practitioners:
Keywords: Academia; Biology; Computer Science; Earth Sciences; Geography; History; Law; Math; Medicine; Philosophy; Physics; Political science; Psychology; Religion; Research; economics; universities

Peacebuilding design, monitoring, and evaluation: A Training Package for participants and trainers at intermediate to advanced levels - Ernstorfer, Anita; Barnard-Webster, Kiely (Carnegie Corporation, 2019)
This training package includes 7 Training Modules and a set of Annexes (Annexes A-O). The Training Modules build on each other and should ideally be used in a sequenced way in a training setting. However, for groups with specific training needs around particular areas, modules can also be used individually, but need to be tailored by the trainers and facilitators to meet the needs of specific audiences. The annexes provide worksheets and hand-outs that can be used as resources during the training for specific modules and exercises.

Rethinking Participation and Re-enacting Its Dilemmas? Aarhus 2017 and “The Playful Society” - Eriksson, Birgit; Stephensen, Jan Løhmann (Conjunctions. Transdisciplinary Journal of Cultural Participation, 2016)
In 2012 the Danish city of Aarhus was appointed European Capital of Culture for 2017. The appointment was based on an ambitious programme that – under the headline Rethink – tried to set an agenda of societal transformation, mainly by seeking to increase the impact of art and culture, and to enhance civic participation at all levels of society. In this article we examine one of the first attempts of Aarhus 2017 to realize these grand ambitions: ‘The Playful Society’, a series of micro grants aimed at enabling young people to make their own art/culture projects and participate in the overall Rethink project. Informed by theoretical distinctions between different forms of participation, and the diverse interests invested in participatory processes, we investigate how the young cultural entrepreneurs and the artistic administrators of Aarhus 2017 separately, in conjunction, and sometimes even in opposition to each other, translated these overall ambitions into practice. We argue that they illuminate some of the dilemmas of contemporary cultural participation, including the importance of question- ing who participates in what, how they do it, and in what context.
Keywords: Cultural Entrepreneurship; Participation; youth

Towards an evidence base on the value of social learning-oriented approaches in the context of climate change and food security - Epp, Marissa Van; Garside, Ben (Environmental Policy and Governance, 2019)
Attention to social learning's potential to improve development outcomes in the context of climate change and food security challenges is growing. Yet evidence supporting the wide range of assertions about the outcomes of social learning processes is insufficient. More work is needed to understand when and how a social learning-oriented approach is effective. We respond to the gap in evidence by piloting the Climate Change and Social Learning initiative's monitoring and evaluation framework for social learning. Our objectives are to begin building an evidence base and to test the theory of change behind the framework. Using a peer-assist approach, we apply the framework to eight case studies in partnership with five initiatives. We analyse trends in evidence gathered across the case studies in four dimensions of social learning (engagement, iterative learning, capacity development, and challenging institutions) along three dimensions of change (process, learning outcomes, and changes in values and practice).
Keywords: Climate change adaptation; Monitoring and Evaluation; Social learning; food security

Framework for the Biodiversity Cross-Mission Learning Program - Environmental Incentives; Foundations of Success; ICF International (Measuring Impact, 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.

Summary of Indicators for Combating Wildlife Trafficking - Environmental Incentives; Foundations of Success; ICF International (Measuring Impact, 2015)
USAID's Measuring Impact conducted a survey and analysis of existing wildlife crime indicators to inform the development of USAID indicators and build the evidence base for better alignment of the Agency’s monitoring efforts with best practices. This report summarizes the search strategy and main results of the survey.

