When does crowdsourcing work best? New research from the Institute for Human Development provides answers which may be of relevance for aid projects and programmes. There has been a lot written, spoken and blogged about the power of crowds in making decisions. In James Surowiecki‘s bestselling Wisdom of Crowds, published in 2004, the central thesis [...]
Archive for the ‘Evaluation’ Category
When Can Crowds Outperform Aid Experts?
Posted in Biology, Campaigns, Evaluation, Innovation, Knowledge and learning, Natural disasters, Networks, Organisations, Self organisation, Technology on January 3, 2011 | 5 Comments »
The paradox of aid failures
Posted in Accountability, Evaluation, Evolution, Innovation, Knowledge and learning, Organisations, Public Policy on December 13, 2010 | 3 Comments »
One of the recurring themes here on Aid on the Edge of Chaos is that the complexity of real world systems is seldom recognised and acknowledged by international agencies, leading to systemic failures in aid policy and practice. The work of renowned policy analyst Russell Ackoff provides a useful way of unpacking these issues. Drawing [...]
Former USAID Afghanistan Chief looks to Complexity Science
Posted in Accountability, Chaos, Conflict and peace building, Evaluation, Innovation, Institutions, Knowledge and learning, Leadership, Organisations, Public Policy, Strategy on October 5, 2010 | 3 Comments »
The most interesting story this week for anyone interested in complexity and aid issues is the news that Bill Frej, head of the United States Agency for International Development’s mission to Afghanistan from May 2009 until June 2010, will be the first ‘development diplomat in residence’ at the Santa Fe Institute, the leading global think-tank [...]
Towards the Twig-Frame: Update on Complex Adaptive System Conference in Arusha 31st Sept – 3rd September
Posted in Agriculture, Evaluation, Facilitation, Innovation, Institutions, Knowledge and learning, Meetings, Organisations, Resilience, Self organisation, Strategy on September 20, 2010 | 5 Comments »
Two weeks ago we blogged about a fascinating event taking place in Arusha, convened by World Vision, which aimed to explore how complex adaptive systems thinking can be used to transform approaches to rural development. Below is a round-up of the event. Special thanks are due to Miriam Booy of World Vision for both synthesising the material [...]
Compiling evaluation and complexity resources
Posted in Evaluation, Knowledge and learning, Meetings, Reports and Studies on May 17, 2010 | 1 Comment »
For all those interested in or attending the Evaluation Revisited conference this week, here is a very rapid compilation of free-to-download presentations and reports plus details of meetings and websites which may be of interest. Please do add more resources using the comments function below… Presentations: Mokoro Presentations on Monitoring and Evaluating complex development given [...]
Evaluating Complex Development – Presentations and Meeting reports
Posted in Evaluation, Meetings, Reports and Studies on February 9, 2010 | 2 Comments »
October 2009 saw a seminar in Oxford on the topic of evaluation and complexity, the first in 2 such events planned by Mokoro, a development consultancy. Presentations from the seminar are available from the website, which include an excellent overview from Pip Bevan as well as specific examples of complexity-oriented evaluations. As the seminar summary states: [...]
Latest Asian Development Bank ‘Knowledge Solution’ focuses on Complexity and Development
Posted in Evaluation, Knowledge and learning, Public Policy, Reports and Studies, Strategy on November 21, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Olivier Serrat, Head of Knowledge Management at the Asian Development Bank, has just published a short paper on complexity and development, as part of their Knowledge Solutions series. Brief excerpt and link below. Development is a complex, adaptive process but—with exceptions—development work has not been conducted as such… development assistance often follows a linear approach to [...]
Latest Outcome Mapping report highlights central role of complexity sciences in improving aid planning, monitoring and evaluation
Posted in Evaluation, Knowledge and learning, Reports and Studies on November 3, 2009 | 1 Comment »
A recent report from the Outcome Mapping Learning Community highlights that ‘insights from community members have shown that the underlying principles of Outcome Mapping acknowledge and resonate very well with complexity theory.” This is because Outcome Mapping explicitly recognises: that social systems are made up of large numbers of independent agents who interact in interdependent [...]
Complexity Theory and Evaluation: 6th Meeting Report Now Available
Posted in Evaluation, Meetings, Reports and Studies on October 27, 2009 | 4 Comments »
July 2009 saw the sixth in a rolling series of meetings focusing on the value of complexity theory in international development and humanitarian work. The meeting was hosted by Panos and focused on Evaluation practices in the aid sector, and how they need to be improved in the face of complexity. Participants included development practitioners, academics, [...]
International Conference on Evaluating the Complex – 2nd in emergent series on complexity and aid
Posted in Evaluation, Meetings on September 28, 2009 | 3 Comments »
The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) organized an international conference on ‘Evaluating the Complex’ from 29-30 May 2008 in Oslo, Norway. Speakers included Howard White (International Initiative on Impact Evaluation); Patricia Rogers (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology); Michael Q. Patton (Director of Utilization-Focused Evaluation and Former President of the American Evaluation Association), among others. [...]
