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Impact pathway evaluation: An approach for achieving and attributing impact in complex systems
Abstract
Agricultural development is fundamentally a social process in which people construct solutions to their problems, often by modifying both new technologies and their own production systems to take advantage of new opportunities offered by the technologies. Hence, agricultural change is an immensely complex process, with a high degree of non-linearity. However, current ‘best practice’ economic evaluation methods commonly used in the CGIAR system ignore complexity. In this paper we develop a two-stage monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment approach called impact pathway evaluation. This approach is based on program-theory evaluation from the field of evaluation, and the experience of the German development organization GTZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH). In the first stage of this approach, a research project develops an impact pathway for itself, which is an explicit theory or model of how the project sees itself achieving impact. The project then uses the impact pathway to guide project management in complex environments. The impact pathway may evolve, based on learning over time. The second stage is an ex post impact assessment sometime after the project has finished, in which the project's wider benefits are independently assessed. The evaluator seeks to establish plausible links between the project outputs and developmental changes, such as poverty alleviation. We illustrate the usefulness of impact pathway evaluation through examples from Nigeria and Indonesia.
... Plausibility is at the core of credibility, given the growing acknowledgment that development is difficult and complex (Kuby, 2003). The notion of contribution is also relevant in the impact research field, where research utilization is viewed as a complex, interactive process that is dependent on relationships (Douthwaite et al., 2003;Morton, 2015). These voices are consistent with those who argue that the contradiction arising from political pressures to appear like "we are in control and that change is predictable" (Eyben, 2008, p. 44) in a world of uncertainty requires some response where multiple pathways for change are acknowledged (Eyben, 2013). ...
... In contrast with conventional agricultural innovation approaches, the SUCA program sought to engage farmers in the development of innovations, not as passive recipients of practice developed by experts. For Douthwaite et al. (2003), this meant the design of such a program was committed to social construction: where the understanding of new phenomena is undertaken as a group through learning, adaptation, and negotiation. ...
... The fields of agricultural development and evaluation have undergone comparable shifts in recent decades. Both have moved from grand positivist theories to more grounded, contextualized, and multidisciplinary perspectives (Douthwaite et al., 2003;Douthwaite & Hoffecker, 2017;Lincoln et al., 2003;Patton & Horton, 2009). Lincoln and co-authors suggest that the new context invites more naturalistic and pluralistic approaches. ...
Background: The Foodgrains Bank has an established record working in agriculture and food security with resource constrained, marginalized farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. The three outcome areas of the Scaling-Up Conservation Agriculture in East Africa (SUCA) Program were: the adoption of conservation agriculture systems, an enabling institutional environment, and the promotion of enabling policies. These program areas were expected to yield intermediate outcomes that, together, would lead to the ultimate outcome of improved food security and sustainable livelihoods for smallholder farming households in East Africa. This case study reports on the end-line evaluation of the five-year program. Purpose: To illustrate the overlap between utilization-focused evaluation (UFE) and collaborative approaches to evaluation (CAE). The case study profiles an agricultural intervention, and explores how the evaluation design accommodated the systemic nature of the program. Setting: Scaling-Up Conservation Agriculture in East Africa (SUCA) was a five-year program of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank implemented from 2015-2020 to expand the size and scope of Foodgrains Bank’s work in conservation agriculture in East Africa. The program supported local partners with a target of 50,000 male and female farmers practicing a minimum of 2 of 3 conservation agriculture principles, and to improve food security and sustainable livelihoods for 18,000 of these farmers’ households across three countries. Research design: The Foodgrains Bank was directly involved in the evaluation design through the definition of evaluation uses and key evaluation questions. Eleven implementing partners in East Africa were involved in primary data collection and some initial analysis. Data collection and analysis: A mixed method approach was used combining quantitative, qualitative, and participatory / visual data collection tools. A robust, intersectional gender lens was applied to the data collection instruments in the form of gender disaggregated data collection and gender-focused questions across most data collection instruments. Findings: The collaborative process confirmed a sense of ownership by the primary evaluation users over the evaluation design. The evaluation design combined outcome and learning uses that took advantages of the implementing organizations’ commitment to learning. The findings demonstrated the value of the program and produced a framework illustrating the multi-disciplinary approach underlying its success.
... Plausibility is at the core of credibility, given the growing acknowledgment that development is difficult and complex (Kuby, 2003). The notion of contribution is also relevant in the impact research field, where research utilization is viewed as a complex, interactive process that is dependent on relationships (Douthwaite et al., 2003;Morton, 2015). These voices are consistent with those who argue that the contradiction arising from political pressures to appear like "we are in control and that change is predictable" (Eyben, 2008, p. 44) in a world of uncertainty requires some response where multiple pathways for change are acknowledged (Eyben, 2013). ...
... In contrast with conventional agricultural innovation approaches, the SUCA program sought to engage farmers in the development of innovations, not as passive recipients of practice developed by experts. For Douthwaite et al. (2003), this meant the design of such a program was committed to social construction: where the understanding of new phenomena is undertaken as a group through learning, adaptation, and negotiation. ...
... The fields of agricultural development and evaluation have undergone comparable shifts in recent decades. Both have moved from grand positivist theories to more grounded, contextualized, and multidisciplinary perspectives (Douthwaite et al., 2003;Douthwaite & Hoffecker, 2017;Lincoln et al., 2003;Patton & Horton, 2009). Lincoln and co-authors suggest that the new context invites more naturalistic and pluralistic approaches. ...
Background: The Foodgrains Bank has an established record working in agriculture and food security with resource-constrained, marginalized farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. The three outcome areas of the Scaling-Up Conservation Agriculture in East Africa (SUCA) program were the adoption of conservation agriculture systems, an enabling institutional environment, and the promotion of enabling policies. These program areas were expected to yield intermediate outcomes that, together, would lead to the ultimate outcome of improved food security and sustainable livelihoods for smallholder farming households in East Africa. This case study reports on the endline evaluation of the five-year program. Purpose: To illustrate the overlap between utilization-focused evaluation (UFE) and collaborative approaches to evaluation (CAE). The case study profiles an agricultural intervention and explores how the evaluation design accommodated the systemic nature of the program. Setting: Scaling-Up Conservation Agriculture in East Africa (SUCA) was a five-year program of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank implemented from 2015 to 2020 to expand the size and scope of Foodgrains Bank's work in conservation agriculture in East Africa. The program supported local partners with a target of 50,000 male and female farmers practicing a minimum of two of three conservation agriculture principles, and of improving food security and sustainable livelihoods for 18,000 of these farmers' households across three countries. Research Design: The Foodgrains Bank was directly involved in the evaluation design through the definition of evaluation uses and key evaluation questions. Eleven implementing partners in East Africa were involved in primary data collection and some initial analysis. Data Collection and Analysis: A mixed-methods approach was used, combining quantitative, qualitative, and participatory / visual data collection tools. A robust, intersectional gender lens was applied to the data collection instruments in the form of gender-disaggregated data collection and gender-focused questions across most data collection instruments. Findings: The collaborative process confirmed a sense of ownership by the primary evaluation users over the evaluation design. The evaluation design combined outcome and learning uses that took advantage of the implementing organizations' commitment to learning. The findings demonstrated the value of the program and inspired a framework called CA Plus that illustrates the multidisciplinary approach underlying the program's success.
... Studies such as Reed et al. (2021Reed et al. ( , 2022, Stilgoe and Guston (2016), Felt (2018), Owen et al. (2020), and Spaapen (2015) highlight the role of data-driven decision-making, aligned with RRI and RRA principles. Impact-focused studies in agricultural RD&I by Douthwaite et al. (2003Douthwaite et al. ( , 2023 and Alvarez et al. (2010Alvarez et al. ( , 2014 also emphasize this trend. ...
... This involves clear indicators, stakeholder feedback, and alignment with strategic and impact goals. Closely tied to research activities and evaluation outcomes, monitoring relies on strategic indicators (KPIs) (Douthwaite et al., 2003; to verify the effectiveness of implemented changes, address challenges promptly, and strengthen research impact. ...
Recognizing evaluation results as a crucial source of information to support RD&I management, this article introduces 'AgroRadarEval’, an interactive tool aimed at fulfilling theoretical, conceptual, and practical gaps concerning the systematization of the use of evaluation results in agricultural RD&I. Aligned with the principles of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) and Responsible Research Assessment (RRA), AgroRadarEval aims to support leaders and managers of RD&I in reflecting on the strengths and weaknesses of organizational capacities, culture, collaborations, processes, and communications that underlie the use of evaluation results in agricultural RD&I. AgroRadarEval is built along three support pillars: Evaluation Capacity Building, Impact-Oriented Evaluation Culture, and Reflective Learning, and is operationalized through eight interconnected dimensions: 1. participation and collaboration, 2. skills development, 3. promotion of an evaluation culture, 4. continuous feedback and adaptation, 5. integration with strategic planning, 6. monitoring, 7. influences of the external environment, and 8. communication. This study describes the development of the tool, its characteristics, illustrating its application in an agricultural RD&I organization. The study is targeted at leaders and managers of agricultural RD&I, evaluators, and researchers interested in research evaluation and enhancing the impact of RD&I.
... of particular interventionshave not been well-articulated, encapsulated in design, or tested (Douthwaite et al., 2003;Maru et al., 2018). This has resulted in a growing demand for alternative approaches to designing and evaluating interventions in complex systems (Maru et al., 2018), that can result in enhanced and more sustainable transformation and impact. ...
... There is also an acknowledgement that system transformation pathways are complex, and require deep understanding of system components and dynamics (Douthwaite et al., 2003;Douthwaite and Hoffecker, 2017), which in turn is the basis for effective co-design of relevant technologies and innovations. Other factors that can support the design of transformative pathways of systems are related to the local specificities of key system and landscape bottlenecks and constraints, the level of collective cognitive capacity and social capital of local actors, and the level of participation and inclusion of the poorest in the innovation processes (Hoffecker, 2021). ...