Social learning and climate change adaptation: evidence for international development practice - Ensor, Jonathan; Harvey, Blane (Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 2015)
The potential for social learning to address complex, interconnected social and environmental challenges, such as climate change adaptation, is receiving increasing attention in research and practice. Social learning approaches vary, but commonly include cycles of knowledge sharing and joint action to co-create knowledge, relationships, and practices among diverse stakeholders. This results in learning and change that goes beyond the individual into communities, networks, or systems. Many authors have focused on analysis of case studies to better understand the contexts in which such learning occurs. In this paper, we look across this literature to draw out lessons for international development practice. To support those looking to purposively design social learning interventions for adaptation, we focus on four areas: lessons learned and the principles adopted when using a social learning approach, examples of tools and methods used, approaches to evaluating social learning, and examples of its impact. While we identify important lessons for practice within each of these areas, three cross-cutting themes emerge. These are: the importance of developing a shared view among those initiating learning processes of how change might happen and of how social learning fits within it, linking this locus of desired change to the tools employed; the centrality of skilled facilitation and in particular how practitioners may shift toward being participants in the collective learning process; and the need to attend to social difference, recognizing the complexity of social relations and the potential for less powerful actors to be co-opted in shared decision making. WIREs Clim Change 2015, 6:509–522. doi: 10.1002/wcc.348 This article is categorized under: Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change > Learning from Cases and Analogies Climate and Development > Knowledge and Action in Development

Handbook of Democratic Innovation and Governance - Elstub, Stephen; Escobar, Oliver (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019)
Democratic innovations are proliferating in politics, governance, policy, and public administration. These new processes of public participation are reimagining the relationship between citizens and institutions. This Handbook advances understanding of democratic innovations, in theory and practice, by critically reviewing their importance throughout the world. The overarching themes are a focus on citizens and their relationship to these innovations, and the resulting effects on political equality. The Handbook therefore offers a definitive overview of existing research on democratic innovations, while also setting the agenda for future research and practice.
Keywords: Democracy; Public Affairs & Administration

Systems change: A guide to what it is and how to do it - Ellen Harries; Rachel Wharton; Rob Abercrombie (NPC, 2015)
Systems change has been attracting the attention of those in the social sector who want to deal with the root causes of problems, but, despite the buzz, much of what is written is abstract in tone. With the support of LankellyChase Foundation we have produced this guide to plug a gap in the systems change literature—providing accessible material and recommendations for action. Systems change has been attracting the attention of a range of progressive charities, funders and practitioners who are interested in dealing with the root causes of social problems. But while there is a buzz about a subject relatively new to the social sector, it is easy to feel frustrated by the literature—much of what is written is abstract in tone and there are few examples of success. We have produced this paper to address this problem and offer accessible material and recommendations for action. This systems change guide: Clarifies what is meant by systems and systems change Describes the main perspectives on systems change Outlines good practice for systems change Identifies what is and is not agreed upon by experts in the field Provides recommendations for charities, funders and the public sector on how to act systemically. We hope this presents a manageable introduction to the systems change field, especially for those new to it, and also guides those interested in acting systemically to improve the lives of people in need. Our conclusion is that although it may not be as novel as some claim, there is a good deal of value in a systems change approach and it offers a welcome reminder of what effective action looks like when it comes to the pursuit of social change.

Humanitarian Innovation Guide - ELHRA (2018)
The Humanitarian Innovation Guide is a growing online resource to help individuals and organisations define humanitarian problems and successfully develop innovative solutions. ABOUT THE GUIDE The humanitarian sector is investing in exciting innovations, but it is not yet producing a steady pipeline of well-designed solutions that effectively address problems, evidence their impact, and have the potential to be scaled. As stated in a recent independent evaluation of the Humanitarian Innovation Fund (Triple Line, 2017), a review of the innovation ecosystem in 2015 found significant gaps in resources for innovation, including a shortage of guidance on the skills needed to manage successful innovation projects. These findings were echoed in the research carried out to inform this resource. As part of a grant agreement with the European Commission to provide financial and technical support to emerging humanitarian innovations, and in line with our strategic aim to develop the sector’s skills and capabilities in humanitarian innovation, this resource aims to translate our own learning, along with learning from across the sector, into a practical, grounded guide for innovators working in humanitarian contexts. Building on our unique position in the sector, the Humanitarian Innovation Guide is designed to provide targeted support to individuals and organisations attempting to develop innovative solutions to the challenges facing humanitarian assistance, resulting in a more effective humanitarian response. The Guide is written with two audiences in mind: humanitarian practitioners who are seeking to develop a new approach to their work and want to apply an innovation lens to solving problems; and social entrepreneurs from outside the sector who have identified an opportunity to engage with the sector and need a humanitarian framework to contextualise their innovation plans. We also hope that it will be a useful resource for innovation managers who are tasked with supporting innovation in their agencies, labs or networks. As the first step-by-step guide to managing innovation in the humanitarian sector, we hope that its continued development will better enable individuals, organisations and the wider sector to: Plan the activities involved in an innovation process and systematise the management of innovation. Manage a successful innovation project and generate evidence for innovation. Ensure that innovations are developed in an ethical way, with full consideration of risks and responsibilities.

