Thinking systemically: Seeing from simple to complex in impact evaluation

This slide show is from a presentation given by Professor Patricia Rogers, Dr. Irene Guijt and Bob Williams at the AfREA Conference, March 30 – April 2, 2009,  Cairo, Egypt. The presentation focuses on a using a systems approach to conducting impact evaluations. 

Excerpt

"Systems approaches can be useful in addressing many of the tasks in impact evaluation - negotiating the focus of the evaluation, conceptualising the intervention and how it and other factors might contribute to the impacts, describing, measuring and valuing actual impacts, reporting and supporting use of findings. In particular they are useful in helping evaluators to ask, and answer, better questions – and questions are at the heart of impact evaluation. However many people are only familiar with one of these techniques - causal loop diagrams. This session provides an overview of a range of systems approaches, including soft systems critical systems heuristics, and complex adaptive systems, and how these can be applied to address evaluation questions that are highly relevant to impact evaluation in developing countries." (Rogers, Guijt and Williams, 2009)

Sources

Rogers, P., Guijt, I., and Williams, B., (2009). Thinking systemically: Seeing from simple to complex in impact evaluation. AfREA Conference, March 30 – April 2, 2009,  Cairo, Egypt. 

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