CONTEXT
A newly established ‘systemic approach to technology packaging’ for improved scaling has emerged in the literature. This approach suggests that core transformative innovations can be scaled more effectively through scaling readiness, which helps identify complementary innovations that support and facilitate the scalability of the core innovation. Since these packaging approaches start with single core innovations, we propose that they can benefit from the broader literature on sustainable agricultural systems transformation and readiness.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this paper is to advocate for a more comprehensive packaging of innovations for sustainable agricultural system transformations by better understanding gaps in the agricultural system – and its capacity for change. This approach provides a stronger rationale for the selection of relevant innovations to be packaged together. We introduce the concept of agricultural ‘system readiness’ as a possible framework for guiding such bundles.
METHODS
The paper begins with a comprehensive literature review that identifies the current gaps in tools and methods to guide system transformation. It also focuses on the specific literature on innovation packaging for scaling, and builds on the gaps of existing approaches as a rationale for introducing the concept of system readiness (mostly used in infrastructure engineering), and adapting it to agricultural science. We also use illustrative hypothetical examples from mixed crop-livestock systems in the drylands to show how two approaches – ‘packaging for scaling’ and ‘packaging for transformation’ – can lead to different innovation packages.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
The concept of system readiness is introduced, defined and advocated. We show that it can help identify performance gaps in agricultural systems and guide better planning for system strengthening and integration. We conclude with possible complementarities between the two approaches of scaling and system readiness.
SIGNIFICANCE
The agricultural system readiness approach, as outlined in this paper, would be particularly beneficial for agricultural research-for-development, as well as other agricultural investment programs that seek to identify strategies for fostering sustainable transition in farming systems. Such programs would typically entail complexity-aware theories of change that focus on stimulating sustainable transformation pathways related to key target areas, such as agroecology, sustainable intensification, and system integration (e.g., crop-livestock integration and integrated pest management). The system readiness approach can support such programs through the identification, prioritization, targeting, and empowerment of the most significant (and transformative) system components by identifying respective innovations to be packaged.
... In order to develop a detailed insight into the roles that research programme leaders may play in contributing to societal impact, we combined an analysis of how research activities contribute to fostering innovation system functions (e.g. Jacobsson and Perez Vico, 2010;Perez Vico and Jacobsson, 2012;Jacobsson et al., 2014) with impact pathway analysis (Douthwaite et al., 2003;Springer-Heinze et al., 2003). Our analysis and experience suggest that the two approaches to studying impact generation indeed complement each other usefully. ...
... The factors including work experience, types of organisation researchers work for, attitudes towards impact-oriented activities, and perceptions of supportive conditions in organisations were identified as determinants of the different degrees of engagement in impact orientation practices of researchers. Overall, the results of this chapter provide insights on different attitudes towards impact orientation and perceptions on organisational conditions among researchers with different degree of engagement in impact-oriented activities.The roles of research programme leaders in enhancing the impact of the Riceberry research programmeIn Chapter 5, the roles of research programme leaders play in contributing to societal impact are explored by the combination of the function of technological innovation system (TIS) approach (Vico and Jacobsson, 2012) and impact pathway analysis(Douthwaite et al., 2003;Springer-Heinze et al., 2003). The activities of research programme leaders contribute to the realisation of overall innovation system functions that are relevant to ensuring the uptake of, in our case, the Riceberry variety across three overlapping programme phases. ...
... La méthodologie IMPRESS ne se concentre pas sur l'attribution spécifique des impacts de la recherche, attribution qui repose souvent sur des approches économiques et statistiques (Joly, Matt, 2017). Elle s'appuie plutôt sur un ensemble de concepts clés : la recherche par étude de cas (Yin, 2009), l'évaluation des chemins d'impact (Douthwaite et al., 2003), et l'analyse de la contribution (Mayne, 2001). Ces choix découlent de l'intérêt scientifique pour comprendre les processus et mécanismes qui permettent à la recherche agronomique de contribuer à des impacts dans un sociosystème de changement et d'innovation. ...
Le Bien Vivre a été défini comme l'ensemble des bonnes pratiques et des principes qui, plaçant au centre la personne dans sa relation avec les autres, inspire une société fondée sur des valeurs telles que le bien commun et la durabilité. Nous discutons du rôle que la recherche agronomique pour le développement joue dans la création des conditions pour la réalisation du Bien Vivre dans les populations du Sud global. Nous proposons un cadre analytique où les systèmes alimentaires sont au centre de la création des préconditions pour les biens relationnels, le capital social et le bien-être individuel, qui sont des composantes essentielles du Bien Vivre. La recherche agronomique pour le développement favorise l'amélioration des systèmes alimentaires, et vise donc à améliorer les conditions pour la production des biens relationnels. Dans certains cas, elle affecte aussi directement le capital social et le bien-être individuel. En utilisant une méthodologie d'évaluation spécifique (IMPRESS), nous présentons trois projets de recherche et de développement agricoles très différents dans le Sud global, pour montrer à quel point les impacts de la recherche agronomique pour le développement peuvent être diversifiés, et de quelle manière ils répondent aux Objectifs de Développement Durable (ODD) des Nations Unies qui représentent des cibles opérationnelles pour la création de meilleures conditions de vie et au final pour la réalisation du Bien Vivre. Le Bien Vivre a été défini comme l'ensemble des bonnes pratiques et des principes qui, plaçant au centre la personne dans sa relation avec les autres, inspire une société fondée sur des valeurs telles que le bien commun et la durabilité. Nous discutons du rôle que la recherche agronomique pour le développement joue dans la création des 2 conditions pour la réalisation du Bien Vivre dans les populations du Sud global. Nous proposons un cadre analytique où les systèmes alimentaires sont au centre de la création des préconditions pour les biens relationnels, le capital social et le bien-être individuel, qui sont des composantes essentielles du Bien Vivre. La recherche agronomique pour le développement favorise l'amélioration des systèmes alimentaires, et vise donc à améliorer les conditions pour la production des biens relationnels. Dans certains cas, elle affecte aussi directement le capital social et le bien-être individuel. En utilisant une méthodologie d'évaluation spécifique (IMPRESS), nous présentons trois projets de recherche et de développement agricoles très différents dans le Sud global, pour montrer à quel point les impacts de la recherche agronomique pour le développement peuvent être diversifiés, et de quelle manière ils répondent aux Objectifs de Développement Durable (ODD) des Nations Unies qui représentent des cibles opérationnelles pour la création de meilleures conditions de vie et au final pour la réalisation du Bien Vivre.
... In the Indian context, most assessments have relied on statistical methods (Koner & Laha, 2021) or indicatorbased approaches (Laxmi et al., 2007), with systems analysis being relatively rare (Rajaram & Das, 2008). The Theory of Change, widely used in many donorsupported technology intervention projects, is typically used ex-post to attribute interventions to impacts, and linking project outcomes to program goals remains challenging (Douthwaite et al., 2003). Alvarez et al. (2010) proposed Participatory Impact Pathways Analysis, which allows researchers and stakeholders to collaboratively develop project theories of action, create network maps, and utilise them for planning (Reed et al., 2021). ...
Context: Most impact assessments of natural resource management projects rely on quasi-experimental designs and indicator-based approaches to connect technological interventions with changes in livelihoods, sometimes complemented by qualitative research and success stories. Objectives: Objectives of this study were to: a) develop a shared cognitive map of stakeholders to capture the project's impact, b) analyse the structure of this map to identify critical factors in the project's impact pathways, and c) simulate potential outcomes of future projects under various realistic scenarios. Methodology: The study employed a fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM) approach to elicit and combine the cognitive maps of stakeholders involved in the Bio-village project. We converted the combined map into an adjacency matrix for analysing both map-level and concept-level properties. The analyses were performed using the Mental Modeler platform. Results and Discussion: The project's multi-faceted approach of employing training, input support, and operational monitoring, resulted in signifi cant improvements in organic manure production, soil health, and farm income. However, its success experienced challenges due to reliance on external sources for essential inputs like earthworms, occasional application of chemical fertilizers, and complexities arising from grassroots-level organisation. Scenario analysis indicates that while baseline interventions are eff ective, integrating local organisations, predator control, and improved livestock management could substantially enhance the project's sustainability. Signifi cance: Understanding the process of impact creation in rural development projects and the preconditions of their success may provide valuable guidance for future bio-village projects and their underlying theories of change.
... We then apply 'Participatory Impact Pathways Analysis' (PIPA) in shaping the Learning Community pathways [11,12]. Using the PIPA framework we ensure the resulting Learning Community combines a demand-led prioritization of research together with stakeholder involvement in order to maximize its impact. ...
... Following the iterative approach to qualitative analysis advocated by Weiss (1994) and Maxwell (2005), we analyzed our primary case study materials in two phases, starting with a chronological analysis to build a case timeline and then moving to thematic analysis. The chronological analysis was undertaken following an approach informed by innovation histories (Spielman et al., 2009) and impact pathway analysis (Douthwaite et al., 2003;Faure et al., 2018;Springer-Heinze et al., 2003), which were the same approaches used to develop the chronological analysis in Hoffecker (2021). Drawing on these approaches, we started the analysis of our primary data by constructing an innovation history of the case, organizing key events and turning points in the innovation process chronologically on a timeline, which is summarized in Fig. 2. ...
As interest grows in facilitating, funding, and investigating inclusive innovation processes in agrifood systems in the Global South, a need has emerged for middle-range theory that can describe the key features and causal dynamics of these processes across diverse contexts. This paper advances theory-building by testing and refining an existing middle-range theory of inclusive innovation processes in agrifood systems in the Global South through a case study of an inclusive innovation process involving smallholder farming communities in the Ecuadorian Andes. We used a case study replication design to test the initial theory. To develop the case study, we conducted primary qualitative research, including interviews, informal personal communications, and document reviews. Data analysis was conducted in two phases: in the first phase, we developed a timeline and causal narrative of the case and in the second phase, we conducted inductive and deductive thematic analysis. We find that each component of the existing middle-range model played an important role, as predicted, in the inclusive innovation process described in the case study. Our analysis also reveals additional component categories, including process inputs, initial contextual conditions, and actor-level mechanisms, that featured prominently in the case but were omitted from the existing theory. The case also revealed a more nuanced, phased causal dynamic than that described in the existing middle-range model and identified intermediate pilot results as boundary objects that expanded the inclusivity of the innovation process and triggered the causal dynamics predicted by the existing theory. Our findings inform a revision to the existing mid-level model, contributing to building an empirically validated theory of how inclusive innovation processes unfold in agrifood systems that sheds light on specific features of these processes that are important for promoting inclusivity.
