ABSTRACT
A key aspect of the Dutch Energy Transition Program (ETP), and transition management in general, is that although its aims are explicitly long-term and large-scale, doing transition management relies heavily on situated learning by small networks of frontrunners in the here and now. Systematic monitoring and evaluation of ongoing transition dynamics and management are therefore essential activities for transition management and transition studies. This chapter describes monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of the ETP with the developmental purpose of improving the program, rather than for accountability purposes or impact evaluation. Transition monitoring challenges transition scholars and change agents to work together at a very concrete level. In the process, they put transition theories to the test of empirical management relevance and transition programs to the test of scientific and external scrutiny. From a scientific perspective, this monitoring can contribute to making transition studies more empirically grounded, well-defined and explanatory (Genus and Coles, 2008; Holtz, Brugnach et al., 2008; Konrad, Truffer et al., 2008) and show if and in what ways transition management in practice is actually effective, innovative, reflexive and legitimate (Grin, Felix et al., 2004; Voss, Bauknecht et al., 2006; Rotmans and Kemp, 2008; Shove and Walker, 2008). It also functions as a boundary object in the ongoing social learning and agenda setting between transition management in research and practice.
