Impact Assessments in Governance Programmes: What Can We Learn from Accompanying Research Experiences

Event Type
Workshop

Location / Date
Bonn, 10.11.2016

German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)
German Development Cooperation GIZ Citizen-oriented State Reform Programme in Peru

Measuring the performance and impact of governance programmes is challenging. Due to the complexity of these programmes and the difficulty to gauge their outcomes, among other reasons, rigorous evaluations are less common in governance than in other sectors. In response to these shortcomings, GIZ and the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) have launched an impact initiative. In contrast to conventional evaluations commissioned by funders or contracted out by programme implementers, these are accompanying research evaluations, whereby an independent organisation cooperates with implementers (GIZ programmes) to systematically assess the impact of specific programme interventions. Overall, the DIE-GIZ initiative aims at advancing methods and practices that address the particular challenges of conducting impact assessments in the governance sector.

DIE and the GIZ Citizen-oriented State Reform Programme in Peru, the first programme to participate in the initiative, organised a workshop featuring ongoing impact assessments being conducted within and outside the DIE-GIZ initiative. The selection covered a broad range of phases in the evaluation process, from the initial conceptualisation to the presentation of results. The objective of the workshop was threefold: first, to provide a space for researchers and evaluators to present their ongoing impact assessment projects and for programme officers to share their experiences around these assessments; second, to discuss different research designs of impact assessment projects; and third, to contribute to the development of a community of practice focused on the evaluation of governance programmes in Germany and beyond.

The workshop was organised around three thematic sessions which deal with different aspects of impact assessment.

• What is the logical framework or theory of change of the programme? How does it define impact? Which indicators are used to measure impact?
• How do programmes (and impact studies) establish causal links between interventions and impact indicators?
• What is the scope of the impact assessment / impact study? What is the time frame? What is the empirical strategy?
• What can we learn from our impact assessments / impact studies regarding...
  • Programme planning and implementation (lessons learnt for programme management)
  • Future impact assessments / impact studies (lessons learnt for researchers/evaluators)
  • Other governance programmes (external validity)

Hinweis

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