Theory-based evaluations of Inclusive Business Programmes
Online
Sobre el evento
-Context
The private sector has become an important partner in development interventions that aim to make market systems more favourable for smallholder producers and low-income consumers of food. In these programmes, public funds support private ventures. Theory-based evaluations are widely used to evaluate private sector programmes which navigate dynamic environments seeking adaptive programming avenues. A new IDS Bulletin presents real-world experiences of impact evaluations in private sector development programmes that aimed to respond to the funders' accountability requirements and the learning aspirations of the implementing agencies. The experiences are from Nepal, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana and Kenya, and a business coaching programme that works globally. These programmes primarily target agricultural markets and value chains to make these more inclusive for smallholder producers.
-Objective of the session
The session will present the approaches and methods used in these evaluations to produce credible and actionable insights for real-time learning and adaptive management, answering the two interrelated questions that are key to contribution analysis: Did the intervention contribute to the change process? Did the contribution matter? These methods employed include process tracing, impact perceptions surveys (contribution scores), qualitative impact protocol, and the use of behaviour change models in market system analysis.
-Key messages/lessons
We point to the synergy of the iterative reflections on theories of change, the recognition of contingency in realist approaches to evaluation, and a configurational understanding of changes in firms' practices and behaviours. We emphasize that inclusive business programmes need actionable insights about the unfolding processes of change, not average effects measurements of unreplicable and continuously changing support activities on rigid outcomes.
-How the session is to be delivered/format
Giel Ton and Sietze Vellema will start the session with a summary of the lessons learned from the experiences covered in the IDS Bulletin, and reflecting on two themes that are transversal to all: Contribution & causality, and Context & contingency.
The session will have ample room for plenary discussion, for example, whether these approaches and methods are feasible, in what contexts, and how they could fit into evaluation designs with shoestring budgets or under other real-world constraints.
The private sector has become an important partner in development interventions that aim to make market systems more favourable for smallholder producers and low-income consumers of food. In these programmes, public funds support private ventures. Theory-based evaluations are widely used to evaluate private sector programmes which navigate dynamic environments seeking adaptive programming avenues. A new IDS Bulletin presents real-world experiences of impact evaluations in private sector development programmes that aimed to respond to the funders' accountability requirements and the learning aspirations of the implementing agencies. The experiences are from Nepal, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana and Kenya, and a business coaching programme that works globally. These programmes primarily target agricultural markets and value chains to make these more inclusive for smallholder producers.
-Objective of the session
The session will present the approaches and methods used in these evaluations to produce credible and actionable insights for real-time learning and adaptive management, answering the two interrelated questions that are key to contribution analysis: Did the intervention contribute to the change process? Did the contribution matter? These methods employed include process tracing, impact perceptions surveys (contribution scores), qualitative impact protocol, and the use of behaviour change models in market system analysis.
-Key messages/lessons
We point to the synergy of the iterative reflections on theories of change, the recognition of contingency in realist approaches to evaluation, and a configurational understanding of changes in firms' practices and behaviours. We emphasize that inclusive business programmes need actionable insights about the unfolding processes of change, not average effects measurements of unreplicable and continuously changing support activities on rigid outcomes.
-How the session is to be delivered/format
Giel Ton and Sietze Vellema will start the session with a summary of the lessons learned from the experiences covered in the IDS Bulletin, and reflecting on two themes that are transversal to all: Contribution & causality, and Context & contingency.
The session will have ample room for plenary discussion, for example, whether these approaches and methods are feasible, in what contexts, and how they could fit into evaluation designs with shoestring budgets or under other real-world constraints.
Presentador/a
| Nombre | Título | Biografía |
|---|---|---|
| Giel Ton | Centre of Development Impact (CDI) | Giel Ton is a Research Fellow at IDS, University of Sussex, and Director of the Centre for Development Impact (CDI). He specialises in the design of mixed-methods impact evaluations in private sector development programmes. He favours contribution analysis as approach to theory-based evaluation. |
| Sietze Vellema | Associate professor | Sietze Vellema is Associate Professor in the Knowledge, Technology and Innovation group at Wageningen University. He leads Action Research with the 2SCALE programme at the Partnership Resource Centre. |