INTRODUCTION
Typically, evaluation studies of development programmes, including programmes for water supply and sanitation services delivery, focus on implementation, but do not measure determinants of impact such as equity and sustainability at the level of ultimate objectives.
With the shift towards a sector wide policy-based approach to supporting a water services delivery approach, the demand from policy makers and politicians for reliable information on the (intended and unintended) impact of programmes on the target population at the micro-level, is increasing.
Evaluations in the water, sanitation and hygiene services (WASH) sector tends to focus on tangible aspects such as infrastructure with some focus on health, economic, and social benefits. Typically, experimental methods, such as household level, randomized control trials, are most commonly used to assess specific interventions.
In recent years, however, interest from a variety of stakeholders, including donor agencies, private foundations, and NGOs, has increased around measuring less easily quantifiable institutional, economic and social impacts of interventions focusing on strengthening of WASH governance and services delivery in more rigorous ways.
The intervention chain looks very mechanistic to me and linear.
What is lacks is the environment populated with actors, who are carriers of experience, skills and have a certain attitude and capable – to a certain extend – of using information.
Comment by Jaap — 13 May 2008 @ 12:10
The reasons mentioned above to carry out ‘impact evaluation’ are pertinent ones. What is wrong in the reasoning is that it is not impact evaluation (ex-post or ex-ante???) that will help out, but rather better upfront design based on knowledge among all involved parties.
See my other contribution on ‘impact attributable assessment is not feasible at affordable cost’
Peter
Comment by Peter J. Bury (IRC) — 13 May 2008 @ 17:34