Impact Evaluation Approaches for Collaborative R

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Impact Evaluation Approaches for Collaborative RD

• A proposal being developed by
• Institutional Learning and Change Initiative
  (ILAC),
• Research into Use (RIU), and
• Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)

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ILAC Initiative Objectives
Increase knowledge about how agricultural
innovation contributes to poverty
alleviation Develop new monitoring and evaluation
methods that 1. assess impacts of agricultural
innovation on poverty alleviation and 2. foster
learning and improvement Strengthen capacity
for collaborative pro poor research Interact with
policy and decision makers to revise or develop
guidelines, standards or incentive
structures Communicate knowledge and information
through the web site, publications and
newsletters ILAC activities are expected to
lead to adoption of responsive, adaptive and user
oriented research approaches and methods by the
CGIAR and other agricultural research
organizations. This in turn is expected to help
ensure that agricultural research contributes to
poverty alleviation by making research relevant
to the poor.
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Major Activities

• Lesson learning and experience sharing among
  Learning Lab members
• Field test approaches and methods for
  collaborative agricultural RD
• Develop or test approaches and methods for
  evaluation
• Provide training workshops and technical
  assistance
• Facilitating participatory decision making
• Planning for policy interventions
• Social network analysis
• Assessing organizational learning capacity
• Innovation Leadership Forum
• ILAC website and resource center
• ILAC Briefs and Working papers
• ILAC Discussion groups
• Virtual Sourcebook

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Current partners

• Users Perspectives With Agricultural Research
  and Development (UPWARD-CIP)
• Andean Change Program (CIP)
• Network for Banana and Plantain Improvement
  (Bioversity)
• Kenya Smallholder Dairy Project (SDP) (ILRI)
• Knowledge and Monitoring System of SG2000
  Innovations
• in Africa (CIMMYT)
• African Highlands Initiative (AHI) ICRAF
• Knowledge Intensive Agricultural Systems (Xavier
  Institute of Management, India)
• Mainstreaming Impact Group CIAT
• Research into Use Programme
• Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
• PRGA
• CAS-IP

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Impact Evaluation Project Objectives

• To improve impact evaluation of collaborative,
  applied agricultural research programmes aiming
  for poverty alleviation.
• To add to the toolbox of impact evaluation
  methodologies and complement existing methods to
  address known gaps

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Conclusions IFPRI/SPIA of impact of agricultural
RD on poverty

• Impact assessment methodology should
• enable analysis at different scales
• increase understanding of the inherent complexity
  of livelihoods
• employ complimentary quantitative and qualitative
  methods and mixed disciplines
• foster critical self analysis, learning from
  experiences (positive and negative)

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Other calls for new approaches

• 75 of CGIAR research is outside of traditional
  crop improvement
• Cali Meeting on Rethinking Impact participant
  call for new methods and approaches
• SPIA Impact Assessment Guidelines recognized gaps
  in existing methodology

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A comprehensive proposal

• Synthesize and share existing knowledge
• Develop an on line portal for IA methods and
  approaches
• Carry out a set of exemplary evaluations (develop
  methods and synthesize results)
• Build capacity for impact assessment
• Disseminate lessons to influence policy and
  practice

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Preliminary questions

• 1. What are the specific contributions of
  collaborative research approaches to impact
  achievement and sustainability of results?
• 2. How can attribution be assessed in the
  context of collaborative research projects
  (methods, approaches, isolating contributions
  from different partners to achieving a joint
  result etc)?
• What range of impacts (livelihoods, empowerment,
  income, production, environmental quality and
  institutional development) can be attributed to
  the collaborative agricultural research
  programmes being assessed?
• 4. How can the evaluation process engage
  expertise, methodologies and perspectives across
  a variety of relevant disciplines (economics,
  environmental sciences, sociology, political
  science, health etc)?
• 5. How can the impact assessment process be used
  as a means to stimulate learning and change?

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Principal Investigator Patricia Rogers

• Professor of Public Sector Evaluation RMIT
• Wide range of programmes (health, education,
  community development, agriculture)
• Areas of expertise include evaluation for
  improvement and learning evaluating complex and
  complicated interventions logic models
• Editorial boards of Evaluation, American Journal
  of Evaluation and Journal of Multidisciplinary
  Evaluation
• Working with NONIE and UNDP on guidelines
  development