Impact Evaluation, as a tool, is a crucial link in the loop of programme design, feedback and performance improvement. Impact evaluation is predominantly quantitative although in the recent years qualitative and participatory research tools have been increasingly applied. According to the World Bank, the concept of impact evaluation deals in assessing the changes in the well-being of individuals that can be attributed to a particular project, program or policy. A number of definitions exist on what impact evaluation is and most of the definitions given more or less conclude that the broad functions of an impact evaluation is to study the welfare effect of a program, establish the causality of an effect, compare the actual observed outcomes of a project and assess the impact on a range of scales, varying from micro (individuals or households) to macro (entire community or state).
In implementing a Monitoring and Evaluation Project Cycle methodology we study the resource requirements of a project, the processes followed to utilize those resources for generating certain outputs, and the outputs themselves, whereas in Impact Evaluation, we go beyond what the project has produced in physical terms and study the changes that it has brought about in the project environment. Impact evaluation is based on certain key elements that help in assessing the impact of a programme or a project.
While linking Impact Evaluation and Social Accountability, the traditionally popular M&E tools (log frame, computer tracking, and budgetary control) are increasingly giving way to more flexible and participative tools which are context specific and aimed at ensuring the involvement of end beneficiaries in the impact evaluation process. However, the validity and rigor of the new approaches and the difficulty in reconciling them with the existing M&E tools poses big challenge for the development practitioners. The common M&E tools used in the Social Accountability initiatives are the participatory methods like Community Based Performance Monitoring, Community Score Cards, Social Audits, etc.
This module would introduce the reader to the concept of impact evaluation, the various contexts in which impact evaluation studies are conducted, the ways in which the outcomes of impact evaluation can be used to promote social accountability and, importantly, how to design an evaluation that would bring out the efficacy or impact of a social accountability initiative. Some of the important tools and methods of impact evaluation discussed include:
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Benchmarks (generally represents the best or ideal practice in a sector)
This module will primarily introduce the reader to the role of impact evaluation in promoting social accountability, various types of methods and tools of impact evaluation and ways of evaluating the impact of social accountability experiments.
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