Information lives of the poor: fighting poverty with technology - Elder, Laurent; Samarajiva, Rohan; Gillwald, Alison; Galperin, Hernan (2014)

Smart Environmental Monitoring Using Wireless Sensor Networks - El-Bendary, Nashwa; Fouad, Mohamed; Ramadan, Rabie; Banerjee, Soumya; Hassanien, Aboul (Wireless Sensor Networks, 2013)

Addressing Maladaptive Coping Strategies of Local Communities to Changes in Ecosystem Service Provisions Using the DPSIR Framework - Ehara, Makoto; Hyakumura, Kimihiko; Sato, Ren'ya; Kurosawa, Kiyoshi; Araya, Kunio; Sokh, Heng; Kohsaka, Ryo (Ecological Economics, 2018)
The Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework has been applied to various environmental problems at multiple spatial and temporal scales and attempts have been made to conceptually improve the framework to encompass various stakeholder perspectives. However, recent literature experiences in the field have challenged the inclusive character of the framework applications. In particular, the framework's inability to incorporate the aggregated informal responses of people affected by changes in ecosystem service provisions has not been fully addressed. This limits the framework's validity in categorizing and disseminating information for addressing particular environmental challenges. Herein, we address this problem by analyzing a case study of deforestation and its impact on non-timber forest product collections by rural residents in Cambodia. We incorporate the concept of maladaptive coping strategies into the DPSIR framework and then further elaborate Ness et al.'s (2010) approach of merging the DPSIR framework with Hägerstrand's (2001) system of nested spatial domains. This conceptualizes the incorporation of the aggregated informal responses into the system, as exemplified in the case study.
Keywords: DPSIR framework; Ecosystem services; Maladaptive coping strategy; Nested spatial domains

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.

Supporting innovation and the use of technologies in accountability initiatives: lessons from Making All Voices Count - Edwards, Duncan; Hudson, Hannah; Anderson, Colin; McGee, Rosemary; Brock, Karen (MAVC Learning Report, 2018)
Making All Voices Count was an international initative that harnessed the power of innovation and new technologies to support effective, accountable governance. Focusing on six countries in Africa and Asia, the programme was implemented by a consortium of implementing partners, and used funding from four donors to make grants to support new ideas that amplified the voices of citizens, and enabled governments to listen and respond. From the start, Making All Voices Count was also a learning programme. The objective of this learning was not only to bring about change during the programme’s life cycle, but also to leave a legacy that would help to ensure that future governance programmes and initiatives seeking to capitalise on the transformative potential of innovation and technology are more informed, inclusive and impactful. This programme learning report emerged from a wider process of analysing, discussing and synthesising the data and learning from the programme, which wove together evidence-based learning about technology for accountable governance initiatives with experiential learning on how best to support such work. The report highlights five of the lessons learned from Making All Voices Count about how – and how not – to run large, complex programmes that intend to support innovation in governance.

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

MAKING - Fostering new ideas for social inclusion and accountable, responsive governance - Edwards, Duncan (Think Piece, 2014)

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

It’s About Results at Scale, Not Collective Impact - Edmondson, Jeff; Santhosh-Kumar, Parvathi (Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2017)
Improving outcomes at scale requires a paradigm shift in how we work.

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.

