How Can Development NGOs Be Evaluated?

Arbeitspapier

In the past decade there has been a remarkable surge of interest in using impact evaluation to establish the effectiveness of development interventions. The conventional evaluation methods used by development consultants typically rely on simplistic before-after or with-without comparisons. Impact evaluation, by contrast, involves comparing actual outcomes with a formal counterfactual. Any differences between the two can be attributed to the intervention if, and only if, the counterfactual is credible. A conventional before-after comparison fails this test since the "before" situation is obviously not a credible counterfactual: outcomes could have changed over time for reasons unrelated to the intervention.Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are usually considered the preferred design for impact evaluation, but there are also regression-based techniques such as regression discontinuity designs and regressions in first differences (double differencing).

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: FERDI Working Paper ; No. p51

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Nonprofit Institutions; NGOs; Social Entrepreneurship

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Gunning, Jan Willem
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Fondation pour les études et recherches sur le développement international (FERDI)
• (where): Clermont-Ferrand
• (when): 2012

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/269332
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET