Overcoming Evaluation and Learning Challenges for Social and Behavioral Science-Based Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance Programs

Abstract Information: The increasing use of social and behavioral science (SBS) to inform democracy, human rights, and governance (DRG) development programs presents challenges for program evaluation and learning. Commonly used methodologies and resources typically allocated for performance monitoring in the DRG field constrain the measurement and evaluation of change in behaviors and behavioral influencing factors (i.e., attitudes, norms, and values) central to SBS-based theories of change. These challenges are compounded by the complex range of structural-, social-, and individual- level factors influencing intended DRG behavioral outcomes (e.g., citizen participation in elections and constituency outreach by public officials). While more rigorous impact evaluations, such as randomized controlled trials (RCTs), can capture changes in behaviors and related factors that SBS-based programs seek to influence, monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) staff and evaluators often do not have the theoretical perspectives, methodological skills, or other resources to identify such changes in internal formative evaluations and routine learning activities. Further, methodologies from the social and behavioral sciences are often inconsistent with local epistemologies in the diverse cultural contexts where DRG programs operate, making it difficult to amplify diverse local voices in evaluation and learning for SBS-based DRG programs. As a leader in the integration of SBS in the DRG field, Democracy International (DI) proposes a Think Tank session to grapple with challenges associated with evaluating and learning from SBS-based DRG programs. During the session, members of DI’s Social and Behavioral Science & Learning Team will present on these challenges and facilitate large and small group working sessions to brainstorm solutions.