Strategies for learning from failure - Edmondson, Amy C. (Harvard Business Review, 2011)

Teaming: how organizations learn, innovate, and compete in the knowledge economy - Edmondson, Amy C. (Jossey-Bass, 2012)
New breakthrough thinking in organizational learning, leadership, and change Continuous improvement, understanding complex systems, and promoting innovation are all part of the landscape of learning challenges today's companies face. Amy Edmondson shows that organizations thrive, or fail to thrive, based on how well the small groups within those organizations work. In most organizations, the work that produces value for customers is carried out by teams, and increasingly, by flexible team-like entities. The pace of change and the fluidity of most work structures means that it's not really about creating effective teams anymore, but instead about leading effective teaming. Teaming shows that organizations learn when the flexible, fluid collaborations they encompass are able to learn. The problem is teams, and other dynamic groups, don't learn naturally. Edmondson outlines the factors that prevent them from doing so, such as interpersonal fear, irrational beliefs about failure, groupthink, problematic power dynamics, and information hoarding. With Teaming, leaders can shape these factors by encouraging reflection, creating psychological safety, and overcoming defensive interpersonal dynamics that inhibit the sharing of ideas. Further, they can use practical management strategies to help organizations realize the benefits inherent in both success and failure. Presents a clear explanation of practical management concepts for increasing learning capability for business results Introduces a framework that clarifies how learning processes must be altered for different kinds of work Explains how Collaborative Learning works, and gives tips for how to do it well Includes case-study research on Intermountain healthcare, Prudential, GM, Toyota, IDEO, the IRS, and both Cincinnati and Minneapolis Children's Hospitals, among others Based on years of research, this book shows how leaders can make organizational learning happen by building teams that learn.

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)

DE 201: A practitioner's guide to developmental evaluation - Dozois, Elizabeth; Langlois, Marc; Blanchet-Cohen, Natasha (J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, 2010)
Developmental evaluation has emerged fairly recently as a way to support adaptive learning in complex and emergent initiatives. Combining the rigour of evaluation with the flexibility and imagination required for development, this new form of evaluation brings critical thinking to bear on the creative process in initiatives involving high levels of uncertainty, innovation, emergence, and social complexity. This guidebook from J.W. McConnell Family Foundation and the International Institute for Child Rights and Development explores key aspects of Developmental Evaluation (DE) and offers suggestions for implementing the practice and includes a range of DE resources to help with its facilitation. Contents What is developmental evaluation? When is developmental evaluation appropriate? What competencies are needed to be an effective DE? How is developmental evaluation practiced? Challenges Appendices Assessing Readiness Stakeholder analysis Sample Learning Framework Systems Analysis Framework - Key Components Data Analysis Resources

Learning Evaluation Theory: Brinkerhoff’s Success Case Method - Downes, Andrew (Watershed, 2016)
Brinkerhoff’s model isn’t restricted to learning. It can be used to analyze any major business change, such as the purchase of new equipment or implementation of a new process. It’s based on the assumption that any initiative, no matter how successful or unsuccessful, will always include some success and some failure. It seeks to uncover the most impactful successes and failures of an initiative and then tell the stories behind them, backed by evidence. Your organization can use these stories to learn how to be more successful in the future.

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.

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

Real-Time Data for Adaptive Management at USAID - Doshi, Samir (Health Communication Innovation Webinar, 2016)

Making Good Use of Adaptive Management - Doremus, Holly; Andreen, William L.; Camacho, Alejandro E.; Farber, Daniel A.; Glicksman, Robert L.; Goble, Dale D.; Karkkainen, Bradley C.; Rohlf, Dan; Tarlock, A. Dan; Zellmer, Sandra B.; Jones, Shana Campbell; Huang, Yee (White Paper #1104, 2011)

The rise of the randomistas: on the experimental turn in international aid - Donovan, Kevin P. (Economy and Society, 2018)
In recent years, the use of experimental methodologies has emerged as a central means of evaluating international aid interventions. Today, proponents of randomized control trials (so-called randomistas) are among the most influential of development experts. This paper examines the growth of this thought collective, analysing how uncertainty has become a central concern of development institutions. It demonstrates that transformations within the aid industry – including the influence of evidence-based policy, the economization of development and the retreat from macro-planning – created the conditions of possibility for experimentation. Within this field, the randomistas adeptly pursued a variety of rhetorical, affective, methodological and organizational strategies that emphasized the lack of credible knowledge within aid and the ability of experiments to rectify the situation. Importantly, they have insisted on the moral worth of experimentation; indeed, the experimental ethic has been proposed as the way to change the spirit of development. Through causal certitude, they propose to reduce human suffering. The rise of experimentation has not, however, eliminated accusations of uncertainty; rather, it has redistributed the means through which knowledge about development is considered credible.
Keywords: Development; Evidence; Experimentation; aid; uncertainty

