Contribution analysis
| Author | Fiona Kotvojs,Bradley Shrimpton |
| DOI | 10.1177/1035719X0700700105 |
| Published date | 01 March 2007 |
| Date | 01 March 2007 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Kotvojs and Shrimpton—Contribution analysis in international development 27
Evaluation Journal of Australasia, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2007, pp. 27–35
REFEREED ARTICLE
Contribution analysis
A new approach to evaluation in
international development
This article examines AusAID’s shift to contribution
analysis and a system of outcome-based monitoring
and evaluating. It looks at the method of contribution
analysis, its implementation in the Fiji Education Sector
Program, an assessment of its use, and the challenges
faced in the application of contribution analysis.
Introduction
Over the past decade pressure has grown on international donors to demonstrate
the effectiveness of publicly funded aid initiatives. Indeed, recent media coverage
of the extensive delays in tsunami reconstruction efforts (Khadem 2006) and IMF
(International Monetary Fund) reports that suggest ‘there is little evidence that
aid boosts growth’ (Colebatch 2005) have led many to question if aid works or
makes a difference at all. In such an environment it is perhaps not surprising that
in Australia, and elsewhere, government and a sceptical public have become less
interested in reports on the effectiveness of program implementation, and the
tallying of outputs, and instead now demand to know about program impact.
However, while international debates on aid effectiveness are increasingly
placing greater emphasis on proving ‘results’ (van den Berg 2005, p. 27), sector
realities make this a far from easy task. Many development assistance projects are
delivered over relatively short time frames, within which donors can often only
measure success in terms of progress towards end outcomes, rather than identify
a causal chain or link between a program and its desired results. Furthermore,
in the event that results are revealed to have occurred, diffi cult questions emerge
regarding the degree to which a funded project can actually lay claim to having
caused outcomes rather than some other program (Mayne 2001) or any number
of societal changes occurring within the same time period.
To address these issues, the Australian Agency for International Development
(AusAID) has looked to new ways to measure the performance of development
assistance programs. In Fiji, an adapted version of ‘contribution analysis’, a
performance measurement approach developed within the Offi ce of the Canadian
Auditor General (Mayne 1999), has been introduced across three recently
implemented programs as a possible way forward. Rather than attempt to
defi nitively link a program’s contribution to desired results, contribution analysis
alternatively seeks to provide plausible evidence that can reduce uncertainty
regarding the ‘difference’ a program is making to observed outcomes (Mayne
2001). Additionally, contribution analysis recognises that it takes time for results
Fiona Kotvojs
Bradley Shrimpton
Fiona Kotvojs was formerly a
Partner with ACIL (now Cardno
Acil) and now works as a freelance
consultant specialising in the design,
management and evaluation of
development assistance projects.
Email: <fi ona.kotvojs@bigpond.com>
Bradley Shrimpton is a Lecturer
with the Centre for Program
Evaluation, at the University
of Melbourne, where he teaches
subjects in qualitative research
methods and program evaluation.
Email: <bshrimpt@unimelb.edu.au>
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