... This includes debates on Mission-oriented Agricultural Innovation Systems (Klerkx and Begemann, 2020), System Transformation (Leeuwis et al., 2021), Complex Adaptive Systems (Hall and Clark, 2010), and Science of Scaling . It fits particularly well with more action-oriented system approaches to innovation, such as Scaling Readiness , Impact Pathways (Douthwaite et al., 2003), Theory of Change (Douthwaite and Hoffecker, 2017;Maru et al., 2018), and Reflexive Learning and Adaptive Management (van Mierlo et al., 2010). Those approaches aim at finding the right balance between understanding and analyzing system complexity on the one hand and informing intervention and action on the other hand. ...
CONTEXT
Global food systems are confronted with multifaceted challenges, including climate change, malnutrition, and biodiversity loss, disproportionately affecting the livelihoods of millions, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Recognizing its potential to address these challenges, innovation is increasingly central in public sector organizations. However, despite growing emphasis, the adoption of innovation portfolio management approaches remains limited.
OBJECTIVE
Drawing on a case study of CGIAR, a global research partnership dedicated to agricultural challenges, this paper seeks to accomplish two objectives. The primary objective is to produce a set of best practices in innovation portfolio management that can benefit public sector organizations. The secondary objective is to demonstrate how this offers an important precursor to guide organizational decision-making and investment towards responsible food system transformation.
METHODS
An in-depth analysis of CGIAR's approach to innovation portfolio management is based on qualitative and quantitative data from sources such as interviews, observations, documents, and archival records. The study adopts a descriptive case study approach, utilizing an analytical framework that recognizes the importance of methods, mindsets, and mechanisms in describing and analyzing the CGIAR case.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
Key lessons encompass the need for a holistic perspective on innovation portfolio management. The paper advocates for the integration of an innovation portfolio management approach within broader (1) organizational processes, including human resources, finance, legal frameworks, and risk management; and (2) innovation systems where food system transformation is the outcome of interactions and partnerships between government, public and private sector organizations.
SIGNIFICANCE
This study furnishes actionable guidance to public organizations seeking to harness innovation portfolio management for responsible and impactful food system transformation.
... The field of AR4D and its institutions also have been a venue for reflections on understanding the impact of research on societies in the Global South, with their constraints and specificities (Faure et al., 2020). This is particularly true for CGIAR, where a culture inherited from the hard sciences, seeking direct attributions and cost/benefit effects, prevailed for a long time (Horton, 1998), but where systemic and complex thinking has gradually gained ground (Douthwaite et al., 2003). The challenge of institutional learning, aiming to go beyond technology transfer approaches and consider forms of co-construction of innovations, has thus emerged (Watts et al., 2007). ...
This article focuses on researchers who are using the outputs of their scientific research to develop decision
support systems (DSS) to advanced technology readiness levels. By taking their DSS beyond the published proofs
of concept level, they are assuming the role of intrapreneurs. We examine the role and motivations of individual
researchers in producing these DSS in relation to the main organizational barriers and opportunities presented by
their home institution. The study is based on interviews with researchers, computer engineers, support services
staff, and senior-level managers at CIRAD, a French agricultural research for development institute. Our findings
reveal that individual motivations are key and often clash with institutional concerns regarding products that fall
outside the institution’s usual field of expertise. Research institutions should consider carefully the relevance of
investing in the development of finalized DSS given the time and effort required from researchers. This study
offers a perspective on intrapreneurship processes, highlighting the motivations of researchers to generate impact
outside academia and the opportunities and conflicts emerging from the internal realities of research institutions.
... Impact pathway maps were originally created to assess agricultural development projects (Padilla, 2002;Thornton et al. 2017) and initially developed to map out how research projects unfolded and what researchers observed about the impact of their work. In the early 2000s, ex-post impact pathway maps were developed to assess project impacts in complex circumstances (Douthwaite et al., 2003) and used to evaluate agricultural research in response to increasing pressure from funders to provide evidence of social impact (Springer-Heinze et al., 2003). Building on this work, CIRAD, the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development, launched the ImpresS (IMPact of RESearch in the South) project in 2011 to assess the impact of public institutional research on innovation. ...
... At the same time, as Valters (2014) pointed out, ToC may make organizational actors believe that they and their programme are at the centre of social change rather than resulting from a multitude of interrelated contextual factors, of which their programme is part. Calls for a 'complexity-aware' (Douthwaite and Hoffecker, 2017) evaluation of programmes that intend to bring change to complex systems exist, yet the academic field has not offered a ToC that could be used in evaluation practice (Arkesteijn et al., 2015;Douthwaite et al., 2003;Douthwaite and Hoffecker, 2017). Even the use of indicators as elements of thematic frameworks and evaluation strategies is not unproblematic. ...
... . 'Scaling out' is the spread of innovations-technological or otherwise-within the same stakeholders group, whereas 'scaling-up' is a vertical institutional expansion of innovations-from grassroots to policymakers, donors, other stakeholders(Douthwaite et al. 2003). ...
... In agricultural innovation research, the concept of adoption is sometimes deemed inappropriate for its lack of temporal and spatial complexity (Douthwaite et al., 2003;Glover et al., 2019), so qualitative approaches are often suggested as the preferable method of analysis. While these approaches are key to an in-depth understanding of innovation processes, it is more difficult to obtain representative results and detect relationships in multivariate data. ...
Introduction
Agroforestry plays a vital role in maintaining and developing the resilience and productivity of farms and landscapes. Scientific evidence from the Sahel region suggests that integration of trees and shrubs has the potential to improve temperature and moisture levels whilst providing bio-based fertilizer that contributes to increased yields of annual crops. However, little is known about the factors that influence the diffusion of agroforestry. This study examines joint decisions on the use of agroforestry alongside other complementary agricultural practices and disentangles agroforestry awareness from adoption and disadoption decisions.
Methods
Our analysis is based on a comprehensive farm-level dataset covering almost 3,000 farm households in Mali and Senegal. A large number of adoption determinants are utilized, with a special focus on information access, information flows and social groups.
Results
The findings suggest that extension access and training participation boost awareness of agroforestry-based soil fertility management, while information provided by public extension, NGOs and community members is strongly associated with higher adoption intensity. In the analysis of disadoption, farmer-to-farmers exchange in the community was found to be a key factor in the decision to maintain agroforestry use. Membership in cooperatives and youth groups appear to have a favorable effect on awareness and adoption in Mali, but less so in the Senegalese case. Similarly, only results from Mali show that adoption of agroforestry is accompanied by the adoption of other sustainable intensification practices and lower use of synthetic pesticides.
Discussion
We conclude that in order to support the transition to more widespread agroforestry-based soil fertility management, it is essential to strengthen public and NGO-based advisory systems that fully engage with local knowledge networks.
... They note that "extension is a means for socially (re-)constructing agrarian reality through communication", implying that the natural science knowledge of extension specialists and farmers is used as a basis for socially constructing the "agrarian reality". Similarly, Douthwaite et al. (2003) noted that innovation is a social process where users socially construct new knowledge. My background in natural sciences has forced me to think through my beliefs and worldview in this regard. ...
The background of this thesis is new directions in international and national politics, the challenges of contemporary innovation systems, and the challenges and potentials in Swedish horticulture. The aim is to investigate how the knowledge and innovation system in Swedish horticulture can be reinforced to meet current and future challenges. The research questions focus on how network facilitation, social learning, and impact orientation can contribute to a reinforced knowledge and innovation system. The frame of reference takes in theories of systems of innovation, and, in particular, agricultural knowledge and innovation systems (AKIS). The thesis is also complemented with theories of social processes related to learning and impact. The methods include qualitative case studies in a progression from traditional qualitative research methods towards an action research approach. The results identified processes of network brokering, dialogue, co-agency and inclusion as central to reinforcing the knowledge and innovation system of Swedish horticulture. The findings point to a need to balance a structural interpretation of the horticultural knowledge and innovation system with a process perspective, to actively invite the agency of engaged and entrepreneurial individuals, and to balance the historical ‘supply side innovation’ perspective with a prioritization on the creation of societal impact. These results provide a contribution to the debate around different systems perspectives of the AKIS. They also highlight how changes in everyday work at the micro-level are a precondition for system level change, and how actions at the micro-level have the potential of improving the ability to meet current and future challenges and contribute to societal impact and change.
... It is within the above context where a visual programme theory, referred to in this paper as a Theory of Change (ToC), comes in as an almost ubiquitous strategic monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) tool (DuBow and Litzler 2019; Wilkinson et al. 2021). ToC approaches evolved from the perceived limitations of logical framework analysis, which became prevalent from the 1970s onwards in development practice, emphasising the need to involve a wide range of people in its design (Chen 2005); teasing out longer chains of mechanisms between activities and outcomes (Rogers 2000); and using the process of developing the ToC as an opportunity to regularly examine programme assumptions and embed programme learning (Douthwaite et al. 2003). ...
The United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) aimed to address global challenges to achieve the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals through 12 interdisciplinary research hubs. This research documents key lessons learned around working with Theory of Change (ToC) to guide Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) within these complex research for development hubs. Interviews and document reviews were conducted in ten of the research hubs. The results revealed that only one hub invested in an explicit visual system mapping approach, and that funder timelines, budget constraints and issues with capacity and expertise limited the application of these approaches across all hubs. In contrast, many hubs attempted to deal with visual complexity by means of ether constructing multiple, nested ToCs, or a conscious simplification of complexity through reducing their ToC towards a straightforward and uncomplicated chain model or spherical model. While the former approach had some value, most hubs struggled to find capacity to support the full articulation of nested ToCs. In contrast, the latter approach resulted in ToCs which lacked detail or mechanism articulation, but which nevertheless were often ‘fit for purpose’ in ensuring effective communication and coherence across diverse stakeholders and sub-projects. We conclude that in instances where the reporting, funding and management cycles of complex research for development programmes cannot be adapted to properly support learning-based approaches to ToC development, imposing simplicity in the ToC might be fit for purpose. This might also be preferable to more complex visual approaches that are only partially realised.
