Overview
Assessing impacts and progress against development objectives means evaluating much more than agricultural yields or gross margins per hectare. We need new approaches that are fit for purpose to evaluate the multiple and complex benefit streams that modern agricultural research for development seeks to catalyse.
In commissioning this impact evaluation, ACIAR and the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) designed a process that would enable us to jointly review identify, develop and apply impact assessment approaches that explore multiple impacts of complex agricultural research for development investments, including economic, social, environmental, policy and capacity impacts.
The evaluation, published as An integrated approach to ex-post impact assessment, ACIAR Impact Assessment Report No. 102, has 2 parts. Part 1 provides a framework to guide an integrated approach to ex-post impact assessment. It includes insights and lessons from the process of collaboratively developing this framework and in trialling such an approach.
Part 2 provides an example of how the framework was applied to Landcare projects in the Philippines. This section details the experiences of the University of the Philippines, Los Baños and Visayas State University in implementing the integrated approach to impact assessment outlined in Part 1. Part 2 also includes reflections and implications from the Philippines team, based on their experiences implementing the approach.
