PARENTING FOR LIFELONG HEALTH: PROGRAMME OPTIMISATION AND SCALE-UP

Date : 24 June 2020
Speakers : Dr Jamie M Lachman & Dr Yulia Shenderovich

ABOUT THE LECTURE

Parenting for Lifelong Health (PLH) is a suite of parenting programmes designed to offer parenting support and reduce violence against children in low- and middle-income countries. The PLH programmes have been evaluated in a number of randomised trials in South Africa, Thailand, Philippines, El Salvador, and Lesotho, with positive effects on a number of child, caregiver, and family outcomes. The presentation will focus on two current research projects aimed at increasing our knowledge on the implementation and scale-up of parenting programmes and other family-based interventions in low- and middle-income countries. First, we will present how the RISE study (www.rise-plh-eu) is applying the Multiphase Optimisation Strategy framework (MOST) to optimise PLH for Young Children for scalability by identifying the most effective and cost-effective components related to programme implementation in North Macedonia, Moldova, and Romania. Second, we will discuss how the Scale-Up of Parenting Evaluation Research (SUPER) study is examining the implementation and scale-up of PLH programmes in over 20 countries around the world for more than 400,000 beneficiaries. We will describe the research question and methods we plan to use to explore programme use in routine service delivery. We will also describe how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted these studies and the delivery of PLH programmes, and how we have adapted the content for global dissemination in collaboration with UNICEF, WHO, CDC, USAID, and other partners reaching 32 million families in over 173 countries. The lecture can be viewed by following this link: Click here to view the recording

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Jamie is a research associate at the University of Oxford Department of Social Policy and Intervention and a research fellow at the University of Glasgow MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit. He is also the founder of Clowns Without Borders South Africa and a co-founder of the Parenting for Lifelong Health initiative. He has over 15 years of experience developing, testing, and scaling up family and parenting programmes to reduce violence against children and improve child wellbeing in over 25 low- and middle-income countries for more than 500,000 beneficiaries. He is also a storyteller, banjo-player, songwriter, facilitator, and clown.

Yulia is a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention at the University of Oxford, working on issues of violence affecting young people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), with a focus on implementation and scale-up of violence prevention programmes. Yulia has worked on programme evaluations of parenting and school education programmes in South Africa and the UK.

USING BIG DATA FOR EVALUATING DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES: LESSONS FOR EVALUATION DURING COVID

Date : 10 June 2020
Speakers : Francis Rathinam and Xavier Vollenweider
Discussant: Federica Di Battista

ABOUT THE LECTURE

Significant data gaps remain in monitoring and evaluating development outcomes. Big data—that is digitally generated, passively produced and automatically collected—offer a great potential for answering some of these data needs. The use of big data in evaluation has become ever more relevant after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, which has severely limited the researchers’ opportunity to collect data in the field with traditional methods. In the talk, the authors will present a systematic map highlighting how big data are being innovatively used in measuring and evaluating development outcomes. The authors will also discuss the risks, biases and ethical challenges in using big data. The presentation will offer an opportunity to discuss what tools and technologies are available to conduct evaluation in the time of COVID. Watch the recording here: Link to Recording Francis Rathinam’s slides: Link to Slides Federica Di Battista’s slides: Link to Slides Xavier Vollenwieder’s Slides: Link to slides Please note Xavier’s slides do not include some material shared in the lecture.

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Francis manages 3ie impact evaluations across a wide spectrum of development issues, including transparency and accountability, governance and social protection. He also has been working closely with some of 3ie’s member country governments to build capacity to use and institutionalise impact evaluations. Francis is currently leading on 3ie’s systematic map of studies that used big data to innovatively evaluate development outcomes. Francis holds a PhD from University of Hyderabad, India.

Xavier is an economist with Flowminder and has a background in environmental and development economics. His interest lies in using novel data sources and techniques to characterise poverty dynamics, climate vulnerability and the adoption of mobile financial services. He received his PhD from the London School of Economics. Federika is an Evaluation Advisor at DFID and the Evaluation Unit’s Trialing Lead, where she is responsible for the development and management of new and existing programmes that focus on experimental methodologies to conduct impact evaluation. She worked for several years in Ghana managing a portfolio of impact evaluation research studies, mainly focused on agriculture and rural development, and holds a PhD from Tor Vergata.