... Their continuous feedback are the valuable insights allowing for new perspectives thus creating value-added to the project. The value creation promotes the enhancement in a network through (innovative) capacity development and community empowerment (Douthwaite et al., 2003;Graef et al., 2018;Paz-Ybarnegaray and Douthwaite, 2017;Quiedeville et al., 2017). The collaborative actions through innovative thinking and community empowerment can facilitate an innovative environment (Eichler and Schwarz, 2019), which is crucial in enhancing the decision-making process in a multi-stakeholder context. ...
Interactive innovation is the innovation process that is co-produced by the interaction of actors, such as farmers, land managers, researchers, policy makers and consumers. It connotes complex and socio?scientific problems that utilize participatory methodologies to bring in diverse perspectives of stakeholders, who have control over the development and decision-making process. Most failure or information absence come from insufficient communication transfer, which can result in conflicts between stakeholders, especially in projects with multi actor partnership and multidisciplinary stakeholders. Rural innovation is addressed by measuring stakeholder interactions that take place in the project. By identifying the risks in the network and the stakeholders associated to the risks, we find the underlying cause of the problem in two case studies in Spain. Results reveal that lack of communication among internal stakeholders was the main threat in both projects. Recommended action plans included establishing an effective communication strategy, establishing a well-defined terminology to avoid miscommunication among internal stakeholders and taking into account ethical and cultural differences among stakeholders to avoid mistrust. The risk analysis provides stakeholders with a holistic view over the project in knowing the location of the resources and where the problem lies. This way stakeholders can scrape out the wound.
... However, according to Douthwaite et al (2003), setting out explicitly what these impact (or causal) pathways might be at the start of a research activity provides testable hypotheses about how research outputs may help to foster change, thereby helping to bridge the gap between knowledge generation and development outcomes. Thornton et al (2018) therefore indicated that dealing with this element of the framework highlights, there is the need for monitoring and evaluating the progress of the research itself, so that if early piloting of an intervention fails, for example, the theory of change (ToC) can be adjusted and activities modified appropriately. ...
Strategies for Continous Development of Climate Smart Agriculture Technologies in Africa document research and analysis on the need to tease out the much-needed technologies that align with the climate-smart agriculture principles. The book strives to answer pertinent questions on climate-smart agriculture in Africa.
Key question one: Demystifying Climate-Smart Agriculture
Key question two: What is the role of research in Climate-smart agriculture?
Key question three: Stewardship of CSA in Africa: Is there a research accountability framework for CSA in Africa?
Key question four: What are the promises of mainstreaming youth and gender in CSA adaptation action in Africa? How true is the assertion that more than 60% of employed women in sub-Saharan Africa work in the agricultural sector?
Key question five: Policy coherence on CSA
Key question six: Strategies for climate-smart agriculture.
Key question seven: CSA research funding: i Are there institutions in Africa funding CSA research?
Key question eight: Monitoring and evaluation of CSA research
... Proto-Model of Innovation's Impact Assessment Management System (Adapted fromGoldstein &Renault, 2004 and Jonkers et al., 2018) According toFigure 2above, the proto-model adopts five variables as a structural base which will permeate all stages of the above system (AVILA; RODRIGUES;VEDOVOTO, 2008;BUCKLEY, 1976;CATO, 2009;DOUTHWAITE, 2003;GOLDSTEIN;RENAULT, 2004; JOLY et al., 2016; JONKERS et al., 2018;KUBY, 1999;LAW;KELTON, 1991;MARKUS;MAJCHRZAK;GASSER, 2002;METHERBE, 1986;RODRIGUES et al., 2010): ...
This article is focused on a conceptual model of the innovation impact assessment process, especiallydirected to agricultural research organisations. This research proposes an existing methodology basedon a literature review. The innovative contributions of this article are I. theoretical lines for constructinga model of impact assessment as a base for a future data-based management system; II. a conceptualbase of innovation impact assessment process that considers a cross-cut view of sustainability,integrating the environmental, social, policy, and economic dimensions. This article intends to presenta theoretical model addressed to research and innovation organisations that will contribute tofulfilling the United Nations’ sustainable development goals towards more productive and sustainableagriculture and accomplishing stakeholder challenges and demands.
... The Proto-Model demonstrates that the impact assessment system is an open system, with a high degree of interaction between the internal organisational environment (of the research institution) and the environment, social, policy, and economic dimensions, including stakeholders, clients, and users of innovation's solutions as well as the external environment. Goldstein &Renault, 2004 andJonkers et al., 2018) According to Figure 2 above, the proto-model adopts five variables as a structural base which will permeate all stages of the above system (AVILA; RODRIGUES; VEDOVOTO, 2008;BUCKLEY, 1976;CATO, 2009;DOUTHWAITE, 2003;GOLDSTEIN;RENAULT, 2004;JOLY et al., 2016;JONKERS et al., 2018;KUBY, 1999;LAW;KELTON, 1991;MARKUS;MAJCHRZAK;GASSER, 2002;METHERBE, 1986;RODRIGUES et al., 2010): ...
Mining dams within urban areas are a technological risk because, in the event of an accident, theyaffect water security. For example, a sand mining dam accident caused an interruption in the watersupply in the downstream city of São José dos Campos. Thus, the social vulnerability of the populationthat suffered from a failure in the drinking water supply was evaluated. A water shortage indicator,the Social Urban Water Shortage Vulnerability Index – SUWSVI, was composed. Variables that bestreflect the socioeconomic condition were used: Average Income of Head of Household, Female Headof Household, and Children and Elderly Dependent Ratio. The sensitivity analysis considered the cityby geographic regions and zoning classes, considering infrastructure supply and lot size. The resultsshowed that although there are full water supply and sewerage infrastructure (99.6%), the access towater was unequal (39% of the population in the medium SUWSVI range).
... A titre d'exemple, l'accès aux membres de ce groupe crée pour ces producteur•rice•s des opportunités de marché au sein du groupe même (en répondant à des marchés publics ou en gré à gré selon le type de structure concernée) voire avec d'autres opérateurs du territoire -via l'accès aux informations concernant le fonctionnement des marchés publics, les besoins de la restauration collective, etc. diffusés dans le cadre des activités du groupe. (Douthwaite et al., 2003), notamment de l'approche Impress développée au Cirad (Barret et al., 2017). Cette méthodologie a été conçue pour accompagner les acteurs de terrain, publics ou privés, dans leur réflexion stratégique sur la durabilité de leurs actions. ...
Studying urban food innovations impact on ecological transition, implies to analyse their scaling capacity. The ability of singular initiatives to contribute to the ecological transition is indeed weak if they are not likely to be replicated, imitated, amplified, supported. How do these initiatives disseminate contributing to the transformation of food systems, in particular at the territorial level? This paper addresses this question through two case studies from the URBAL project in Montpellier: a cooperative supermarket and the municipal school catering improvement programme. It particularly focuses on the interest of a territorial anchoring of the three forms of scaling (scaling up, out and deep).
... At this stage, we have prospected general trajectories regarding the causal dynamics generating this outcome, but we have not particularly examined the 'impact pathways' (e.g. Douthwaite et al. 2003); for example, whether (and why) the outcome was specifically activated by the environment or strategy, as a first-mover (Andriani and McKelvey 2009;Breslin et al. 2021). Also from a practice-oriented perspective, what is the role of macroeconomic (e.g. ...
How do environmentally-driven and firm-specific factors influence business innovation and adaptation? How can the analysis of their co-evolutionary relationship help explain firm survival or failure over time? To address these key questions, this article focuses on the study regarding the 20-year performance (1997–2017) of the Fiat (later Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) group in the automobile industry. The analysis primarily deals with three historical phases: crisis (1997–2002), turnaround (2003–2007), and expansion (2008–2017). As a key contribution, the study combines elaborations from a robust dataset comprising both industry characteristics and executive team features, with historical events both at the environmental and the firm’s strategy levels. Results suggest that when executive team diversity and a wide breadth of product portfolio are concurrently present, they positively affect corporate performance.
... Thus, for Kuby (2003), the non-linearity of innovation processes makes it problematic to establish unambiguous links between research outputs, or indeed specific research actors, and highly aggregated (societal, economic, or environmental) benefits. Further, Douthwaite et al. (2003) highlight the importance of "process-related factors" (e.g., the nature of the relationships between researchers and stakeholders, their duration, the type of research strategies used in specific contexts) as determinants of impact. These studies emphasise that, when evaluating impact, evaluators need to look at the everyday activities involved in achieving it. ...
... Pathways and measure come from the experience of Boru Douthwaite (Douthwaite et al. 2003(Douthwaite et al. , 2007. Douthwaite suggests that agricultural research for development achieves impact by catalyzing and supporting processes of innovation through the three pathways. ...
... Second, social networks enable scaling of innovations. Scaling refers not only to the successful adoption of innovations in 'horizontal networks' of peers (out scaling), but also includes the institutional support for these innovations through 'vertical networks' involving actors at higher governance levels such as agricultural ministries (upscaling) (Douthwaite et al. 2003;Hermans et al. 2013a). Networks enable or constrain actors in their capacity for action. ...
There is promising evidence that public food procurement from family farming (PFPF) can serve as a powerful policy instrument in transitions towards more sustainable food systems. Despite the evidence around PFPF, there is lack of systemic and actor-oriented approaches analysing the relational and interactional dynamics among the multiple and diverse sets of actors in PFPF programs. In this paper, we address this gap by presenting an integrative framework that brings together food systems research, innovation studies and social network analysis, to assess the role of actor networks in PFPF. To illustrate the usefulness of the framework, we present the case of public procurement from family farming in Uruguay. We show how the framework has potential to: highlight the composition and diversity of networks of actors in PFPF; unravel individual and network barriers faced by actors in food systems; and, identify how interactions and (intermediary and brokerage) roles of network actors stimulate innovation or block the changes that are needed for PFPF to catalyse the transition towards sustainable food systems.