Adaptive Programming and Business Environment Reform – Lessons for DFID Zimbabwe - Donovan, Elbereth; Manuel, Clare (DFID, 2017)
Keywords: IMPORTANT

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

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning in Emergencies - Dominique Morel; Hagens, Clara (Catholic Relief Services, 2012)

The political economy of pre-trial detention: Indonesia case study - Domingo, Pilar; Sudaryono, Leopold (ODI, 2016)

The politics of legal empowerment: Legal mobilisation strategies and implications for development - Domingo, Pilar; O'Neil, Tam (ODI, 2014)
 Legal mobilisation can improve the lives of poor or marginalised people by: o contributing to pro-poor change in policy, law and regulation of service delivery across different sectors; o advancing the realisation of rights, and achieving redress for rights violations; o contesting unjust and illegal practices of resource allocation and power relations, including in relation to land and natural resources; o enabling citizens to exercise social accountability through legal action.  The outcomes of legal empowerment of the poor are not politically neutral and need to be understood within broader social and political environments;  Better coordination between justice, sector and governance interventions will maximise the development and social impact of international support for legal empowerment.

The case for thinking and working politically. The implications of 'doing development differently' - DLP (Research Paper, 2014)
This paper discusses the steps required to build a robust evidence base for 'thinking and working politically' (TWP) in development. It argues that better understanding what works, when and why is an important step in moving TWP into mainstream development programming. The paper reviews the existing evidence base on TWP, building on this and on other literature on public sector reform and 'pockets of effectiveness' to suggest research questions, case study selection criteria, and a four-level analytical framework: 1) political context; 2) sector; 3) organisation; and 4) individual. The framework aims to help build a 'rigorous enough' evidence base to show whether and how TWP happens and whether or not it influences the effectiveness of programme implementation and outcomes. The paper also calls for more focus on gender issues, and on different – and often more fragile – political contexts.

Back to the Drawing Board: How to improve monitoring of outcomes - Dillon, Neil; Sundberg, Amelie (ALNAP Paper, 2019)

Breaking the Mould: Alternative approaches to monitoring and evaluation - Dillon, Neil (ALNAP, 2019)
This paper looks at a range of M&E innovations that are designed specifically to provide input to ongoing iterative decision-making and learning at the project level. It identifies three key areas for potential innovation: 1) timing of M&E data provision; 2) flexibility of M&E frameworks to evolve with programme change; and 3) approaches to integrate diverse perspectives on project implementation in a meaningful way. It then looks at a collection of approaches currently being used in each of these three areas through a series of ‘practice examples’, considering the key lessons learned. Finally, the paper discusses the major opportunities and challenges for applying and scaling up the use of these approaches inside the humanitarian sector.

Principles for Digital Development - digitalprinciples.org (2018)

Adding Up to Peace: The Cumulative Impacts of Peace Initiatives - Diana Chigas; Peter Woodrow (CDA Collaborative Learning Projects, 2018)
Adding Up to Peace: The Cumulative Impacts of Peace Initiatives aims to identify how cumulative impacts in peace practice operate at all levels, in order to provide practical lessons for policymakers, donors and practitioners to develop more effective strategies for greater progress towards peace. This book builds on CDA’s Reflecting on Peace Practice Project (RPP), launched to answer the question: What works—and what doesn’t work—in peacebuilding? It seeks to deepen our understanding of how multiple peacebuilding initiatives in a conflict zone interacted and added up (or didn’t), to result in progress towards larger societal level peace, or Peace Writ Large. The findings are a product of sixteen case studies conducted between 2007 and 2012, gathering the perceptions of both local and international stakeholders. The finalization of this book was generously funded by Humanity United. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Humanity United or of CDA Collaborative Learning Projects.