TEN STEPS TOWARDS THE CONSTRUCTION OF A MIDDLE-LEVEL THEORY.

Date : 13 May 2020
Speakers : Professor Nancy Cartwright
Location : Virtual via the Collaborate platform

ABOUT THE LECTURE

Middle-level theory has several uses. It can help predict if a programme might be expected to work in a particular setting. It offers insights into what programme design features are needed to help ensure success. It provides invaluable information for monitoring the programme to see if it is on track as time progresses and for fixing some of the problems that arise. It also reveals the causal processes and related assumptions to be tested in an evaluation. This in turn can help in identifying evaluation questions. Finally, the theory can help in interpreting evaluation findings and assessing their relevance and locating a description of them that can be helpful for programme design and evaluation in other settings. This talk will illustrate the construction of a middle-level theory of change to serve these purposes, in 10 steps. Watch the recording here: Link to recording Slides for the lecture: PDF of slides

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Nancy FAcSS is Professor of Philosophy at Durham University and a Distinguished Professor at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). In the first half of her career at Stanford University she specialised in the philosophy of the natural sciences, especially physics; in the second half, at the London School of Economics and now Durham and UCSD, she has specialised in philosophy and methodology of the social sciences with special attention to economics. Her current research focusses on objectivity and evidence, especially for evidence-based policy.

USING EVIDENCE IN POLICY AND PRACTICE – LESSONS FROM AFRICA.

Date : 22 April 2020
Speakers : Ian Goldman, Mine Pabari and Laurenz Langer

ABOUT THE LECTURE

This lecture draws from eight cases studies of evidence use in Africa, to draw out an lessons for promoting evidence use by government. The research is being published in a book available in June. The presentation can be found here: Presentation Slides The recording of the lecture can be found here: Recorded Lecture

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Ian is an Advisor on Evaluation and Evidence Systems, CLEAR Anglophone Africa, and former Deputy Director General in the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, South Africa.

Mine is currently a visiting research fellow with CLEAR Anglophone Africa and the managing partner of Athari Advisory.

Laurenz is a Senior Researcher at the University of Johannesburg’s Africa Centre for Evidence (ACE) specialising in evidence synthesis and its use to inform decision-making.

MEASURING THE ‘HARD TO MEASURE’ IN DEVELOPMENT: ABSTRACT, MULTI-DIMENSIONAL CONCEPTS AND PROCESSES

Date : 04 March 2020
Speakers : Dr Anne Buffardi
Location: London

ABOUT THE LECTURE

Development is a multi-dimensional, imprecise concept. Initiatives that aim to improve development attempt to address entrenched economic and social issues, increasingly through multi-component programmes, involve diverse sets of stakeholders pursuing different, sometimes competing interests, and must adapt to shifting contexts. They operate under conditions of uncertainty and complexity. Each of these factors poses challenges for measurement validity and reliability.  Based on common challenges that arose through development initiatives, we identified four hard-to-measure dimensions of development: abstract, multi-dimensional concepts, processes, and issues; challenging settings where there are unpredictable, sudden, or frequent shifts in the environment; multiple, uncertain pathways of change; and multi-layer implementing structures.  This lecture focuses on the first dimension, discussing construct validity and three examples of multi-faceted concepts: evidence-informed decision-making, youth transitions to adulthood and human rights-based approaches to development.

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Anne is a Senior Research Fellow at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).  Her research examines how different stakeholders engage in different phases of the policy process, including their use of different types of evidence to inform decision-making and development policy and practice.  Anne has worked on multi-component, multi-site initiatives in Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia and emerging economies, predominantly on global health and governance issues.

