ABSTRACT

Long Term Perspectives in Evaluation is the first book to advocate the virtues of a long-term perspective for policy evaluation as well as to show how evaluations can take a longer time perspective than they usually do. To get there, it is necessary to understand the decision-making context of evaluations and study the obstacles and the resistance toward long-term perspectives – as knowledge of that will lay the ground for more effective advocacy.

The book is divided into three parts: the first section examines different aspects of methodology and methods. In the next section, authors present case studies of long-term evaluations, examine their own experiences of such evaluations and discuss difficulties, challenges and lessons learned. Cases discussed include: education sector reforms in Sweden, local governance reforms in Denmark, policy interventions in Southern Italy and Brazil, and Paris Declaration Principles of aid effectiveness such as Swedish aid to Tanzania, Vietnam, Laos and Sri Lanka. Finally, the third section sees the authors turn to a set of contextual issues and concluding remarks. 

Bringing together a rich collection of insights and a renowned group of experts, Long Term Perspectives in Evaluation: Increasing Relevance and Utility, constitutes a significant landmark in the field.

chapter 1|14 pages

Introduction

chapter 4|23 pages

Contribution Analysis and the Long-term Perspective

Challenges and Opportunities

chapter 5|19 pages

Using a Wide Lens to Take a Long View

How Integrating Systems Thinking into Evaluations Can Assist in Taking a Long-term Perspective

chapter 7|17 pages

Reform Takes Time, but Politics Won’t Wait

The Scope for Long-term Evaluation in the Education Sector

chapter 9|17 pages

Complex Development Aid Evaluations

The Aid Quality Evaluation Framework

chapter 10|20 pages

Why Take a Long View?

How Formal and Informal Rules Influence the Choice of Time Perspectives in International Development Evaluations

chapter 11|12 pages

Long-term Causal Inference

chapter 13|14 pages

Concluding Remarks on Evaluating the Long Term

It Works but Can be Made to Work Better!