... Most studies focus on methods and tools to account for, monitor, and claim research impacts Greenhalgh et al., 2016), or to evaluate impacts from specific research . Some have focused on understanding how to measure the significance (the magnitude of the impact on individuals or groups) and reach (number, extent or diversity of individuals or groups that benefit from the research) of research impacts Alvarez et al., 2010;Douthwaite et al., 2003). Others have discussed issues such as attribution (defining how much impact is the result of the research) (Dickson et al., 2017), additionality (whether the research generates benefits that could not have been generated otherwise), and timing caused by the variation of the delivery of impact over time (Klautzer et al., 2011;Bornmann, 2013). ...
Evidence of the impact arising from environmental research is increasingly demanded. Exchanges between science providers and actors that use scientific knowledge to address environmental problems are recognized as a key component of the mechanisms through which impact occurs. Yet, the role of interactions between science and policy actors in delivering and shaping research impact is not well established. We aim to better understand how transfer of science in a science-policy network generates impact. Our approach relies on an exploratory social network analysis (SNA), applied to a network of organisations working on land and water management in a catchment in the UK. We analyse flows of scientific information across these organisations and how those contribute to impact, which we conceptualized as change in organisations at three levels: increased awareness, operational change and strategic change. We find that organisations occupying central positions in the network facilitate the transfer of science and influence the level of change achieved. We also find that the effectiveness of the flows of information and impact delivery depends on boundary organisations, in particular public regulatory bodies, that connect agents with others. Moreover, intended change reported by science providers does not often transform directly into change as reported by the receivers of the information. We conclude that both exchanges between researchers and research users and the role of boundary organisations are key to impact delivery and making change possible. This is valuable for understanding where improvements to information flows between organisations might enhance impact.
... scaling to the creation of conducive conditions and policies for scaling at higher levels (e.g., mainstreaming of new practices in national agricultural policies); and down-scaling the reduction or replacement of existing practices with new ones(Douthwaite et al. 2003;Schut et al. 2020). Onfarm experimentation enhances farmer learning and contributes to the efficacy of the three scaling processes. ...
... We define an outcome trajectory (OT) as the interacting and co-evolving system of actors, knowledge, technology and institutions that produce, sustain and sometimes scale a coherent set of outcomes over time. This definition reflects our observation that reported outcomes are rarely, if ever, one-off events, but rather are generated over time through interacting and co-evolving systems, as described by Axelrod and Cohen (1999) and similarly by Douthwaite et al. (2003). The evaluations from which the cases are drawn also used the concept of an OT. ...
At the end of 2021, CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) will be replaced by Initiatives housed within One CGIAR. This new modality is intended to achieve higher levels of impact at a faster rate and at reduced cost compared to the CRPs. As One CGIAR begins, there is a unique opportunity to reflect on what has worked in different contexts. In this paper, we provide findings that relate to One CGIAR’s overarching view of how it will achieve positive and measurable impacts, and for agricultural research for development (AR4D) more generally. Specifically, we draw from three related CRP evaluations to
identify how different types of AR4D approaches have contributed to successful outcomes. In the final section of the paper, we present our conclusions and provide a list of recommendations for the science and technology policy of One CGIAR and possibly other integrated research for development programs.
... Cela permet d'établir le lien entre un effet et un ensemble de causes qui individuellement peuvent ne pas provoquer l'effet nal, mais dont la synergie crée l'effet (Spatarakis et Quiédeville, 2018). Nous basons la recherche de ce lien sur l'analyse rétrospective du chemin d'impact (Douthwaite et al., 2003 ;Springer-Heinze et al., 2003). ...
... The impact pathway, through commercialising, was mapped out as part of the research process. The team identified that this was how the project could have impact, following processes defined by Douthwaite et al. (2003). ...
The Australian dryland grain-cropping landscape occupies 60 Mha. The broader agricultural sector (farmers and agronomic advisors, grain handlers, commodity forecasters, input suppliers, insurance providers) required information at many spatial and temporal scales. Temporal scales included hindcasts, nowcasts and forecasts, at spatial scales ranging from sub-field to the continent. International crop-monitoring systems could not service the need of local industry for digital information on crop production estimates. Therefore, we combined a broad suite of satellite-based crop-mapping, crop-modelling and data-delivery techniques to create an integrated analytics system (Graincast™) that covers the Australian cropping landscape. In parallel with technical developments, a set of user requirements was identified through a human-centred design process, resulting in an end-product that delivered a viable crop-monitoring service to industry. This integrated analytics solution can now produce crop information at scale and on demand and can deliver the output via an application programming interface. The technology was designed to underpin digital agriculture developments for Australia. End-users are now using crop-monitoring data for operational purposes, and we argue that a vertically integrated data supply chain is required to develop crop-monitoring technology further.
... Impact pathway analysis (Douthwaite et al. 2003) enabled us to trace the causal links of the IRRI GHU to breeding program activities, outcomes, and impacts derived from adopting improved crop varieties. Since facilitated exchanges are the primary means by which GHUs contribute to the impacts of crop improvement research, we considered both the germplasm collections of the IRRI genebank and IRRI breeding programs, which are headquartered in the Philippines. ...
Background
One of the less known benefits of the CGIAR is the facilitation of international agricultural research for crop improvement by providing a continuous supply of breeding materials for the development of disease resistant varieties. The Germplasm Health Units (GHUs) of the CGIAR are phytosanitary mechanisms put in place to help ensure safe (from pests and diseases) and efficient international transfer of germplasm among genebanks and breeding programs around the world. To date, there is no systematic documentation of the pathways and extent to which GHUs contribute to economic impact in recipient countries.
Methods
We conducted interviews with key experts and reviewed secondary literature and data to trace the pathways through which the GHU of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) contributes to the impact of breeding for rice blast. We applied an ex ante economic surplus framework to the case of rice blast in Bangladesh, considering productivity maintenance and time saving factors from GHU facilitation. Data were drawn from a national panel dataset of farm households (from 2013 to 2016 with about 4490 households) and field surveys of blast incidence and severity (from 2011 to 2012 in 10 agroecological zones). We augmented our model with Monte Carlo sampling to simulate distributions of parameters.
Results
Our model predicts that, in the most probable scenario (modal values), the IRRI GHU contributed about US 295 million net benefits over a 20-year time frame of continuous blast resistance breeding and deployment. In the most optimistic conditions (maximum), the IRRI GHU contributed as much as US 1.46 billion benefits. The modal benefit–cost ratio of the GHU in this breeding program alone was estimated at 112. The results are sensitive to the rate of yield savings, which is contingent on yield levels, timing of deployment, effectiveness of resistance, and lifespan of resistance to blast.
Conclusions
The study reinforces the important, and often overlooked, role of the GHUs in the international agricultural research that aims to enhance genetic gains in crops through efficient and timely access to clean and healthy germplasm.
The landscape of Software Engineering evolves rapidly amidst digital transformation and the ascendancy of AI, leading to profound shifts in the role and responsibilities of Software Engineers. This evolution encompasses both immediate changes, such as the adoption of Large Language Model-based approaches to coding, and deeper shifts driven by the profound societal and environmental impacts of technology. Despite the urgency, there persists a lag in adapting to these evolving roles. This roadmap paper proposes 10 research challenges to develop a new generation of Software Engineers equipped to navigate the technical and social complexities as well as ethical considerations inherent in their evolving profession. Furthermore, the challenges target role definition, integration of AI, education transformation, standards evolution, and impact assessment to equip future Software Engineers to skillfully and responsibly handle the obstacles within their transforming discipline.
Evaluators widely utilize theory of change or impact pathway approaches to design and evaluate interventions. In research settings, there is increasing demand for ex ante impact pathways that are place‐based, coherent, and plausible, in order to foster more impactful interventions. Foresight approaches, which enable a collaborative, structured, and systematic way to anticipate, prepare, and affect the course of change, can help achieve this by exploring diverse future scenarios, the consequences of different assumptions, or how to overcome threats and leverage opportunities for change. Through three case examples, we show how foresight tools used prior to developing impact pathways can free participants from preconceived notions of the intervention's context, actors, and impacts, and thus support creative and systemic analyses of the future to rethink the present. They extend the analysis of how different actors can shape the future, identifying effects that might otherwise be overlooked or marginalized during the planning and evaluation of the intervention, while also helping to identify the conditions necessary for desired impacts. Nonetheless, their use entails evaluative judgments about the potential impacts to be prioritized in intervention design and evaluation. This is especially relevant in the case of research where scientific or technical aspects are usually prioritized. Finally, there is an entry cost to foresight tools for evaluators, in particular for the facilitation of strategic thinking about the future. However, we recommend them as a worthwhile addition to the evaluator's toolbox to broaden the scope of design and evaluation.
The growing role of women from the women's movement in 1882 and highlights the significance of women's participation and representation in leadership across sectors for good governance, transparency, accountability, and enhanced quality of life. Empowering women is known as giving authority and power, including education, providing them with skills, and enhancing self-confidence. The chapter focuses on training, mentoring, and skills development for women in leadership, emphasizing the transformative power of education and the impact of supporting women in their leadership journeys. This chapter aims to provide vision and direction to stakeholders and enhance understanding of the importance of education, training, and leadership development in empowering women leaders globally.
Agroecosystem design is not a one-time exercise; it requires constant evaluation and readjustment. This chapter provides a non-exhaustive overview of evaluation methods and indicators used in the (re)design of agroecosystems. Indicators are the central tool of any evaluation process. Choosing indicators based on objectives and system properties is a first step in agroecosystems evaluation, and several features of indicators must be considered. Since agroecology is a “dialogue of wisdoms” (cf. Chap. 1), wherein knowledge from multiple stakeholders merges in the redesign of agroecosystems, participatory methods for co-creating knowledge, prototyping, and evaluation are interwoven throughout the sections of this chapter and the following two chapters. A special case of comprehensive and participatory systems design, called co-innovation, is introduced here and illustrated with examples towards the end of this chapter.
