Many development programmes have overlapping activities that are regularly adapted in collaboration with multiple partners to respond to ongoing changes in the operating environment. Traditional impact evaluation methods that measure differences in baseline and endline outcomes are not well suited to deal with this complexity. Contribution Analysis has emerged as a structured approach that is better able to address these real-world challenges. It consists of a step-wise, iterative process of refining Theory of Change. Mixed method research designs are used to verify the critical and contested assumptions.

You‘ll be introduced to the strengths and weaknesses of several novel methods that can be used within a Contribution Analysis approach to impact evaluation, including methods to explore causal patterns in data sets (Qualitative Comparative Analysis; Explorative Statistics) and qualitative causal inference (Process Tracing, Realist evaluation), and methods to increase learning and empowerment (Participatory Evaluation).