Impact Pathway Analysis
A Monitoring, evaluation, reporting and learning approach
Agricultural development is an immensely complex process with a high degree of non-linearity. However, many monitoring and evaluation systems do not facilitate this complexity. At the same time, agricultural development projects implement technical activities with the intention that this leads to changes in skills, sharing of knowledge, use of information accessed, more confidence to try new techniques and inspire farmers to join together to advantage in input supply arrangements and market sales returns. However, change in practice is more than a technical capability: it is also human and social response and decision about changes in practice have many influences of which one influence is a project’s activity.
An impact pathway analysis approaches monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment by predicting and evaluating how project outcomes can lead to social, economic and environmental change whilst considering the agricultural development complexity and recognizing the human and social response and decision about changes in practice. It is a conceptual plan that articulates the rationale behind a project: what are understood to be the cause-and-effect relationships between inputs, activities, outputs, intermediate outcomes and ‘end of project’ outcomes, focusing on changes in practice.
An impact pathway analysis outlines the rationale that underpins a project’s outcomes and provides a clear simple platform for monitoring, evaluation, reporting and learning (MERL). It gives a clear view of the logical most important steps to achieving the end of project outcome. Impact pathways take a backward view and show which changes occur by the project. This is different than a than a log-frame, which is an operational planning tool and looks forward.
There are two main reasons for developing and using an IP for project implementation:
- Evaluate or clarify the logic of the project or program or strategy especially with partners, often when the project or program is in development or re-development, and;
- Provide the basis for a plan for learning and improving through monitoring, evaluation and reporting on the performance of a project, program or strategy, i.e. promote learning and provide a framework for ‘action–research’ on processes of change to achieve the planned ‘end of project’ outcomes.
In a participatory approach, the IP is formulated and reviewed by project implementers and key stakeholders in a workshop.
In sum, an impact pathway analysis outlines the rationale that underpins a project’s outcomes and provides a clear simple platform for monitoring, evaluation, reporting and learning (MERL). The rationale allows to monitor agricultural complexity and change in practice. This rationale is discussed and agreed upon by project implementers and stakeholders through participatory workshops. The IP then provides guidance and direction and fences during project implementation.
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- Theory of Change Development: The project team develops an impact pathway with logical steps of getting started, inputs and research activities, outputs, intermediate outcomes and end of project outcomes. Outputs and intermediate outcomes of the Impact Pathway need to logically contribute to the ‘end of project’ outcomes. Performance questions and indicators are defined based on the impact pathway steps mixed with appropriate monitoring methods. The impact pathway is reviewed annually in a participatory process with the project team.
- Research Activities: Behavioral, social, economic and environmental changes are monitored in a longitudinal approach to measure the effects of the proposed investments on smallholder participation, inclusiveness, farmer income, decision making, infrastructure maintenance, effectiveness of institutions, and conflict resolution.
Major monitoring methods include:
- An initial situation analysis for each case study site to understand and characterize current conditions for each scheme, and progressively understand similarities and differences between the schemes with a focus on what is working best. All relevant stakeholders are included in participatory surveys, with appropriate qualitative and quantitative analysis of opportunities and challenges.
- Key informant interviews are conducted using an appreciative inquiry technique with appropriate groups of participants.
- Continuous evidences (such as photo’s, videos and quotes, diaries) showing farmers’ changes are collected during implementation and linked to the intermediate outcome.
- Additional sources such as reports, participation lists, field trip reports, evaluations of project activity participants, focus groups.
- A longitudinal assessment of changes can be achieved through these approaches with purposeful samples of stakeholders surveyed longitudinally throughout the project.
- All research and monitoring data are sex and age disaggregated.
- Participatory Action Research / Adaptive management: Reporting and learning activities support project managers to evolve approaches and activities throughout the project, through engagement with project participants. The impact pathway guides assessment of progress towards research and project outputs and ‘end of project’ outcomes.
Using the impact pathway and monitoring plan, the project is able to learn and actively adapt to improve the pathways to impact and the likelihood of achieving the project’s outputs and outcome.