Public sector crop improvement for development programmes aims to produce varieties tailored to the needs of smallholder farmers and their environments. Understanding how social heterogeneity, including gender, drives trait preferences is essential to ensure that crop improvement objectives meet farmers’ and stakeholder demands. This requires an interdisciplinary approach, integrating social science knowledge with crop breeding. Although the necessity of interdisciplinary research is recognised and promoted, it is impeded by a multitude of challenges including ontological and epistemological differences, institutional and global hierarchies, disciplinary power relations and struggles for scientific authority. The Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D) sector is marked by entrenched power differentials, including dominance of the biophysical sciences, a historical emphasis on technical solutions which ignores social contexts, and the underrepresentation of women scientists and farmers themselves. Nevertheless, there is limited theoretically informed analysis of power dynamics within AR4D settings. Drawing on qualitative, ethnographic observations of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Crop Improvement (ILCI), this article seeks to understand how power affects interdisciplinary research processes. Critical ethnography and power theory is used to analyse power within international crop breeding collaborations and the implications for inclusive knowledge production and research impact. The Powercube is used to examine how visible, hidden and invisible forms of power manifest within local, national, and international relationships across closed, invited and claimed spaces. Our findings suggest that these intersecting power dimensions, which include disciplinary, gendered, institutional and global hierarchies, constrain the contributions that individual researchers can make – particularly social scientists – thereby hindering disciplinary integration. The ILCI case study reveals the complex multi-dimensional dynamics that emerge within agricultural research teams and highlights structural limitations constraining efforts to build socially inclusive and gender-responsive crop improvement programmes. The article contributes to a small but growing literature studying the social construction of agricultural science, and provides insights that can enable interdisciplinary research strategies to more effectively meet the needs of farmers and other stakeholders.
This paper analyzes how agricultural advisory services support farmers in the evaluation and adoption of a digital innovation: decision support tools for fertilizer application. We interviewed farmers with different user profiles for this technology (adopters, non-adopters, droppers) as well as experts in the area of innovation. We collected data on the advisory suppliers (advisory sources and nature of the farmer-advisor interaction) at different stages of farmers’ adoption process, using the Triggering Change Model (Sutherland et al., 2012). Our results revealed changing roles for farm advisors despite an apparent continuity in their profiles. Advisors trigger the process of adoption but play a limited role in helping farmers to assess and implement the innovation. This paper launches a debate about the ability of advisors to support farmers in dealing with uncertainties associated with digital technologies and offers recommendations in terms of public policies.
JEL Codes: Q12, Q16, O33
Over the past five years, there have been growing calls for transformative responses to sustainability challenges, supported by increased transformative action in the pursuit of environmental justice. In parallel to this development within the policy arena, the concept of transformation and its potential is also attracting more attention within the research community. This paper uses the example of the Urban Natural Assests for Africa (UNA) programme to explore what transformative change might mean for cities and how this might be achieved through enacting just processes. It explores in some more detail different approaches to transformative change to explain how and why an enabling perspective on transformation is considered to be fruitful in developing the understanding of transformative capacity for change. The paper then explores how the programme was able to foster this capacity, with what consequences for the African cities and what it implies for the nature of change for urban social and environmental justice in the future.
Multi-Akteurs-Partnerschaften (MAP) sind zu einem wichtigen Mechanismus geworden, um auf die Agenda 2030 und die Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung hinzuarbeiten. Eine Herausforderung, mit der sich MAP jedoch häufig konfrontiert sehen, ist das Erfassen ihrer Wirkung. Auf der konzeptionell-theoretischen Ebene kann dabei zwischen drei Elementen unterschieden werden: (1) ein Wirkungspfad, der die Schritte von Aktivitäten und Outputs bis hin zur Wirkung dokumentiert, (2) fünf Wirkungsebenen, die von der individuellen über die partnerschaftliche bis zur gesellschaftlichen Ebene reichen, und (3) drei Einflussbereiche, die angeben, inwieweit die MAP Einfluss auf die intendierte Wirkung hat. Zusammen bilden Wirkungspfad, Wirkungsebenen und Einflussbereiche das Wirkungsnarrativ einer MAP. Dieser Beitrag zeigt, wie das Arbeiten mit einem Wirkungsnarrativ MAP praxisnah dabei unterstützen kann, ihre intendierte Wirkung zu erfassen und zu veranschaulichen. Das Wirkungsnarrativ dient außerdem als Basis, um im nächsten Schritt Indikatoren für die Wirkungsmessung zu entwickeln. Die präsentierten Ergebnisse sind das Resultat eines Aktionsforschungsprojekts mit ausgewählten MAP der deutschen Entwicklungs- und internationalen Zusammenarbeit.
Lack of reproducibility of research results has become a major theme in recent years. As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, economic pressures and exposed consequences of lack of societal trust in science make addressing reproducibility of urgent importance. TIER2 is a new international project funded by the European Commission under their Horizon Europe programme. Covering three broad research areas (social, life and computer sciences) and two cross-disciplinary stakeholder groups (research publishers and funders) to systematically investigate reproducibility across contexts, TIER2 will significantly boost knowledge on reproducibility, create tools, engage communities, implement interventions and policy across different contexts to increase re-use and overall quality of research results in the European Research Area and global R&I, and consequently increase trust, integrity and efficiency in research.
Background
The International Rice Genebank (IRG) currently safeguards the largest and most diverse collection of rice genetic resources in the world. Over the past decades, genetic resources from the IRG have been used effectively to increase smallholder farmers’ rice productivity in developing economies. Bangladesh is one of the direct and indirect recipients of IRG germplasm for rice genetic improvement. This study aimed to map the impact pathways of IRG germplasm transfers to Bangladesh, evaluate the genetic contribution of IRG germplasms to rice productivity of farmers, and compute the equivalent economic benefit.
Methods
Impact pathway analysis was conducted to map the IRG’s germplasm transfer for varietal improvement and seed dissemination of improved rice varieties in Bangladesh using the information collected from key informant interviews. Using data from the farm household survey conducted by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in 2016 in five divisions in Bangladesh, a pedigree analysis was conducted that related the productivity changes in farmers’ fields explicitly to genebank accessions through varietal improvement. Afterward, we evaluated the economic benefit of IRG contribution in rice varietal improvement in Bangladesh using the computed marginal increases in productivity, average paddy price, and estimated total rice area.
Results
IRG’s impact pathway on germplasm transfer in Bangladesh showed that impacts for farmers were achieved through joint efforts with IRRI and the National Agricultural Research and Extension System’s research-for-development programs. On average, 52% of the improved rice varieties’ genetic composition, cultivated by farmers in Bangladesh, definitely came from IRG accessions. This contribution factor could increase up to 67% if possible contributions were taken into account. The results of the Cobb–Douglas model implied that for every 1% increase in the definite IRG contribution to an improved rice variety, there was an increase in rice yield of about 0.99%, holding other factors constant. This yield increase can be translated into an additional US$ 8,576,973 aggregated net benefit of farmers during the wet season in Bangladesh. The enhanced yield can be associated with the added important agronomic traits contributed by the accession provided by the IRG in the genetic background of the rice varieties developed for farmers in Bangladesh.
Conclusions
The findings of the study demonstrate that IRG accession forms a significant part of the ancestry of improved rice varieties which is associated with improved yield. The study highlights the valuable contribution of IRG’s conservation and distribution of genetic accessions to the research and development of improved rice varieties and rice production on farms in Bangladesh.
Impact evaluation is increasingly requested from research for both donor and social accountability (Faure et al., Agric Syst 165, 128–136; 2018). Conducting it properly is difficult, especially in the context of a developing country. Quantitative studies are often biased toward expected and tangible impacts. Complementary and more qualitative approaches are focused on understanding causality and are more in line with actors’ participation in impact evaluation. CIRAD has developed a method (ImpresS) and applied it to assessing 13 case studies, each of them including a cluster of projects involving research and conducted in widely different environments (Faure et al., Agric Syst 165, 128–136; 2018). One of the case studies looked at the impacts of the use of innovative evaluation approaches to strengthening animal health surveillance. This research was implemented by Cirad and its partners between 2009 and 2016 in order to develop innovative evaluation approaches to evaluate animal health surveillance systems in South East Asia (REVASIA: http://revasia.cirad.fr ). In this chapter, we present how the impact evaluation approach based on the theory of change can help in framing surveillance programs and also how this approach can be used to assess the impact of the evaluation itself.KeywordsImpactEvaluationTheory of changeSurveillance
To date in agricultural research, farmer participation in monitoring and
evaluation has been limited to assessing technologies, and to consultations
on adoption and impacts of innovations. However, participatory
monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) may have much more to offer as an
approach for regular self-reflection and learning within projects, and it
could make a significant contribution in the complex field of participatory
research for natural resource management. These were the initial assumptions
which formed the starting point for the study documented in
this book. Based on action research undertaken in two case study projects
in Honduras, this book assesses the potential benefits and limitations
of using PM&E in participatory research, and elucidates key
conditions for success in its implementation. It contributes to the actual
debate on participatory research, the re-orientation of international agricultural
research, and adds new aspects to the age-old topic of monitoring
and evaluation.
To understand how learning selection is analogous to natural selection, let us take the example of one of the stages in the early adoption of Mucuna pruriens in Benin (Fig. 2). M. pruriens is a herbaceous legume that forms the basis of an NRM cover crop and green manure technology. Participant A is a female farmer who decides to plant an M. pruriens cover crop in her field after seeing a demonstration in her village by researchers that shows the legume's ability to improve soil fertility. As a result of growing M. pruriens, the farmer has an experience of the crop that she tries to interpret on the basis of the information in her existing mental models of reality. Her observations and understanding lead her to the conclusion that M. pruriens is more immediately useful as a way of suppressing Imperata cylindrica, a grass weed that caused her to abandon some of her land. The following year, she uses M. pruriens to try to reclaim this land by cutting the I. cylindrica at the beginning of the rainy season and broadcasting M. pruriens seed in the hope that it will outgrow and smother the I. cylindrica. By carrying out this experiment, she is generating a novelty as well as beginning another learning cycle, the result of which will be a selection decision on her part as to whether to continue to plant M. pruriens in this way.
