Perceptions and practice: an anthology of impact assessment experiences

Telling stories about information-related development projects

This is a collection of experiences (recounted through interviews and transcribed into stories) assessing the impact of information-related development projects. Rather than advocating particular theories, promote certain practices or provide easy solutions, this report lets the 61 storytellers tell their stories.

Some of the issues emerging from the stories are highlighted, to serve as a guidance, while the reader is left to interpret the stories, and the purpose of impact assessment, about when and how it should be done, who should do it and why it is the subject of so many interpretations and so much debate.

The issues that seemed to feature most strongly in the stories were:

learning
context
communication
donor issues
resources
planning.

A second set of issues that most storytellers touched on at some point includes:

evaluators
indicators
methods and tools
feedback.

How good is this research?
Assessing the quality of research can be a tricky business. This blog from our editor offers some tools and tips.
Read now

Related content

Document
Policy pollination: A brief history of social protection’s brief history in Africa
S. Devereux / Institute of Development Studies UK, 2020
The relatively recent emergence and sustained rise of social protection as a policy agenda in Africa can be understood as either a nationally owned or ‘donor-driven’ process.
Document
Contribution analysis for adaptive management
M. Apgar, K. Hernandez, G. Ton / Overseas Development Institute, 2020
This briefing note shares practical learning on the use of contribution analysis for adaptive management (CA4AM). It examines how the approach enables programmes to work with theories of change in a practical, reflexive way, and how, combined with assessing evidence of a programme’s contribution to change, its findings can inform programme adaptation.
Document
Integrating humanitarian response with social protection systems: Limits and opportunities
R. Sabates-Wheeler, D. Longhurst / Institute of Development Studies UK, 2020
The separation between provision of short-term humanitarian assistance and long-term development programmes – such as social protection – often creates inefficiencies, wastes resources and means support fails to reach those who urgently need it.
Document
The RV Dr Fridtjof Nansen in the Western Indian Ocean: voyages of marine research and capacity development
J.C. Groeneveld (ed), K.A. Koranteng (ed) / Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2017
The marine research vessel (RV) Dr Fridtjof Nansen is a familiar visitor to the coastal waters of developing countries around the world. Since its first expedition in 1975, to survey fish abundance in an upwelling region of the Western Indian Ocean, the Nansen has returned to this “least known” of the world’s oceans numerous times.
Document
Pathways to global impact: Tracing the impacts of development research funded by the Research Council of Norway
E. Solberg / Research Council of Norway / Norges forskningsråd, 2017
Norwegian development research is widely used and applied in various settings, both in national contexts and not least internationally. However, many users seem unable to absorb and exploit the variety of research performed in the area.Better mechanisms for interaction between users and researchers are needed, both outside and within the funding arenas.

Eldis

Perceptions and practice: an anthology of impact assessment experiences