ABSTRACT
In recent years impact assessment (IA) has become an increasingly important aspect of development activity as agencies, and particularly aid donors, have sought to ensure that funds are well spent. IA studies have become increasingly popular with donor agencies and, in consequence, have become an increasingly significant activity for recipient agencies. The modified level of household economic security leads to changes in the morbidity and mortality of household members, in educational and skill levels and in future economic and social opportunities. The intended beneficiary school, building on the ideas of conventional evaluation, seeks to get as far down the impact chain as is feasible and to assess the impact on intended beneficiaries. The desire of MFIs, donors and impact assessors themselves to produce results that will verify findings about impact at high levels of statistical confidence has too often driven the design of IA studies.
