This Independent Impact Evaluation aims to measure the impact of Tilitonse, formerly the Civil Society Governance Fund, in Malawi.
Tilitonse (formerly the Civil Society Governance Fund) is a £12.5 million grant-making facility that aims to enable civil society to better engage with national and local government to promote greater accountability for its citizens.
The main outputs of Tilitonse are that civil society becomes better able to promote transparent and accountable governance; with citizens supported to improve social inclusion, to hold service providers to account for performance, and with civil society organisations themselves becoming more capable and accountable.
The fund is supported by DFID, the European Union, Irish Aid and the Norwegian Embassy, and runs for four years from 2011 to 2015.
The Independent Impact Evaluation Agent (IIEA) is a parallel contract that aims to:
- measure the impact of the Fund as a whole
- to evaluate and document the outcomes of specific projects/grantees supported by Tilitonse
- to assess the appropriateness of its support mechanisms.
The IIEA also plays a knowledge management and capacity supporting role, sharing best practice with partners and helping to keep Tilitonse focused on the delivery of results.
This is a challenging area for impact evaluation as the anticipated ‘impacts’ are likely to require a shift in power relations (between citizens, government, and other interested groups), and are likely to be transformative over a longer period of time. For many projects it is also challenging to devise control groups, especially where networking and coalition building activities are actively seeking contamination.
The impact evaluation uses a theory-based approach, drawing on evidence from a combination of survey work (secondary datasets, plus primary data collection) and individual case studies. A form of contribution analysis is being used to weigh-up the evidence base and likelihood of causality, while for some specific interventions, the possibility of using a randomised control trial (RCT) is being scoped.
The IIEA is led by ITAD, with Dr. Edoardo Masset and Dr. Jennifer Leavy from IDS supporting the methodological approach and the scoping of the RCT(s).
Key contacts
