Designing Programmes and Interventions for Impact from the Outset

About

Our world has changed drastically the past few years. Multiple complex problems ranging from health, economic, social, environmental, and political crises have become the order of the day. Humanitarian crises, far from subsiding, are affecting larger populations. As a result, resources have become even more scarce and access to funding has become highly competitive for researchers and program managers. Funders, governments, communities, and workers alike, increasingly want to see evidence that a research/program or intervention is worth its while. Impact evaluation is defined as the generation of evidence to demonstrate that changes observed in an outcome are attributable to the intervention/program/service. If not planned prospectively at project/ research design, impact becomes difficult to ascertain and becomes more vulnerable to bias. Confronted by the need to do so, researchers and program managers scramble to produce evidence, leading to black-box evaluations. Such evaluations lack the methodological robustness to determine the extent to which observed changes in the outcome are attributed to the intervention/research and fail to report potential harms.

To date, most impact evaluations have been limited to experimental or quasi-experimental designs. But not all phenomena can be studied through these designs. Most research and programs are observational in nature. How can the impact of such studies be demonstrated? In our view, there will always be counterfactuals.

This course aims to provide participants students, practitioners, and researchers from all over the world (high-,middle-, and low-income countries) with knowledge, key principles, and seven central tenets of an impact evaluation framework that enables them to design programmes and interventions for impact from the outset. Participants will learn how to embed impact aware methods into their research/ intervention at the design stage. The course will utilize participatory and empowering approaches like appreciative and reflective inquiry to engage with the participants. The course will create opportunities for the participants to think through and embed the seven central tenets into their research/ projects from the outset.‍

7 Central Tenets of the Framework:
- Project or intervention theory of change and knowledge theory informed by best available evidence (Evidence synthesis)
- Deciding on the outcomes of interest to assess effects
- Involvement of beneficiaries in co-design, monitoring and evaluation
- Deciding on what quantitative and qualitative methodology to use
- Midline evaluation of outcome of interest to assess effects
- Endline evaluation of outcomes of interest to assess effects
- Validation/co-creation

Course leader

Dr. Janet Michel (Swiss TPH) & Dr. Xavier Bosch-Capblanch (University of Basel)

Target group

Practitioners, researchers, and graduate students

Course aim

By the end of the course, participants will:
- Have a basic understanding of key concepts and central tenets of the impact framework;
- Be able to define and distinguish between research and program/intervention impact;
- Be able to describe key questions in Impact Evaluation;
- Be able to apply and embed the 7 central tenets of the impact evaluation framework into their own research/ program;
- Be able to critically appraise how researchers and program managers respond to impact demands;
- List the advantages of embedding Impact-aware methods in research or interventions, including impact as an accountability and sustainability tool.

Fee info

Discounts are available for LMICs, PhD/Master Students, and members of partner institutions (USI, SUPSI, SWISS TPH, and SSPH+). To know more about the fees, what is included, and available discounts, please contact us at our email (info@ssph-lugano-summerschool.ch) or visit our website