USING EVIDENCE IN HUMANITARIAN DECISION-MAKING

Date : Wednesday 29 January 2020
Speakers : Sheree Bennett
Location: London

ABOUT THE LECTURE

IRC has made a commitment for 100 percent of its interventions to become evidence-based or evidence-generating in all its programming by 2020. To achieve this, IRC undertook an extensive program of evidence mapping to develop the Outcomes to Evidence Framework (OEF), a tool that clearly defines the outcomes IRC aims to achieve and corresponding pathways or theories of change and synthesizes the evidence for what works to achieve these targeted outcomes. This talk will focus on the OEF and other efforts to increase the use of evidence, the challenges and successes experienced to date and lessons for other agencies wishing to adopt a more evidence-based approach. A live recording can be viewed here: Live Lecture A copy of for the slides can be found here: Presentation Slides

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Sheree Bennett is a Senior Research and Evidence Advisor at The International Rescue Committee (IRC) where she leads the organization’s global strategy to increase the use of evidence strategic and programmatic decision-making. She supports technical and country program teams across the organization to identify, critically appraise and apply evidence in actionable and contextually appropriate ways. This includes making technical shifts or adapting country-level program portfolios based on best available evidence, cost data and contextual considerations. She also supports the development of IRC’s growing research agenda in Europe where she develops academic partnerships and manages research and evaluation of IRC programs in governance, peace-building, economic development, social and political integration. She previously help positions as a Research Advisor for Governance programs and then the Evidence to Action Advisor at the IRC. She has over 12 years of research and evaluation experience with a focus on the politics of service delivery, peace-building and participatory approaches to local development.

TURNING ‘EVIDENCE FOR DEVELOPMENT’ ON ITS HEAD

Date : Wednesday 30th October 2019
Speakers : Ruth Stewart
Location: London

ABOUT THE LECTURE

In an era of decoloniality, post-‘development’, and antipatriarchy, the evidence-based movement in the North is failing to move with the times and as a result is outdated and risks being ineffective. Living and working in the global South, I experience a world in which innovation in evidence-informed decision-making and its related methodologies are necessary, routine and inspirational, and yet they are largely ignored by the global North. Whilst resource-poor, and not well publicised, the evidence community across Africa is world-leading in a number of respects. This lecture is a call to arms for all those who want to ensure that better evidence leads to better decisions and to better futures for those living in resource poor environments. It proposes a new lens through which to view ‘evidence for development’. It celebrates the successes of Southern evidence communities, achieved largely in spite of, and not because of, Northern good intentions. The recording can be watched by going to this link A copy of Ruth’s slides can be found here: Ruth’s Presentation Slides

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Prof Ruth Stewart is Director of the University of Johannesburg’s Africa Centre for Evidence and chairperson of the Africa Evidence Network. Having grown up in Malawi, she has been working in South Africa since 1998. She has a background in social sciences, and has worked across academia and government. Her work includes the production of evidence for decision-makers, as well as supporting civil servants to access and make sense of research.

EVIDENCE FOR ACTION IN NEW SETTINGS: THE IMPORTANCE OF MIDDLE-LEVEL THEORY

Date : Wednesday 5th June 2019
Speakers : Nancy Cartwright
Location: London

ABOUT THE LECTURE

For predicting intervention outcomes in a new setting you need a context-local causal model of what is expected to happen there. A theory of change (ToC) for the intervention is a starting point. ToCs are ‘middle-level theories’: they aim for some, but not universal, general applicability. These are typically ‘arrows-and-variables’ models depicting what steps should occur in sequence but not the interactive factors necessary at each step, nor possible interrupters/defeaters.  For policy prediction these theories need context-local thickening. This requires an understanding of how each step produces the next, which in turn calls for middle-level theory of a different kind:  the middle-level principles (mechanisms) that govern that production. The context-local model allows better prediction of whether an intervention can work there, what it would take for it to do, what side effects might be and whether all this is affordable and acceptable in the context. The lecture can be viewed at this link and a copy of the slides can be downloaded by clicking on this link

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Nancy FAcSS is Professor of Philosophy at Durham University and a Distinguished Professor at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). In the first half of her career at Stanford University she specialised in the philosophy of the natural sciences, especially physics; in the second half, at the London School of Economics and now Durham and UCSD, she has specialised in philosophy and methodology of the social sciences with special attention to economics. Her current research focusses on objectivity and evidence, especially for evidence-based policy.