The analogy between natural selection and learning selection is not perfect. One important difference is that natural selection is blind, whereas learning selection is not: genetic mutations occur at random, but technology and system change can be directed, e.g., by product champions. The "thinking" nature of learning selection implies that, to understand the processes involved, we have to go beyond simply identifying novelties generated or selection decisions made and delve into the reasons why people behave the way they do. Consequently, a cornerstone of the LS approach is the seemingly obvious relationship articulated by Lewin (1951), who maintains that people's behavior (B) is a function of the interaction of the person (P) with his or her environment (E), or B=f(P,E). This is the theoretical justification for the fourth and fifth steps in the guide (Appendix 1) to managing a learning selection approach that involves working with motivated people and choosing pilot sites where there is a real need. MacKeracher (1994) explains the Lewin model in this way. Behavior can include any outcome of the learning process, including adoption, modification, selection, a change in attitude, and communication to others. P stands for the person (the learner) and can include any characteristic that affects learning, such as existing models of reality. E stands for the environment and can include any factor within the context that might affect learning, including the number and quality of interactions with other people, the nature of the technology being tested, and the physical, cultural, and socioeconomic settings.
To meet the challenges of poverty and environmental sustainability, a different kind of research will be needed. This research will need to embrace the complexity of these systems by redirecting the objectives of research toward enhancing adaptive capacity, by incorporating more participatory approaches, by embracing key principles such as multi-scale analysis and intervention, and by the use of a variety of tools (e.g., systems analysis, information management tools, and impact assessment tools). Integration will be the key concept in the new approach; integration across scales, components, stakeholders, and disciplines. Integrated approaches, as described in this Special Feature, will require changes in the culture and organization of research. Copyright © 2001 by the author(s). Published here under license by The Resilience Alliance.
Enabling Innovation is an engrossing look at some of the disaster—and success—stories surrounding technological development and diffusion in industrialized and developing countries. The book tells the story of widely divergent technologies—agricultural appliances, wind turbines, Green Revolution high yielding seeds, the Linux computer operating system, and Local Economic Trading Systems. Boru Douthwaite has constructed a "how to do it" guide to innovation management that runs counter to so many current "top-down", "big is good", and "private sector is best" assumptions
The concept of 'sustainable livelihoods' is increasingly important in the development debate. This paper outlines a framework for analysing sustainable livelihoods, defined here in relation to five key indicators. The framework shows how, in different contexts, sustainable livelihoods are achieved through access to a range of livelihood resources (natural, economic, human and social capitals) which are combined in the pursuit of different livelihood strategies (agricultural intensification or extensification, livelihood diversification and migration). Central to the framework is the analysis of the range of formal and informal organisational and institutional factors that influence sustainable livelihood outcomes. In conclusion, the paper briefly considers some of the practical, methodological and operational implications of a sustainable livelihoods approach.
One of the most striking features of the growth of "science studies" in recent years has been the separation of science from technology. Sociological studies of new knowledge in science abound, as do studies of technological innovation, but thus far there has been little attempt to bring such bodies of work together.1 It may well be the case that science and technology are essentially different and that different approaches to their study are warranted. However, until the attempt to treat them within the same analytical endeavor has been undertaken, we cannot be sure of this. It is the contention of this chapter that the study of science and the study of technology should, and indeed can, benefit from each other. In particular we argue that the social constructivist view that is prevalent within the sociology of science and also emerging within the sociology of technology provides a useful starting paint. We set out the constitutive questions that such a unified social constructivist approach must address analytically and empirically. This chapter falls into three main sections. In the first part we outline various strands of argumentation and review bodies of literature that we consider to be relevant to our goals. We then discuss the two specific approaches from which our integrated viewpoint has developed: the "Empirical Programme of Relativism" (Collins 1981d) and a social constructivist approach to the study of technology (Bijker et al. 1984). In the third part we bring these two approaches together and give some empirical examples. We conclude by summarizing our provisional findings and by indicating the directions in which we believe the program can most usefully be pursued. © 2012 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. All rights reserved.
On-farm trials were conducted in the northern Guinea savanna of Nigeria. The objective was to compare integrated Striga hermonthica control measures (soyabean or cowpea trap crop in the first year followed by maize resistant to Striga in the second year) with farmers' traditional practices (cereal-based cropping systems) under farmer-managed conditions.
Integrated control proved to be highly effective in terms of reducing Striga incidence both in terms of reduced seed density in the soil and decreased infection in maize. Resistant maize following the soyabean trap crop yielded 1.58 t ha ⁻¹ of grain and out-yielded local maize following traditional practices by more than 80%. Similarly, the overall productivity over the period of the experiment was highest with the integrated control treatment using soyabean. Conversely, resistant maize after the cowpea trap crop yielded only 0.92 t ha ⁻¹ (possibly due to the poor performance of the cowpea crop in the first year), and maize yields were similar to those obtained with farmer practices. Initial Striga seed density in the soil was negatively correlated ( r = −0.33) with soil nitrogen, but nitrogen-fertilizer application rates did not seem to affect the level of Striga infection in maize.
Two sets of on-farm trials, each covering two years, were conducted in the northern Guinea savannah of Nigeria over the period 1999–2001, the objective being to compare integrated Striga hermonthica control measures (soybean or cowpea trap crops followed by maize resistant to Striga) with farmers' traditional cereal-based cropping systems. In both sets of trials, this proved to be highly effective in increasing productivity over the two year period, especially where soybean was used as a trap crop. Resistant maize after a trap crop increased the net benefit over the two cropping seasons in both trials by over 100 % over farmer practice. However, in the second set of trials there was no significant increase in productivity between a trap crop followed by Striga resistant maize, and a trap crop followed by local maize especially where legume intercropping and fertilizer had been applied in the farmer practice. There was also no increase in productivity between two years' traditional cereal cropping and one year's local maize followed by Striga resistant maize. This indicates the importance of a legume trap crop in the first year in order to ensure high productivity in the second year, regardless of variety. Up to 20 % of farmers obtained higher productivity from their own practices, notably intercropping of cereals with legumes and use of inorganic fertilizers. Leguminous trap crops and Striga resistant maize, together with two key management practices (increased soybean planting density and hand-roguing) were seen to be spreading both within and beyond the research villages, indicating that farmers see the economic benefits of controlling Striga. Survey findings show that explaining the reasons why control practices work can greatly increase the adoption of these practices. Wider adoption of Striga control will therefore require an extension approach that provides this training as well as encouraging farmers to experiment and adapt Striga control options for their local farming systems.
Explores how technological innovation has shaped and been shaped by science, industry, and economics in the twentieth century. Technological change and specific technologies have impacted productivity, the learning process, technology transfer and technology policies. Starting with a summary of historical literature on technical progress, the book goes on to discuss and promote Karl Marx's influential method of studying technology as the result of interrelated social processes -- especially emphasizing the mutual interaction between technology and the economy. Analysis of current empirical studies shows the need for an enlarged framework for understanding the relation between the economy and technical change. Technological interdependence in the American economy is analyzed, and later expanded to encompass international business. High-tech industries are discussed as particularly reliant upon scientific research. The commercial aircraft industry from 1925-75 is also examined, as an exemplary instance in which technological innovation and government support and regulation allowed for economic success. The book concludes that scientific progress is heavily influenced by technological considerations that are, in turn, shaped by industry and economics. Thus, decisions made in the private and public sectors should affect both supply and demand, favoring the creative, mutually advantageous connection between science and technology. (CJC)
The paper analyses innovation histories of two agro-mechanical and two seed-based technologies with high and low technological complexity, introduced into simple and complex farming systems in Asia. The main conclusion, which may be seen as a hypothesis for further testing, is that, as technology and system complexity increase so does the need for interaction between the originating R&D team and the key stakeholders (those who will directly gain and lose from the innovation) when the latter first replicate and use the new technology. This is because a successful technology represents a synthesis of the researcher and key stakeholder knowledge sets, and creating this synthesis requires more iteration and negotiation as complexity increases. Instead of assuming a new technology is ‘finished’ when it leaves the research institute, a more effective way of developing complex technologies is for the R&D team to release them as soon as the key stakeholders will adopt, and then nurture the technology’s continued development in partnership with the key stakeholders.
"The types of technology change catalyzed by research interventions in integrated natural resource management (INRM) are likely to require much more social negotiation and adaptation than are changes related to plant breeding, the dominant discipline within the system of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Conceptual models for developing and delivering high-yielding varieties have proven inadequate for delivering natural resource management (NRM) technologies that are adopted in farmers' fields. Successful INRM requires tools and approaches that can blend the technical with the social, so that people from different disciplines and social backgrounds can effectively work and communicate with each other. This paper develops the 'follow-the-technology' (FTT) approach to catalyzing, managing, and evaluating rural technology change as a framework that both 'hard' and 'soft' scientists can work with. To deal with complexity, INRM needs ways of working that are adaptive and flexible. The FTT approach uses technology as the entry point into a complex situation to determine what is important. In this way, it narrows the research arena to achievable boundaries. The methodology can also be used to catalyze technology change, both within and outside agriculture. The FTT approach can make it possible to channel the innovative potential of local people that is necessary in INRM to 'scale up' from the pilot site to the landscape. The FTT approach is built on an analogy between technology change and Darwinian evolution, specifically between 'learning selection' and natural selection. In learning selection, stakeholders experiment with a new technology and carry out the evolutionary roles of novelty generation, selection, and promulgation. The motivation to participate is a 'plausible promise' made by the R&D team to solve a real farming problem. Case studies are presented from a spectrum of technologies to show that repeated learning selection cycles can result in an improvement in the performance of the plausible promise through adaptation and a sense of ownership by the stakeholders."
