Evaluating complex interventions in international development

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edoardo Masset ◽  
◽  
Som Shrestha ◽  
Matt Juden ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
Behavioral Change ◽  
Complex Interventions ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
Multiple Target ◽  
Multiple Stakeholders ◽  
Working Paper ◽  
Target Populations ◽  
Multiple Components ◽  
Multiple Processes

Complex interventions are those that are characterized by multiple components, multiple stakeholders, or multiple target populations. They may also be interventions that incorporate multiple processes of behavioral change. While such interventions are very common and receive a large proportion of development aid budgets, they are rarely subject to rigorous evaluations. The CEDIL Methods Working Paper, Evaluating Complex Interventions in International Development reviews promising methods for the evaluation of complex interventions that are new or have been used in a limited way. It offers a taxonomy of complex interventions in international development and draws on literature to discuss several methods that can be used to evaluate these interventions. The paper focuses its attention on methods that address causality and allow us to state conclusively whether an intervention works or not. It shows that several rigorous methods developed in different disciplines can be adapted and used to evaluate complex interventions in international development.

scholarly journals The Actor-Based Change Framework: A Pragmatic Approach to Developing Program Theory for Interventions in Complex Systems

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Koleros ◽  
Sean Mulkerne ◽  
Mark Oldenbeuving ◽  
Danielle Stein
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
International Development ◽  
Behavioral Change ◽  
Complex Interventions ◽  
Complexity Science ◽  
Program Theory ◽  
Pragmatic Approach ◽  
Development Programming ◽  
Justice Program ◽  
Change Framework

Despite a wide body of literature on the importance of program theory and the need to tackle complexity to improve international development programming, the use of program theory to underpin interventions aimed at facilitating change in complex systems remains a challenge for many program practitioners. The actor-based change framework offers a pragmatic approach to address these challenges, integrating concepts and frameworks drawn from complexity science and behavioral change literature to develop robust program theory for complex interventions. This article presents the conceptual framework for the approach and describes how it has been applied in practice on an evaluation of a security and justice program in Nepal. It concludes with a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the approach in practice and how it can be applied more widely to improve program theory for interventions in complex systems.

TICAD: The Context of Japan’s Development Aids to Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayokunle Olumuyiwa Omobowale
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Development ◽  
Development Assistance ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Usual Practice ◽  
Self Help ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
And Control

Most of the discourse on development aid in Africa has been limited to assistance from Western countries and those provided by competing capitalist and socialist blocs during the Cold war era. Japan, a nation with great economic and military capabilities; its development assistance for Africa is encapsulated in the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) initiative. The TICAD started in 1993 and Japan has so far held 5 TICAD meetings between 1993 and 2013 during which Africa’s development challenges and Japan’s development assistance to the continent were discussed. The emphasis on “ownership”, “self-help” and “partnership” are major peculiar characteristics of Japan’s development aid that puts the design, implementation and control of development projects under the control of recipient countries. This is a major departure from the usual practice in international development assistance where recipient countries are bound by clauses that somewhat puts the control of development aid in the hands of the granting countries. Such binding clauses have often been described as inimical to the successful administration of the aids and development in recipient countries. Though Japan’s development aid to Africa started only in 1993, by the 2000s, Japan was the topmost donor to Africa. This paper examines the context of Japan’s development aid to Africa by analyzing secondary data sourced from literature and secondary statistics.

The Changing Nature of Irish International Development Policy

2021 ◽  
pp. 176-194
Author(s):  
Paul Walsh ◽  
Ciara Whelan
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
Development Policy ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Foreign Economic Policy ◽  
Economic Development Policy ◽  
International Commitments ◽  
National Economic ◽  
The Eu

Ireland’s involvement in international development has become a significant aspect of its foreign economic policy. Its engagement has moved from priorities that were largely domestically determined in the early 1970s and based on bilateral relationships between Ireland as donor and the recipient programme countries, toward priorities and involvements within a multilateral policy framework. This has come about through Ireland’s increasing engagement with international organizations, particularly the UN and the EU. However as the boundaries blur between Overseas Development Aid (ODA) policy and shared global goals, such as addressing climate breakdown and mitigating the scale of international distributive inequality, this can lead to tensions within countries about the implications of international commitments for the priorities at play in domestic politics. This is evident where Ireland’s ODA-driven commitments in the international field are in tension with domestic policy priorities, but also where tension arises in the area of national economic development policy.

