impact assessment for development agencies: learning to value change

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Impact Assessment for

Development AgenciesLearning to Value Change



Oxfam GB, founded in 1942, is a development, humanitarian, andcampaigning agency dedicated to finding lasting solutions to poverty andsuffering around the world. Oxfam believes that every human being isentitled to a life of dignity and opportunity, and it works with otherswo rldwide to make this becom e a reality.

From its base in Oxford, UK, Oxfam GB publishes and distributes a widerange of books and other resource materials for development and reliefworkers, researchers, campaigners, schools and colleges, and the generalpublic, as part ofits programm e of advocacy, education, and comm unications.

Oxfam GB is a member of Oxfam International, a confederation of 12agencies of diverse cultures and languages which share a commitment toworking for an end to injustice and poverty - both in long-term deve lopm entwork and at times of crisis.

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Impact Assessment for

Development AgenciesLearning to Value Change

Chris Roche

Oxfam Kg\/m



First published by Oxfam GB with Novib in 1999

Reprinted 2002, 2004, 2005

© Oxfam GB 1999

ISBN 0 85598 418 X (paperback)ISBN 0 85598 424 4 (hardback)

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This book converted to digital file in 2010



Not everything that counts can be counted.

And not everything that can be counted, counts.

Albert Einstein



Acknowledgements

Writing this book has involved a large num ber of peop le an d organisations.Although it fell up on me to write the book for publication, it would not havebeen possible without the case-study material upon which it is based, thecomments and feedback I received on earlier drafts, and the ideas whicharose from a wo rksh op held in November 1998, which bro ught togethermany of the people w ho w orked on the case studies.

I would particularly like to thank the following individuals, listed inalphabetical order of the organisations they are associated with: ProfessorAMMuazzam Hussain fromthe Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee(BRAC)in Bangladesh; MC Jolly and Pran Gopal Das from the Centre for Youth andSocial Development (CYSD) in Orissa, India; Enrique Reyes and WalterGonzalez from the Fundacion para la Cooperacion y el Desarrollo Comunal deEl Salvador (CORDES); Sthembile Mawoneke from Environment andDevelopment Activities — Zimbabw e (ENDA) and Bowdin King, former staffmem ber of ENDA; Mark Gale, former member of the Matson NeighbourhoodProject (MNP) who is now with the Gloucester Neighbourhood ProjectNetwork, UK; Siapha Kamara and Robert Abaane, former staff of the IntegratedSocial Development Centre in Ghana (ISODEC); Andy Jarret from MNP, UK;Anamul Haque from Oxfam GB in Bangladesh; Yanci Urbina Gonzalez fromOxfam GB in El Salvador; Ben Pugansoa and Nafisatu Quarshie from OxfamGBin Ghana; Yolette Etienne from Oxfam GB in Haiti; Mohammed Elmi fromOxfam GB in Kenya; Hidayat Narajo from OxfamGB in Pakistan; and Abu Nasarfrom Proshika in Bangladesh.

A number of advisors, consultants and friends supported this study invarious ways. They are Ojijo Odhiambo of the Resource Management andPolicy Analysis Institute (REMPAI), Kenya; Sabina Alkire of SomervilleCollege, Oxford, UK; Dr Anup Kumar Dash from Utkal University, Orissa,India; Stan Thekaekara ('Stan the Magic Man', as the k ids of Matson call him)from ACCORD in India; Mick Howes and Kamal Kar, development

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Acknowledgements

consultants from the UK and India respectively; critical reader Ros David ofAction Aid, UK; critical reader Rick Davies, research fellow at the Centre forDevelopment Studies, University of Wales, UK; and critical reader RaulHopkins from the Q ueen Mary and Westfield College, University of London,who prepared two important background papers for the study.

Several Oxfam GB staff based in Oxford also played crucial roles at variousstages in developing this book. Thanks are due especially to Elsa Dawsonw ho provided constant suppo rt, enthusiasm and ideas to the study, as well aswriting some key ba ckground pape rs; to Margaret Newens and Fred Wesselsfor their detailed and thoughtful comments and ideas and, in Margaret's case ,for doing part of my job whileI was writing; to Suzanne Williams for doing theother part of my job with her usual panache; to Koos Neefjes for hisinnovative thinking and facilitation skills at the workshop as well as criticalinput and feedback; to Bridget Walker, Ivan Scott, Tahm ina Rahman, MohgaSmith, Ines Smyth and Alan Reed for comments on specific chapters; and toAnke Lueddecke w ho did a fantastic job editing the original text.

I would also like to thank Yvonne Es, Adrie Papma, Allert van den Ham,and Peter van Tuijl from Novib, which co-funded this whole project; andFloris Blankenberg — Novib's 'Mr Impact' and now with SNV in theNetherlands — wh o was o ne of the main driving forces behin d the study.

Also a special thanks to all those who made the impact assessmentworkshop such a great success: Kate Morrow who did a marvellous jobrecording the outcom es; Alison Farell and Lynne Perry w ho organised a vastamount of photocopying; Julie Allcock and Conchita Lloret, our patient andhardworking translators; Paresh Motla and Ann Burgess who providedadministrative, logistical, and moral support with calm precision; Ken G arlandwho chauffeured participants at all hours of the day and night; Frances Langand Peter of the Stanton Guildhouse w ho hosted the worksho p; those residentsof Stanton w ho put participants up in theirhomes; the staff and residents of theMatson Neighbourhood Project who hosted a visit from the workshopparticipants; and the PhoenixClub wh o gave usa delicious lunch.

It is customary at this stage to state that any mistakes or omissions thatfollow are the fault of the author. This is particularly relevant in this case as Ihave had to cond ense three years' work from more than ten case studies intoa single volume. This inevitably means that I have skipped over some thingsand, possibly, have interpreted findings in ways that the original case-studyparticipants might not recognise. I have tried to incorporate the feedback Ihave received on earlier drafts, bu t it is inevitable that the pressures of workand family life have meant that not every one has ha d thetime, or perhaps theenergy , to go through the text as closely as they might have liked. My hop e isthat readers who are interested to learn more about the individual case

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studies will read the original material and make up their ow n minds. The casestudies are available from Oxfam GB and from the organisations involved; alist of these is included in the Appendix .

Special thanks, as ever, go to Anna, Susie and Angus w ho at hom e pu t u pwith my nonsensical ramblings about impact assessment and many otherthings, with their usual good hum our and healthy scepticism.

Chris Roche8June1999

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impact assessment for development agencies: learning to value change

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