Impact Assessment for Development Agencies: Learning to Value Change

 This book shows how and why impact assessment needs to be integrated into all stages of development programmes, from planning to evaluation. Its basic premise is that impact assessment should not refer to the immediate outputs of a project or programme, but to any lasting or significant changes that it brought about. After a theoretical overview, it discusses the design of impact assessment and a range of tools and methods, before illustrating its use in development, in emergencies, and in advocacy work. It explores ways in which different organizations have attempted to institutionalise impact-assessment processes and the challenges they have faced in doing so. In-depth case studies show a variety of approaches to impact assessment – qualitative, quantitative and participatory – in a range of situations from large-scale integrated development programmes to projects involving only one community.