Taking the Long View in Evaluating International Development Assistance

Taking the Long View in Evaluating International Development Assistance

R. Gregory Michaels, Chemonics International
Alphonse Bigirimana, Chemonics International

Evaluation 2010
American Evaluation Association Annual Conference
November, 2010

Abstract

Program evaluations addressing the sustainability of international development assistance have not adequately informed understanding of development effectiveness (the focus, for example, of the Evaluation Network of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee (OECD DAC)). Program evaluations are typically limited to the specific project life span, missing possibilities of evaluating projects well after closure. In contrast, appraising project results several years after the project intervention ends offers a robust standard for evaluating sustainability — what actually worked and what did not in the long run. Ex post project sustainability investigations offer an untapped mine of information.

This paper presents the methodologies, findings, and lessons learned from two case studies of assessments examining the sustainability of USAID-funded project results several years after closure. The first case study reports on two retrospective assessments of USAID efforts to promote agricultural exports from Central America (1986-1995). The second case study reports on an assessment of the performance of a Moroccan wastewater treatment facility constructed in 2000. These case studies illustrate the power of ex-post sustainability appraisals to offer valuable insights into the durability of development.

I. Introduction

Recent debate in the evaluation of international development assistance emphasizes the importance of analytical rigor in drawing conclusions drawn about what works and what does not. Two approaches provide decision makers with evidence about project effectiveness: impact evaluation and process evaluation. Potential contributions and

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