Long Term Perspectives in Evaluation Increasing Relevance and Utility

Long Term Perspectives in Evaluation is the first book to advocate the virtues of a long-term perspective for policy evaluation as well as to show how evaluations can take a longer time perspective than they usually do. To get there, it is necessary to understand the decision-making context of evaluations and study the obstacles and the resistance toward long-term perspectives – as knowledge of that will lay the ground for more effective advocacy. The book is divided into three parts: the first section examines different aspects of methodology and methods. In the next section, authors present case studies of long-term evaluations, examine their own experiences of such evaluations and discuss difficulties, challenges and lessons learned. Cases discussed include: education sector reforms in Sweden, local governance reforms in Denmark, policy interventions in Southern Italy and Brazil, and Paris Declaration Principles of aid effectiveness such as Swedish aid to Tanzania, Vietnam, Laos and Sri Lanka. Finally, the third section sees theauthors turn to a set of contextual issues and concluding remarks. Bringing together a rich collection of insights and a renowned group of experts, Long Term Perspectives in Evaluation: Increasing Relevance and Utility, constitutes a significant landmark in the field.

1. Introduction Kim Forss and Ida Lindkvist 2. Historians’ Debates on Time and the Nature of Historical Research Charlotta Forss 3. Counting the Long-Term in Evaluation Jens Andersson 4. Contribution Analysis and the Long-Term Perspective: Challenges and Opportunities John Mayne 5. Using a Wide Lens to Take a Long view: How Integrating Systems Thinking into Evaluations Can Assist in Taking a Long-term Perspective Andrew Koleros 6. Reforms of Local Governments in Denmark Olaf Rieper 7. Reform Takes Time, but Politics won’t Wait – The Scope for Long-term Evaluation in the Education Sector Rolf Sandahl and Gustav Jakob Petersson 8. Looking from a Local Place to Take the Long View in Evaluation Laura Tagle 9. Complex Development Aid Evaluations: The Aid Quality Evaluation Framework Mark McGillivray and David Carpenter 10. Why Take a Long View? How Formal and Informal Rules Influence the Choice of Time Perspectives in International Development Evaluations Alison Pollard and Ida Lindkvist 11. Long-term Causal Inference Markus Palenberg 12. From Measuring Impact to Understanding Change Kim Forss 13. Concluding Remarks on Evaluating the Long-term: It Works but Can be Made to Work Better! Ida Lindkvist, Kim Forssand Mark McGillivray

Kim Forss holds a PhD from the Stockholm School of Economics. His research has concerned comparative studies of evaluation, the design of inquiring systems and organizational learning, utilization of results, as well as process use of evaluation. He works as an independent researcher out of his firm Andante - tools for thinking AB. Ida Lindkvist is Senior Advisor at the Evaluation Department in the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad). She holds a PhD in economics from the University of Bergen and her research interest includes the political economy of evaluation and the practice of results based management and results-based financing in aid. Mark McGillivray is Research Professor of International Development at Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University, Australia. His previous positions include Chief Economist of the Australian Agency for International Development and Deputy Director of the United Nations World Institute for Development Economics Research. Mark’s research interests include aid effectiveness and allocation and complex international development evaluations.