Design Thinking is not enough – Innovate DFID - DFID, Innovate (Medium, 2016)
By Tamara Giltsoff

Assessing the strength of Evidence - DFID (How to Note, 2014)

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

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 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 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 X (2019.01) - DFID (DFID, 2019)

Global Learning for Adaptive Management (GLAM) - DFID (DFID Development Tracker, 2016)
To improve the value for money and impact of development interventions by promoting the use of better monitoring, evaluation and learning strategies that support development programmes to gather and respond to emergent evidence on the effects of interventions, as well as changes in the development context. The Global Learning for Adpative Management programme will make available technical assistance to DFID, USAID and partners to develop this ‘adaptive management’ approach, as well as build an evidence base to understand links between the use of adaptive management and more effective, efficient, relevant and sustainable development interventions.

Guidance on using the revised Logical Framework - How to note - DFID (DFID, 2011)
The principal changes to the logframe from the earlier (2008) 4 x 4 matrix are: - Objectively Verifiable Indicators (OVIs) have been separated into their component elements (Indicator, Baseline and Target), and Milestones added. - Means of Verification has been renamed ‘Source’. - Inputs are now quantified in terms of funds (expressed in Sterling for DFID and all partners) and use of DFID staff time (expressed as annual Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs). - A DFID Share box now indicates the financial value of DFID’s Inputs as a percentage of the whole. - Assumptions are shown at Purpose and Output level only. - Risks are shown at Activities level only, but also rated at Output level; - At the Output level, the Impact Weighting is now shown in the logframe together with a Risk Rating for individual Outputs. - Activities are now shown separately (so do not normally appear in the logframe sent for approval), although they can be added to the logframe if this is more suitable for your purposes. - A renewed emphasis on the use of disaggregated beneficiary data within indicators, baselines and targets. The Logical Framework (logframe) was significantly re-designed in February 2009. In January 2011 a slightly amended logframe template was introduced at the same time as the launch of the new DFID Business Case. Given the extent of changes that took place in February 2009 it was only necessary to make minor amendments in January 2011. These amendments are as follows: - Results Chain terminology aligned across DFID (the terms Goal and Purpose in the old logframe template have been replaced by Impact and Outcome) - Rows added to allow achieved results to be captured alongside the planned results determined at project design stage - Word version of the logframe template removed – excel is the preferred format for logical frameworks from January 2011 - Indicator numbering introduced within logframe template

Rwanda Multi-Donor Civil Society Support Programme (2015-2021) - DFID (Development Tracker, 2018)
Project data for the Rwanda Multi-Donor Civil Society Support Programme (2015-2021). Strengthened civil society engagement on critical social cohesion, reconciliation and governance issues in Rwanda. DFID will provide funding and technical support to Rwandan civil society organisations to support the design and implementation of governance and reconciliation focused initiatives, and to support more effective engagement (influencing) with government on these issues.

AID Programming Guide - DFAT (Australian Government, 2019)

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

Independent Review of Facilities: review and management response - DFAT (DFAT, 2018)

Market Systems Development - Operational Guidance Note - DFAT (DFAT, 2017)

If politics is the problem, how can external actors be part of the solution? - Devarajan, Shantayanan; Khemani, Stuti (The World Bank, 2016)
Despite a large body of research and evidence on the policies and institutions needed to generate growth and reduce poverty, many governments fail to adopt these policies or establish the institutions. Research advances since the 1990s have explained this syndrome, which this paper generically calls
Keywords: IMPORTANT

Managing to Adapt: Analysing adaptive management for planning, monitoring, evaluation, and learning - Desai, Harsh; Maneo, Gabriele; Pellfolk, Erica; Schlingheider, Annika (Oxfam Research Reports, 2018)
Adaptive management is at the heart of ‘Doing Development Differently’. It emerges from stakeholders’ calls for development programmes to be more flexible and responsive to their contexts. Whether it becomes a mainstreamed practice depends on how much it is

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

Politically informed, gender aware programming: Five lessons from practice - Derbyshire, Helen; Gibson, Sam; Hudson, David; Roche, Chris (DLP Program, 2018)