THE DISTINCTIVE SKILLS OF SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS

2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (03) ◽  
pp. 301-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUSAN MUELLER ◽  
LIUDMILA CHAMBERS ◽  
HEIDI NECK
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Social Problem ◽  
Behavioral Change ◽  
Social Entrepreneurs ◽  
Multiple Stakeholders ◽  
Target Groups ◽  
Root Cause

Addressing the need to identify distinctive skills for social entrepreneurs, we conducted an exploratory, qualitative study based on interviews with social entrepreneurs. We identified seven skills, three out of which have not been previously mentioned by entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship scholars. These skills include an ability to induce behavioral change and educate target groups; co-creation with multiple stakeholders; and developing solutions that aim to address the root cause of a social problem. Based on these findings, we provide recommendations for further research, as well as how the identified skills can be taught in experiential learning format.

scholarly journals ADOPTION OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY IN INDONESIA: Impact to Teacher Education and Professional Development

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-203
Author(s):  
Satia Prihatni Zen
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Education Policy ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
International Education ◽  
International Development ◽  
Teacher Identity ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
International Education Policy

The paper discussed the implication of adopting international education policy in Indonesia through international development aid and funding. Specific implications to teacher education and teacher professional development was discussed by analyzing two education reforms enacted in 1980 to 1990’s. The paper describes implementation processes and challenges faced by the programs from local dynamics especially on how social, political and historical influence teacher identity as well as teaching culture. The implications to school, district as well as national policy was discussed in light of uniformity of educational system by dissemination of best practices and model of education through aid and other cooperative projects. Local responses to international education policy is increasingly relevant to ensure education reform will respond local needs and sensitive to local context.Artikel ini mendiskusikan implikasi dari mengadopsi kebijakan international di Indonesia melalui dana dan bantuan international. Khususnya, dampak pada pendidikan guru dan perkembangan professional guru dikaji melalui dua program pendidikan yang diterapkan pada tahun 1980-an hingga 1990-an. Deskripsi dari pelaksanaan dan tantangan yang dihadapi dalam implementasi program tersebut dilihat dari konteks local dimana pengaruh social, politik dan sejarah mewarnai konsepsi identitas guru serta budaya pengajaran di sekolah. Implikasi pada kebijakan sekolah, pemerintah local dan nasional dimana kecenderungan akan penyeragaman system pendidikan terjadi melalui kerjasama dan bantuan juga dijabarkan. Artikel ini menekankan pentingnya respon local yang relevan terhadap penerapan kebijakan pendidikan internasional agar sensitive terhadap kebutuhan dan konteks local itu sendiri.

scholarly journals What “Development” Does to Work

2017 ◽  
Vol 92 ◽  
pp. 7-23
Author(s):  
Benedetta Rossi
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
Forced Labor ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Development Institutions ◽  
International Development Aid ◽  
Development Workers ◽  
The Many ◽  
Modern Form

AbstractThis article introduces an Africa-focused special issue showing that the rise of development in its modern form coincided with the demise of the political legitimacy of forced labor. It argues that by mobilizing the idea of development, both colonial and independent African governments were able to continue recruiting unpaid (or underpaid) labor—relabeled as “voluntary participation,” “self-help,” or “human investment” —after the passing of the ILO’s Forced Labor Convention. This introduction consists of two parts: the first section summarizes the main findings of the contributions to the special issue. The second part advances preliminary considerations on the implications of these findings for our assessment of international development “aid.” The conclusion advocates that research on planned development focus not on developers-beneficiaries, but rather on employers-employees. Doing so opens up a renewed research agenda on the consequences of “aid” both for development workers (those formally employed by one of the many development institutions) and for so-called beneficiaries (those whose participation in development is represented as conducive to their own good).

scholarly journals From Monterrey to Addis Ababa and beyond

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Orliange ◽  
Ana Flávia Granja Barros-Platiau
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
International Development ◽  
Addis Ababa ◽  
National Development ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurship ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Financial Flows ◽  
Development Banks

How did the global framework for financing sustainable development evolve in the past ten years? We argue that its evolution is deeply connected to multilateral initiatives such as the Monterrey consensus,the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change. Therefore, the year 2015 may be considered as a landmark. In this vein, we identified five keychanges that affect the global framework for financing development worldwide, showing how traditional international cooperation mechanisms coexist with new ones. They are discussed in the followingorder: the evolution of global development agendas; systemic power relations and financial flows; the institutional entrepreneurship of emerging powers; the increased role of development banks; and from official development aid (ODA) to international public finance. Under the United Nations auspices or not, middle-income countries started to play a bigger role in financing mechanisms. Likewise, some national development banks became more important and started to act more closely under the International Development Finance Club (IDFC) auspices. Brazil, Colombia and South Africa are mentioned as cases for future research.

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