Category Archives: Development

The two second advantage and memories of the future

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Jane Davidson

Stuart Henderson’s mention of The Two Second Advantage (see the LinkedIn discussion referred to in the post from earlier this week) reminds me of the work of business strategist Arie De Geus, who discusses how learning organizations use scenario planning … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural context, Development, Environment and natural resources, Evaluation Theory | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The trials and tribulations of trials

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Katherine Hay

Katherine Hay continues her guest blogging on evidence and evaluation. Ben Goldacre in The Guardian wrote that UK politicians “are ignorant about trials and they’re weird about evidence.” He contrasts this with international development where he talks about the “amazing … Continue reading →

Posted in Appropriate inference, Appropriate measurement, Development | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Rise and Risk of Evidence

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Katherine Hay

Our guest blogger this week is Katherine Hay, a senior member of the Evaluation Unit of the International Centre for Development Research. Based in New Delhi, India, she is an expert on the role of evaluation in development in South Asia. … Continue reading →

Posted in Appropriate inference, Causal inference, Causal inference strategies, Development | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Simple, complicated and complex perspectives on accountability and Three Cups of Tea controversy

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Patricia Rogers

I’m hopeful that the current controversy over Greg Mortenson’s book ‘Three Cups of Tea’ and the operations of the related NGO ‘Central Asia Institute’ (detailed in John Krakauer’s book Three Cups of Deceit and a 60 minutes story)  will lead … Continue reading →

Posted in Appropriate reporting, Development, Value for money | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Where and Why Western lenses miss the mark in Africa: The case of HIV/AIDS prevention evaluations

Posted on September 16, 2010 by Tererai Trent

“Given the norms that govern most patriarchal societies in Africa, should the Western epistemology, ethics and concepts be the main default lens for evaluation” “Despite their blindness to social cultural context, are these evaluations valid even though they are said … Continue reading →

Posted in Appropriate inference, Causal inference, Cultural context, Development, Health, Meta-evaluation, Values-based | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments