Evaluating the integration of strategic priorities within a complex research-for-development funding program. (December 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bleecker, Leah; Sauveplane-Stirling, Victoria; Di Ruggiero, Erica; Sellen, Daniel
• Is Part Of: Evaluation and program planning. Volume 89(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-12
• Subjects: C4D Communication for Development -- CIHR Canadian Institutes of Health Research -- Ecohealth Ecosystems and Human Health -- FEH Food, Environment, and Health Program -- FIAP Feminist International Assistance Policy -- GAC Global Affairs Canada -- IDRC International Development Research Centre -- LMICs low- and middle-income countries -- NCD non-communicable Disease -- NCDP Non-Communicable Disease Prevention Program -- SSB sugar-sweetened beverages -- SSHRC Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council -- VSV-Ebola Vesicular Stomatitis Virus-Ebola; Complexity theory -- Program evaluation -- Research-for-development; Health planning -- Periodicals; Medical care -- Evaluation -- Periodicals; 362.1068
• DOI: 10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2021.102009
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0149-7189

Abstract

Highlights: Lessons learned from evaluating a complex research-for-development funding program. Complexity Theory constructs can be applied to further explain evaluation findings. Evaluations should be participatory, adaptive and assess external contexts. Abstract: This paper examines the application of Complexity Theory constructs to a research-for-development program evaluation and presents an overview of the implications and promising approaches for evaluating complex programs. We discuss lessons learned from an evaluation completed for the International Development Research Centre's Food, Environment and Health (FEH) program, which investigated the integration and outcomes of five strategic program priorities: partnerships, southern leadership, gender and equity, scale, and environmental sustainability. We present interpretations from a secondary, thematic content analysis that categorized evaluation findings across four complexity constructs: emergence, unpredictability, contradiction and self-organization. Viewing the evaluation through these constructs surfaced some important features of the FEH program to date, specifically its evolving approach, adaptiveness to emergent issues, non-linear outcomes, and self-organizing agents, which had several implications for the evaluative process. We conclude that the most appropriate evaluation designs for complex funding programs are participatory (to explore all stakeholders' influence), adaptive (to capture the unexpected) and assess external contexts. The application of complexity constructs may be useful for evaluators to gain a deeper understanding of how program contexts change in the face of complexity and why some evaluation methods work more effectively than others.