M&E Rountable: What can we learn from evaluations? Exploring the generalizability of evaluation findings

This M&E Roundtable webinar organised by CLEAR/JPAL South Asia highlights the theoretical and practical considerations of applying evaluation lessons in different contexts. Over the last few years, there has been much discussion on the ‘external validity’ or generalizability of evaluation findings. As part of the broader push for ‘evidence based policy making’, researchers and evaluation specialists are now, more than ever, looking to make precise and causal claims about the impact of development programs. Thus while much rigour has been applied to isolating the causal impact of development projects, not enough attention has been paid to whether and how evaluation results can be generalized across contexts. What factors do we need to consider when designing new interventions based on evaluation results from another setting?