Th report contains four parts. Chapter 1 provides a brief overview of the reent evolution of national research systems. Chapters 2 and 3 are the main body of the report. Chapter 2 synthesizes policy issues and good practices for developing national agricultural research systems within an emerging global agricultural research system. While there is growing participation from diverse partners in research funding and execution, the public sector will continue to be central in undertaking research on the emerging challenges of sustainable agricultural intensification, poverty alleviation, and conservation of natural resources. Chapter 3 focuses on the key policy and institutional reforms needed to strengthen these public sector research institutions. The report provides the underlying rationale for selecting good practices and discusses their applicability in specific situations. Chapter 4 discusses implications for the Bank in its ongoing efforts to strengthen national research systems. Bank support for agricultural research will be central to its objectives of alleviating poverty and conserving natural resources. However, agricultural research policy and best practices will continue to evolve in response to the changing roles of the public and private setors, new institutional mechanisms for funding and executing research in the public sector, and changing demands on research systems.
Scitation is the online home of leading journals and conference proceedings from AIP Publishing and AIP Member Societies
The 4d
10
1S0 ground-state transitions to the 4d
9 5p configuration of palladium (Pd) have beer studied. For this purpose, a tunable, single-mode, deep-UV cw laser has been built
to generate the sure frequency of a frequency-doubled Ti:S laser with a second Ti:S laser. The produced wavelengths range
from 244 to 276 nm. From the measured spectra the frequency splitting due to hyperfine structure and isotope shift, the hyperfine
structure A and B constants and the lifetimes of the states have been extracted.
A pilot program of sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam) integrated crop management (ICM)-farmer field schools (FFSs) was implemented in six com- munities in Indonesia, using protocols developed jointly by a team of farmers, researchers, and development workers. Monitoring and evaluation studies showed that participation in the FFS enhanced farmers' crop management knowledge and skills. Several of their changed cultivation practices led to increased net income as a result of reduced cultivation costs and/or in- creased yields. Farmer participation in research was shown to have contributed to the relevancy, appropriateness, and impact of the sweetpotato ICM-FFS protocols.
Getting an innovation adopted is difficult; a common problem is increasing the rate of its diffusion. Diffusion is the communication of an innovation through certain channels over time among members of a social system. It is a communication whose messages are concerned with new ideas; it is a process where participants create and share information to achieve a mutual understanding. Initial chapters of the book discuss the history of diffusion research, some major criticisms of diffusion research, and the meta-research procedures used in the book. This text is the third edition of this well-respected work. The first edition was published in 1962, and the fifth edition in 2003. The book's theoretical framework relies on the concepts of information and uncertainty. Uncertainty is the degree to which alternatives are perceived with respect to an event and the relative probabilities of these alternatives; uncertainty implies a lack of predictability and motivates an individual to seek information. A technological innovation embodies information, thus reducing uncertainty. Information affects uncertainty in a situation where a choice exists among alternatives; information about a technological innovation can be software information or innovation-evaluation information. An innovation is an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or an other unit of adoption; innovation presents an individual or organization with a new alternative(s) or new means of solving problems. Whether new alternatives are superior is not precisely known by problem solvers. Thus people seek new information. Information about new ideas is exchanged through a process of convergence involving interpersonal networks. Thus, diffusion of innovations is a social process that communicates perceived information about a new idea; it produces an alteration in the structure and function of a social system, producing social consequences. Diffusion has four elements: (1) an innovation that is perceived as new, (2) communication channels, (3) time, and (4) a social system (members jointly solving to accomplish a common goal). Diffusion systems can be centralized or decentralized. The innovation-development process has five steps passing from recognition of a need, through R&D, commercialization, diffusions and adoption, to consequences. Time enters the diffusion process in three ways: (1) innovation-decision process, (2) innovativeness, and (3) rate of the innovation's adoption. The innovation-decision process is an information-seeking and information-processing activity that motivates an individual to reduce uncertainty about the (dis)advantages of the innovation. There are five steps in the process: (1) knowledge for an adoption/rejection/implementation decision; (2) persuasion to form an attitude, (3) decision, (4) implementation, and (5) confirmation (reinforcement or rejection). Innovations can also be re-invented (changed or modified) by the user. The innovation-decision period is the time required to pass through the innovation-decision process. Rates of adoption of an innovation depend on (and can be predicted by) how its characteristics are perceived in terms of relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability. The diffusion effect is the increasing, cumulative pressure from interpersonal networks to adopt (or reject) an innovation. Overadoption is an innovation's adoption when experts suggest its rejection. Diffusion networks convey innovation-evaluation information to decrease uncertainty about an idea's use. The heart of the diffusion process is the modeling and imitation by potential adopters of their network partners who have adopted already. Change agents influence innovation decisions in a direction deemed desirable. Opinion leadership is the degree individuals influence others' attitudes
The historical development of program theory evaluation, current variations in theory and practice, and pressing issues are discussed.
This paper offers a conceptualmodel for participatory research projects thataim to improve the sustainability ofagriculture and natural resource management.The purpose of the model is to provide asystematic framework that can guide the designof participatory research projects, theiranalysis, and the documentation of results. Inthe model, conceptual boundaries are drawnbetween research and development, developmentand extension and between extension andimplementation. Objectives, activities, andactors associated with each of these realmsneed to be carefully selected, monitored, andevaluated throughout the course of a projectusing well-designed indicators. The depth ofdisciplinary and methodological integration,and quality of participation needed to reachthe desired impact effectively and efficiently,however, needs to be determined on acase-by-case basis depending on the context andissues surrounding each particular project.
Since its origins in North America in the 1960s, the field of program evaluation has grown considerably, and its concerns
have broadened from accountability to program improvement, decision support, and institutional learning. Program evaluation
is now commonly practiced in governmental organizations not only in North America but also in many countries of Western Europe
and Oceania. Although program evaluation is a relatively new field with many controversies and lively debates, a unifying
body of evaluation theory, methods, and standards is gradually emerging. Evaluation has recently been described as a “transdiscipline,”
as are statistics and measurement.
This article is based largely on my personal experiences working in agricultural research organizations in developing regions.
Here, a number of different types of evaluation are carried out, but program evaluation as defined by Patton (1997) and as
practiced by social scientists to assess public programs is largely unknown. Distinct branches of agricultural research evaluation
can be identified, with disciplinary roots in the natural sciences and in agricultural economics. The most rigorous agricultural
research evaluations are economic studies. Systematic internal evaluation is notably lacking. Current pressures to improve
performance, transparency, and accountability are creating demands for more systematic evaluation, and many program evaluation
concepts and methods would seem to be of value in agricultural research organizations. However, in the current scenario of
declining funding for agricultural research, managers are yet to be convinced to expand their evaluation activities and explore
unfamiliar paradigms and methods. Moreover, they are not yet convinced that social-science-based program evaluation would
produce useful results. Natural scientists and economists tend to view program evaluation as “soft-science” or no science
at all.
This Guide has been written to help project managers and M&E staff improve the quality of M&E in IFAD-supported projects. The Guide focuses on how M&E can support project management and engage project stakeholders in understanding project progress, learning from achievements and problems, and agreeing on how to improve both strategy and operations. The main functions of M&E are: ensuring improvement-oriented critical reflection, learning to maximise the impact of rural development projects, and showing this impact to be accountable. The Guide is meant to improve M&E in IFAD-supported projects, as a study found that most projects have a fairly low standard of M&E. The Guide provides comprehensive advice on how to set up and implement an M&E system, plus background ideas that underpin the suggestions.
In all, a constructivist epistemology leads to a completely different approach that includes the conventional one, but ultimately leads to very different choices. I call this approach “interactive agricultural science”. Box 2 sums up its main features. Interactive agricultural science is internally consistent. Just as the conventional paradigm, it embraces a whole range of mutually related elements at various levels of abstraction, from epistemology to the practical points of departure for rewarding desired scientific work and for training students. The challenge to agricultural science is together to further construct and operationalise this paradigm. That, as I hope to have made clear, is a condition for achieving our new mission: to contribute to a change in direction which saves us from becoming Norsemen in Greenland.
This book details a number of subjects which so far have not been systematically discussed, most importantly the concept of the agricultural information system, in which agricultural research, extension, and farmers are linked to form a dynamic and integrated system. Several chapters take the agricultural information system as their point of departure, including discussions upon the targetting of the system on resource-poor farmers, and other special categories at the macro and micro scales. Another important aspect is the formation of active utiliser constituencies in the system, and the state of the art in this respect is outlined. The final chapter deals with the agricultural information system as a tool for analysis and design of agricultural research, extension, and agricultural knowledge utilisation and examines the concepts of some advanced systems and asks how far extension science has come in using the information systems perspective. The strategic use of agricultural information systems as an instrument for achieving policy goals is emphasised. -from Author
Drawing on results of a survey of Ugandan farmers who previously hosted bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) varietal trials, this paper reports on the adoption of three new bush bean cultivars and assesses the usefulness of post-trial surveys as a methodology for obtaining reliable early feedback on varietal adoption potential. While this case study confirms the validity of post-trial surveys for verifying varietal acceptance and predicting broad trends in varietal adoption, the findings from such studies should be assessed within the context of the complexity of choices farmers make about seed use, which are not solely an expression of their varietal preference, especially among the poorest farmers. The negative implications of adverse agro-environmental conditions for the retention of seed of new varieties and hence, adoption, are clearly highlighted. The study also warns against the pitfalls of making wider inferences from the adoption behaviour of trial farmers, since the experimentation process itself may interfere, positively or negatively, with the adoption process.
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Program Evaluation and Social and Institutional Impact Assessment. Paper presented at ''The Future of Impact Assessment in the CGIAR: needs, Constraints and Opportunities
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Enabling Innovation: a Practical Guide to Understanding and Fostering Techno-logical Change Blending ''hard'' and ''soft'' science: the ''follow-the-technology'' approach to catalyzing and evaluating technology change
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Innovation as a Social Process: What Does this Mean for Impact Assessment in Agricultural Research
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