The question that policymakers and/or decision-makers in the public or even in the private sector and international development institutions keep asking is whether the policies or programs they designed and implemented made the impact they intended to make. In this course, students will learn how to carry out a rigorous impact evaluation of a policy or a program aimed at achieving certain goals or outcomes. The course will provide the students with the opportunity to learn and practice a variety of methodologies enabling them to: understand the key concepts and tools of impact evaluation methods, choose the most appropriate method given the policy or program at hand, and be able to evaluate and interpret the causal impacts of a wide variety of policies and programs.
The first six sessions consist of 2-hour refresher lectures and discussion of the concepts, technics, and examples of the major impact evaluation methods. The next six sessions are dedicated to selected case studies that illustrate real-life cases of policy or program interventions whose impact is assessed using an appropriate impact evaluation method. The case studies are carefully selected to show when and how each of the IE methods is used and how the evaluation results are interpreted and eventually used to adjust /enhance the policy or program intervention. Each case will be thoroughly discussed in the classroom where the students are encouraged to exchange and debate the relevance of the policy intervention, the IE method used by the author, the challenges encountered in the evaluation process, the significance and interpretation of the impact measured, and finally, the implications of the evaluation.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Understanding the importance and types of questions Impact Evaluations (IE) can answer
2. Master and use key concepts and methods of impact evaluations (e.g. counterfactual, causality, treatment and control groups, measuring and interpreting policy impact, etc.)
3. Understanding how to choose an impact evaluation approach/method (RCT/ experimental and quasi-experimental evaluation methods) and how to interpret the results of the evaluation process.
4. Understanding the main challenges in evaluating development policies and programs (data collection, sampling methods, adequate resources) and possible ways to overcome some of the common challenges.
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
1. Capacity to formulate policy questions and interpret policy outcomes;
2. Rational reasoning and critical thinking;
3. Analytical capabilities and proper use of quantitative methods
4. Teamwork and Public communication;