| Theory Based Impact Evaluation: How to unpack the causal chain | Recent years have seen an increased demand for rigorous impact evaluation of development interventions. This new quest is not just about finding what works, but understanding why.
A theory-based approach to impact evaluation maps out the causal chain from inputs to outcomes and impact. It tests the underlying assumptions as to why an intervention has worked or not. If theory based impact evaluation is widely accepted in principle, its application remains weak in practice.
3ie hosted a discussion on ‘Theory-Based Impact Evaluation’ as part of its Delhi seminar series where Howard White, 3ie Executive Director, presented some case studies and proposed steps to bridge the gap from theory to practice.
The event was chaired by Dr. S.P. Pal, President of the Department Evaluation Society of India and Dr. Milindo Chakrabarty, as main discussant and Executive Director of the Development Evaluation Society of India.
“Often the assumptions behind any programme design are not correlated to the reality on the ground”, stressed Dr. Chakrabarty.
“In the case of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, we found out during the evaluation that people requested job cards to document their citizenship and not necessarily because they needed work”, he added.’
Participants also stressed the difficulty to map out the causal chain in a cost effective way, and design a counter-factual particularly for interventions in sectors other than health and education.
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| ILAC Library | ILAC has developed a virtual library with over 1300 citations on topics related to:
- partnership
- collaborative research
- evaluation
- impact
- capacity development
- knowledge management
- learning, etc.
The library is searchable by keywords, authors, publisher, journal name and year. |
| WHO Global Health Atlas | In a single electronic platform, the WHO’s Communicable Disease Global Atlas is bringing together for analysis and comparison standardized data and statistics for infectious diseases at country, regional, and global levels. The analysis and interpretation of data are further supported through information on demography, socioeconomic conditions, and environmental factors. In so doing, the Atlas specifically acknowledges the broad range of determinants that influence patterns of infectious disease transmission. |
| WHO Easterm Mediterranean Regional Office Library and Information Network | This library allows you to search several digital libraries at once. This library hoses a large amount of HIV M&E related resources. |
| International AIDS Economic Network Research Library | This library contains materials about the public economics and policies of HIV/AIDS in developing countries is from a variety of sources. Inclusion in this library does not imply endorsement by IAEN or sponsoring organizations. |
| The Communication Initiative Network ( HIV/AIDS M&E Resources) | The Communication Initiative (The CI) network is an online space for sharing the experiences of, and building bridges between, the people and organisations engaged in or supporting communication as a fundamental strategy for economic and social development and change. It does this through a process of initiating dialogue and debate and giving the network a stronger, more representative and informed voice with which to advance the use and improve the impact of communication for development. This process is supported by web-based resources of summarised information and several electronic publications, as well as online research, review, and discussion platforms providing insight into communication for development experiences.
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| UNESCO HIV/AIDS Education Clearinghouse | The UNESCO HIV and AIDS Education Clearinghouse is a collaboration of the UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE), the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), the UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, the UNESCO Dakar Regional Office for Education in Africa, the UNESCO Harare Cluster Office, the UNESCO Nairobi Regional Office for Science and Technology in Africa, and the UNESCO Santiago Regional Office of Education for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Clearinghouse supports education professionals, ministries of education, development agencies, civil society, researchers and other partners by providing a comprehensive knowledge base and information exchange service for the development of HIV and AIDS policies, programmes and advocacy within the education sector.