Adaptive programming in practice: shared lessons from the DFID-funded LASER and SAVI programmes - Derbyshire, Helen; Donovan, Elbereth (Synthesis Paper 3, 2016)
LASER synthesis papers aim to help donors and other stakeholders better understand why and how to approach investment climate reform programming differently. The papers reflect emerging best practice and lessons learnt on what works and what does not work in doing development differently. The papers have been peer-reviewed by experts in the field including senior advisers at DFID, World Bank, IFC and the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (amongst others).
Keywords: IMPORTANT; Practice

Moving Targets, Widening Nets: monitoring incremental and adaptive change in an Empowerment and Accountability programme. The experience of the State Accountability and Voice Initiative in Nigeria - Derbyshire, Helen; Barr, Julian; Fraser, Steve; Mwamba, Wilf (DFID, 2016)
Keywords: IMPORTANT; Practice

Thinking and Working politically to support developmental leadership and coalitions: The Pacific Leadership Program - Denney, Lisa; McLaren, Rebecca (Research Paper, 2016)

A problem-focused approach to violence against women: The political-economy of justice and security programming - Denney, Lisa; Domingo, Pilar (ODI, 2013)
The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women ended its 57th session on 15 March 2013 with an outcome document affirming the importance of eliminating violence against women (VAW). The Commission was unable, however, to achieve consensus on a global action plan. The negative reaction of some UN member states to an action plan is a worrying reminder of ongoing resistance to reform. These persistent challenges highlight the continuing struggle to gain a serious global commitment to address VAW and recognise it as a breach of women’s fundamental human rights. Engaging in this struggle, many donors have put addressing VAW generally, and in fragile and conflictaffected situations (FCAS) specifically, at the top of the development agenda and made it a major priority of international policy. But in practice progress remains difficult, not least due to entrenched resistance and discriminatory socio-political norms and gender relations that persist in many societies. The problem of violence against women therefore needs to be addressed from the perspective of the concrete socio-political and cultural conditions that shape its particular features and the relevant context specific dynamics of conflict, post-conflict patterns of violence and fragility. International efforts to support reform in the area of VAW in FCAS need to go beyond prescriptive approaches that focus on what access to protection, justice and redress should look like. We propose here an approach that engages with the specificities of the problem – paying attention to context, and the concrete political-economy dynamics of the drivers of VAW – and takes account of the real options that

Political Economy Analysis – Guidance for legal technical assistance - Denney, Lisa; Domingo, Pilar (ROLE UK, 2017)
Political economy analysis is about understanding how change in relation to rule of law and international development is embedded within and shaped by political and economic relations that interact and are particular to each context. These political economy dynamics determine the distribution of power and resources within any given society and must be taken into account when attempting to achieve change. Political economy analysis is important in the justice sector because rule of law and dispute resolution processes reflect the rules of the game about who wins and who loses in the allocation of power and resources. Using political economy analysis in legal technical assistance can help to ensure more relevant and effective assistance that sustainably addresses concrete problems. It can also help to avoid the risk that poorly targeted assistance might inadvertently exacerbate existing power structures in a way that was not intended.

Beyond the toolkit: supporting peace processes in Asia - Denney, Lisa; Barron, Patrick (Working Politically in Practice Series: Case Study, 2015)

Reforming solid waste management in Phnom Penh - Denney, Lisa (Working Politically in Practice, 2016)
This paper tracks the efforts of an Asia Foundation team and local stakeholders as they worked to support improvements in the solid waste management sector in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The team worked in a flexible way with a range of partners, and with particular focus on understanding the incentives and politics affecting service delivery. While reform of the sector remains in progress, steps have been taken to introduce more competition and better public sector management of solid waste collection in the city. This case study lays out the real-time decisions and processes which drove the strategy and implementation of this project, providing useful insights into how politically astute and flexible programs can be successfully implemented. This case has emerged from an action research process, which was led by a researcher from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and conducted over the course of almost two years. By capturing and analyzing the experiences of the program team in Phnom Penh, the paper intends to provide practical insights for others in the development community aiming to implement similar kinds of programming.