LEARNING AND ADAPTING IN DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE

Date : Wednesday 15th May
Speakers : Patrick Ward
Location: London

ABOUT THE LECTURE

The growth of the global evidence base has provided opportunities to accelerate development through the systematic sharing of evidence of ‘what works’. Context matters however, and the implementation of development programmes requires the ability to learn from and respond to successes and failures on a short time scale and in the face of limited data. This lecture will explore factors influencing the extent to which development programmes are able to adapt in the light of evidence and learning. It will draw from the practical experience of monitoring and evaluating development programmes and supporting government statistics across a range of sectors in developing countries. To watch the livestream, please click on this link To see the slides, please click on this link

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Patrick is CEDIL Programme Director and has overall responsibility for the delivery of the programme, working closely with the Research Director as a member of the CEDIL Directorate. Patrick Ward is Director of Oxford Policy Management’s Statistics, Evidence and Accountability programme. He has more than 20 years’ experience in leading work in the monitoring and evaluation of development for both donor-financed programmes and government systems, particularly in the social sectors.

USING RCTS TO EVALUATE SOCIAL INTERVENTIONS: HAVE WE GOT IT RIGHT?

Date : Wednesday 27th March 2019
Speakers : Professor Charlotte Watts
Location: London

ABOUT THE LECTURE

Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) provide the gold standard method to obtain evidence of intervention impact. Historically, the approach was developed to assess the impact of clinical interventions. Increasingly however, RCTs – both individual and cluster – are being used to assess a broad range of behavioural and social interventions. Although some argue that using randomised designs are not appropriate for evaluating social and community based interventions, we disagree. Whilst there may be challenges (as there often are with clinical interventions), randomisation and the use of control populations should always be considered, as this gives the most robust measure of effect size. But this doesn’t mean that we have everything right. Drawing upon examples from intervention research on HIV, as part of the STRIVE research programme, and on violence against women, as part of the LSHTM Gender, Violence and Health Centre, the presentation will discuss whether it is appropriate to apply all of the standards and ‘rules’, without consideration of the potential implications for the feasibility, forms and applicability of evidence generated. To watch the livestream, please click on this link

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Charlotte is Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Department of International Development (DFID).  In this role she is Director of the Research and Evidence Division and Head of the Science and Engineering Profession for DFID. She is currently seconded to DFID from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where she is Professor of Social and Mathematical Epidemiology, and where she she founded the Social and Mathematical Epidemiology Group

EVIDENCE STANDARDS AND JUSTIFIABLE EVIDENCE CLAIMS

Date : Wednesday 6th February 2019
Speakers : Professor David Gough
Location: London

ABOUT THE LECTURE

In developing findings and conclusions from their studies, researchers are making ‘evidence claims’. We therefore need to consider what criteria are used to make and justify such claims. This presentation will consider the use of evidence standards to make evidence claims in relation to primary research, reviews of research (making statements about the nature of an evidence base), and guidance and recommendation informed by research. The aim is to go beyond testing the trustworthiness (quality appraisal) of individual studies to discuss the ways in which evidence standards are used to make evidence claims to inform decisions in policy, practice, and personal decision making. The live audio and slide show recoding can be found by following this link: Live recording of lecture. Please note that recording started early, so please fast forward to 17 minutes. The slides can be downloaded here: Slide show

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

David is Professor of Evidence Informed Policy and Practice and the Director of the EPPI-Centre in the Social Science Research Unit (SSRU) at UCL. His early research was on child welfare at the University of Glasgow and at Japan Women’s University. Since moving to SSRU in 1998, his work has focused on methods of systematic mapping and synthesis and  ‘research on research use’. Recent work include the Wellcome Trust funded ‘Science of Using Science’ and the ESRC funded ‘UK What Works Centres: Aims, Methods and Contexts’. He is lead editor of Introduction to Systematic Reviews (2nd Edition) and Systematic Reviews and Research, both Sage Publications.

TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO EVALUATOR HAS GONE BEFORE: THE CEDIL EVALUATION AGENDA

Date : Wednesday 12th December 2018
Speakers : Dr Edoardo Masset
Location: London

ABOUT THE LECTURE

In this lecture I will introduce the newly established Centre of Excellence on Development Impact and Learning (CEDIL). CEDIL was established by the UK Department for International Development to develop new evaluation methods and to commission evaluation and synthesis studies in neglected areas of international development. Over its inception phase CEDIL identified key methodological evaluation challenges to address and priority thematic areas. The talk will illustrate CEDIL’s ambitious evaluation agenda over the next 5 years, and will be followed by Q&A and discussion. The Lecture will be available to view live at the link below. Live Recording

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Before joining CEDIL, Edoardo was Deputy Director and head of the London office of the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, which he joined after working for seven years as a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. Edoardo is an agricultural and development economist with extensive experience conducting impact evaluations, researching development interventions and consulting for a variety of institutions, including the World Bank. Edoardo also has experience of research synthesis work through a number of systematic reviews on a wide range of topics such as nutrition, health insurance and cost-effectiveness. His core research interests include rural development, child nutrition, poverty and inequality, and the analysis of household surveys.

UNCERTAINTY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES IN SOCIAL POLICY EVALUATION AND EVIDENCE-BASED DECISION MAKING

Date : Wednesday 31st October 2018
Speakers : Doctor Matthew Jukes
Location: London

ABOUT THE LECTURE

The methodologies of RCTs and systematic reviews imply a high level of rigor in evidence-based decision-making. When these standards are not met, how should decision-makers act? When a clear body of evidence is not available, there is a risk that action is delayed or that action is taken without optimal use of the existing evidence. This paper addresses the following question: what level of certainty is required for which kinds of decisions? We argue that decisions should be based on considerations of both the uncertainty and the consequences of all possible outcomes. We present a framework for making decisions on partial evidence that has implications for the generation of evidence too. More systematic analysis of uncertainty and its consequences can improve approaches to decision-making and to the generation of evidence. Watch the lecture here  Download the lecture slides here LIDC podcast on Innovative approaches to evaluation and evidence synthesis Please also see his blog post on this topic by following the link here

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Matthew is a Fellow and Senior Education Evaluation Specialist at RTI International.  He has two decades of academic and professional experience in evaluating education projects and is contributing to projects in Malawi and Tanzania aimed at improving the quality of pre-primary and primary education in those countries.  He has also applied his research to work with the World Bank, UNAIDS, UNESCO, USAID and  Save the Children.

DEVELOPMENT IMPACT ATTRIBUTION: MENTAL MODELS AND METHODS IN ‘MIXED MARRIAGE’ EVALUATIONS

Date : Wednesday 18th July 2018
Speakers : Professor James Copestake
Location: London

ABOUT THE LECTURE

The marriage metaphor will be used to explore collaboration that spans academic traditions and disciplines, researchers and managers, public and private sector agencies.  The idea of mental models will be used to explore the ontological, epistemological, contractual and socio-political tensions created by formalised evaluative practice.  It will focus particularly on experience with mixing qualitative impact evaluation with other approaches to generating evidence, and learning and legitimising public action.  It will draw on case studies from the garment industry, medical training, housing micro-finance and agriculture spanning three continents. Watch the recorded lecture here

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Prof Copestake is a professor of international development at the University of Bath.  In addition to recent work on the Qualitative Impact Protocol, his recent research has addressed contested perceptions of well-being in Peru, financial inclusion and micro-finance in India.  He has also researched the relationship between social policy and development studies, and the use of challenge funds in aid management.

THE FOUR WAVES OF THE EVIDENCE REVOLUTION: PROGRESS AND CHALLENGES IN EVIDENCE-BASED POLICY AND PRACTICE

Date : Wednesday 11th April 2018
Speakers : Doctor Howard White
Location: London

ABOUT THE LECTURE

The evidence movement has rolled out in four waves since the 1990s : the results agenda, the rise of RCTs, systematic reviews, and developing an evidence architecture.  This revolution is uneven across sectors and countries and is an unfinished revolution.  Drawing on experiences from around the world, this talk will provide a historical overview of the evidence movement and the challenges it faces.  Response from these challenges will be considered, including those offered by the work of CEDIL. Watch the recorded lecture here

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Dr White is the CEO of the Campbell Collaboration and the Research Director for CEDIL and this presentation is based on work undertaken as part of CEDIL.