The UNESCO HIV and AIDS Education Clearinghouse provides:
a trilingual (English, French and Spanish) website and database
a virtual library, updated monthly, currently containing over 4,000 references
alerts to scientific journal articles
a calendar of HIV and AIDS-related events
electronic newsletter subscriptions
a listserv for HIV and AIDS professionals (Asia Pacific region)
enquiry and literature search services
This clearinghouse is available in English, French, and Spanish |
| AIDS Action Europe Clearinghouse | The AIDS Action Europe Clearinghouse is a central point where good practices and lessons learned regarding various HIV/AIDS-related topics are shared on a European level. With the aim of tackling health inequalities in the European region and preventing European NGOs from re-inventing the wheel, the clearinghouse welcomes any material that can contribute to the development of good practice in the response to HIV and AIDS across Europe. |
| Clearinghouse on Male Circumcision for HIV Prevention | The Clearinghouse on Male Circumcision for HIV Prevention ( www.malecircumcision.org) is a collaborative effort to generate and share information resources with the international public health community, civil society groups, health policy makers, and programme managers. |
| Women, Children, and HIV Resource Library | This library contains over 1,000 resources related to the prevention and treatment of HIV infection in women and children. Resources are categorized by technical area (topic), target audience, language, and resource type (eg, curricula, guidelines, research articles), and may be accessed either by browsing the linked categories below or by using the search feature in the site banner. The link goes directly to the monitoring and evaluation resources within this library. |
| UNAIDS/WHO Global HIV/AIDS Online Database | The UNAIDS/WHO Global HIV/AIDS Online Database collates the most recent country-specific data on the spread and impact of the virus, together with information on risk behaviours (e.g. casual sex and condom use). Health sector response information (eg. data on people receiving treatment and coverage of hiv counselling and testing) is also an essential part of this database.
Through information on demography and socioeconomic conditions are the analysis and interpretation of data further supported .
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| WHO Epidemiological Fact Sheets on HIV and AIDS | In these fact sheets you can find country specific information on the following indicators:
- Estimated number of adults and children living with HIV/AIDS, end of 2007
- Estimated number of deaths due to AIDS, end of 2007
- Estimated number of orphans, end of 2007
- Estimated number of people with advanced HIV infection needing and receiving antiretroviral therapy, 2004-2007
- Estimated number of pregnant women living with HIV needing and receiving antitretrovirals to prevent mother-to-child transmission, 2004-2007
- Reported AIDS cases and HIV cases
- Sentinel surveillance data: hiv prevalence data among pregnant women, sex workers, injecting drug users, people with sexually transmitted infections (STIs), men having sex with men, and tuberculosis patients
Number of public and NGO services providing testing and counselling services
- 13 indicators on demographics
- 11 indicators on socio-economics
- 9 indicators on access to health care
- 10 indicators on knowledge and behaviour
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| Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS Virtual Library | PANCAP has succeeded in raising the political profile of AIDS in the Caribbean, mobilizing resources, establishing a culture for collaboration and coordination and creating an understanding about the Caribbean epidemic within the global context. |
| EurasiaHealth HIV/AIDS Learning Library | EurasiaHealth Knowledge Network (a project of the American International Health Alliance/AIHA) is an on-line clearinghouse featuring a library of multilingual health resources, databases, and interactive forums. This clearinghouse--designed to serve as a repository for clinical practice guidelines, medical textbooks, and other educational materials that are available in the languages of the New Independent States (NIS) and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)--provides users with access to information, tools, and training to enhance the knowledge of healthcare professionals in the region. |
| SAATHI HIV/AIDS Online Resource Center ( India ) | The Solidarity and Action Against The HIV Infection in India HIV/AIDS Online Resource Center aims to serve as a clearinghouse of information related to HIV/AIDS in India.
The four main components of the ORC are
- E-forums for information exchange, knowledge and best-practice sharing
- E-library of resource materials including documents and links. Also are included databases of HIV/AIDS jobs, conferences, training programs, funding, fellowships and volunteer opportunities, and a newsletter compiling media coverage on the epidemic in India.
- E-support for capacity-building of our NGO/CBO/GO partners. These are individualized forums for discussion between SAATHII and specific agencies with which we work.
- E-training of individuals working on HIV/AIDS through online instruction and evaluation. Upon registration you will be able download instructional modules and tests on various subjects. At present we have an e-course on Biostatistics and one on Monitoring and Evaluation.
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| Virtual Health Library : Caribbean | These presentations promote understanding of basic and practical approaches to Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) concepts as well as introduce the available tools and techniques; and provide guidance in the identification and selection of appropriate indicators.
