Institutional Assessment: A framework for strengthening organizational capacity for IDRCs research partners

This study was conceived while I was a research assistant in the Department of Development Economics at the University of Heidelberg. The atmosphere there stimulated my interest in the increasing importance of the instimtional dimension of development administration. Since the smdy consists of both theoretical and empirical data, a large number of very different people have helped me to successfully complete the project. For the theoretical parts and the overall framework I am indebted to my advisor Prof. Bruno Knall, Dr. Hans Christoph Rieger, and my colleague Karl Ludwig Brockmann of the Department of Development Economics. I also want to express my gratimde to Bernhard Warkentin, Micheline Beaudry-Somcynsky, Dr. Kraft, Prof. Seifert, Prof. Rifkin, Prof. Liesegang, and Prof. Kieser, who offered useful advice on the overall framework of the smdy. For the empirical parts, I am also indebted to a large number of people in many different organizations. In particular may I express my gratimde to Mr. Kano and Mr. Sasaki of nCA. With their kind assistance I could stay two times as a visiting researcher in nCA and could survey several projects in Thailand. I am greatly indebted to the nCA office and the project personnel there. The frank comments about their activities was a very useful source of information.

The second edition of the Impact Evaluation in Practice handbook is a comprehensive and accessible introduction to impact evaluation for policy makers and development practitioners. First published in 2011, it has been used widely across the development and academic communities. The book incorporates real-world examples to present practical guidelines for designing and implementing impact evaluations. Readers will gain an understanding of impact evaluations and the best ways to use them to design evidence-based policies and programs. The updated version covers the newest techniques for evaluating programs and includes state-of-the-art implementation advice, as well as an expanded set of examples and case studies that draw on recent development challenges. It also includes new material on research ethics and partnerships to conduct impact evaluation. The handbook is divided into four sections: Part One discusses what to evaluate and why; Part Two presents the main impact evaluation methods; Part Three addresses how to manage impact evaluations; Part Four reviews impact evaluation sampling and data collection. Case studies illustrate different applications of impact evaluations. The book links to complementary instructional material available online, including an applied case as well as questions and answers. The updated second edition will be a valuable resource for the international development community, universities, and policy makers looking to build better evidence around what works in development.