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evaluate it and not least learn lessons from experience so as to develop the support further. Moreover, the
knowledge that does exist about institutions and institutional change within research, in particular within
the New Institutional Economics, does not appear to be made use of within Sida. Sida thereby runs the
risk of missing important developments in social-science research and a potentially useful perspective.
Given the increasingly strategic character of support for institutional development combined with the
difficulty of the task, getting access to and making use of knowledge about how to successfully support
such processes of change is critical.
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Purpose and Overall Evaluation Questions
Against this background, and according to Sida’s Evaluation Plan 2004,
utv, in the second half of the
year, launched an evaluation theme on supporting institutional development. The
major purpose of evalu-
ating Sida support for institutional development is to extract knowledge and draw lessons from Sida’s
experience from supporting institutional development in partner countries. The preliminary overall evalua-
tion question is: to what extent, how and why has Sida as an external agency managed to effectively support
institutional development, particularly processes of institutional change in order to promote sustainable
development and poverty reduction in partner countries, given the embedded and complex character of
such change? By highlighting the role of institutions and introducing an institutional perspective, a second
purpose is to contribute to an increased understanding of a) the role of institutions for poverty reduction
and sustainable development and thereby for all Sida-supported activities, and b) the character of proc-
esses of institutional change and the roles that donors play in promoting these. Hence, a second preliminary
overall evaluation question is: to what extent, how and why has the outcome of Swedish support been affected
by the extent to which and how institutional factors have been understood, considered and addressed?
Both purposes serve the overall aim of contributing to making Swedish development co-operation more
effective in promoting sustainable development and poverty reduction. The evaluation theme aspires to
perform a learning function, first of all for Sida staff at all levels, but also for any partners involved. It
hopes to contribute to individual learning, through reflection, dialogue and increasing understanding, but
also to organisational learning, by transforming individual insights into the development of methodo-
logical tools, policy and practice of Sida support for institutional development. The evaluation process
shall be designed to promote this end.
Sida (2004)
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Initial Phase and Present Paper
Before the overall evaluation questions can be addressed, we need to orient ourselves about the theory
and practice of support for institutional development. What do we, for instance, mean by institutions and
institutional development? And what does Sida’s support for institutional development actually look like?
What do we already know from past experience of support for institutional development and processes
of institutional change? And what specific questions and areas of support would be most interesting to
explore?
As a first step, an orientation and overview (o&o) phase was initiated in 2004. Its purpose is to a) introduce
institutional concepts and perspectives to Sida staff, b) paint a picture of Sida’s existing support for insti-
tutional development, c) summarise already documented lessons based on Sida’s experience from such
support, d) initiate reflection and dialogue around the evaluation theme and e) identify knowledge needs
and central evaluation issues. The o&o phase serves both as a pre-study phase, preparing a more solid
ground for the future evaluations within the theme, and as a learning phase with merits of its own. It will
be completed in 2005 and is conducted in close co-operation with Sida’s operative departments and the
embassies. A number of potential evaluation ideas will be identified towards the end of the phase and a
first evaluation initiated in late 2005.
The activities during the o&o phase are outlined in a separate project plan,
8
and include the production
of a number of documents. The so-called Conceptual Paper, the second paper in the present publication,
introduces basic concepts and elements of a conceptual framework and serves as a point of reference for
the o&o phase as well as for subsequent evaluations. The present so-called Thematic Paper motivates and
introduces the evaluation theme and serves as a starting point for dialogue with and among Sida staff and
others on issues related to supporting institutional development. In its two final sections, it therefore first
suggests different ways in which an institutional perspective may be useful for donors, and thereafter puts
forward some tentative evaluation issues and topics.
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See the Brief Revised Orientation & Overview Phase Plan.