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| Guyana National HIV/AIDS Programme Virtual Library | This library provides a large number of documents in a fully searchable format. The documents are categorized by type, program, partner and keyword. |
| GAMET HIV Monitoring and Evaluation Electronic Resource Library | The GAMET HIV Monitoring and Evaluation Resource Library is a set of electronic resources (HowTo guides, tools, guidelines, country examples and other electronic resources) for the building, strengthening and maintenance of national, sub-national and sectoral HIV monitoring and evaluation systems. The electronic resources include national HIV databases; job descriptions of national HIV M&E unit staff; terms of references for consultants to develop different aspects of M&E systems; user manuals; M&E operational plans; model budgets and costings; survey protocols; standard PowerPoint presentations explaining different aspects of M&E systems; and other relevant documents.
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| Literature Digests ( Compiled by UCSF ) | These journal articles are selected from a bi-weekly digest produced by UCSF Global Health Sciences(GHS). The GHS Literature Digest highlights recently published studies of interventions that have one or more of the following aims: to reduce sexual or drug-related risk behaviors, decrease primary or secondary transmission, improve health service delivery and quality of life, or improve HIV treatment and adherence. Studies were either conducted in, or have applications to, resource-limited settings.
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| AIDSQuest: The HIV/AIDS Survey Library | AIDSQuest is a resource for researchers and others developing HIV/AIDS-related data collection tools. Horizons has collected surveys and scales from a number of international and local organizations, and from the published literature. Information on how each survey was developed and used is provided. Also featured in AIDSQuest are methodological tips on designing AIDS-related questions. Behavioral theories commonly used in HIV research are also explained, as are how the theories can be used to inform surveys. |
| The Global Fund Evaluation Library | This website library includes not only external studies led by a wide range of different stakeholders, but also studies and descriptive papers produced internally by the Global Fund. These documents address diverse aspects of the different mechanisms and processes of the Global Fund. |
| Population Reference Bureau | Population and Health InfoShare is an electronic library of material supplied by partner organizations working in reproductive and child health, HIV/AIDS, and population. Featuring:
Easy access to research findings from organizations worldwide
Analysis by leading thinkers
Customized monthly e-mail updates
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| Rwandas National HIV & AIDS Digital Library | Rwandas National HIV & AIDS Digital Library is a collaborative initiative between the CNLS, TRAC and the MOHs division of plan. Technical assistance is provided by Tulane Universitys Payson Center for International Development and Technology Transfer. This digital library assembles full-text resources & other material that cover the entire range of resource types relative to its multi-sector response to HIV & AIDS. Its focus is on Rwanda-specific, gray literature. |
| National Science Foundation (USG) Online Evaluation Resource Library | This library was developed for professionals seeking to design, conduct, document, or review project evaluations. The purpose of this system is to collect and make available evaluation plans, instruments, and reports for NSF projects that can be used as examples by Principal Investigators, project evaluators, and others outside the NSF community as they design proposals and projects. |
| Siyanda | Siyanda is an on-line database of gender and development materials from around the world. It is also an interactive space where gender practitioners can share ideas, experiences and resources.
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| AEGIS | This database consists of more than 1,000,000 HIV/AIDS related articles, covering the world from 1981 to the present, and logging more than 10,000,000 visitors annually. |
| HIV/AIDS Survey Indicators Database | The HIV/AIDS Survey Indicators Database provides an easily accessible comprehensive source of information on HIV/AIDS indicators derived from sample surveys. The database allows the user to produce tables for specific countries by select background characteristics, as well as country reports.
The indicators included are primarily derived from the UNAIDS National AIDS Programmes: Guide to Monitoring and Evaluation. The guide provides standardized indicators for measuring the success of HIV/AIDS programs. Included are a number of indicators identified to monitor the goals set at the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS, the Millennium Development Goals, and strategic goals of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. |
| A Collection of UNAIDS Resources | The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) brings together eight United Nations system organizations.
The global mission of UNAIDS is to lead, strengthen and support and expanded response to the epidemic that will:
- prevent the spread of HIV
- provide care and support for those infected and affected by the disease
- reduce the vulnerability of individuals and communities to HIV/AIDS
- alleviate the socioeconomic and human impact of the epidemic.
** Note this is an external website and not an official UNAIDS website ** |