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Achieving societal effects is crucial for transdisciplinary research. In this article, we present key characteristics of impact evaluation of transdisciplinary research. We compare different approaches in sustainability, public health, and development research to advance joint learning and define common challenges.To address complex societal problems, transdisciplinary approaches are increasingly being employed in research to achieve both scientific and societal effects. Comparing experiences of different impact evaluation approaches enables mutual learning across research fields. We provide an overview of the key characteristics of different approaches to assess the impact of transdisciplinary research across the fields of public health, development, and sustainability; uncover commonalities and challenges in applying these approaches; and suggest how they can be overcome by drawing on examples from specific approaches and fields. We find commonalities in terms of conceptual framing as well as data collection and analysis from which we derive the following key challenges:1. evidencing causal claims, 2. including multiple perspectives on effects, and 3. sustaining continuous monitoring and evaluation. We conclude that impact evaluation of transdisciplinary research must capture the interplay and effects of multiple actors, processes, and impact pathways to promote learning and empirical rigour and suggest how funders can support this endeavour.

This study conducts a randomised control trial to offer a technical workshop and examine whether providing information about the full range of services on the mobile money platform would increase mobile money usage, by taking a case of the Ashanti Region, Ghana. We find a significant positive impact of mobile money education on the recent usage of mobile money for transactions. However, no significant evidence of the workshop was found on new mobile money account ownership, or on the share of transactions transmitted through mobile money. Furthermore, weak and volatile outcomes were observed as impacts on remittances after the interventions. We discuss potential reasons behind the weak effects found.

IntroductionIce cleats may help prevent ice-related falls in places with icy roads, but there is limited evidence about the association between ice cleat distribution and ice cleat use. Our study examined the association between Swedish municipal distribution programmes and ice cleat use among older adults (65+ years).MethodsWe combined data on municipal ice cleat distribution programmes (n=63) with repeated cross-sectional self-reports of ice cleat use in Sweden from 2007, 2010, 2014 and 2018. Respondents (n=63 234) were classified as exposed if they lived in a municipality with a programme, belonged to an eligible age group and responded after distribution (n=2507). Dose-response was assessed using distributed ice cleat pairs per capita (mean: 0.38). Linear probability models were used to estimate probability differences in ice cleat use between exposed and unexposed respondents, adjusting for age, sex, country of birth, education, survey wave and municipality. Ineligible age groups living in programme municipalities, who should be unaffected by ice cleat distribution, were used for bias assessment.ResultsExposure to ice cleat distribution programmes was associated with 7.5 percentage points (95% CI 4.2 to 10.9) higher self-reported ice cleat use after confounding adjustment. The association was larger in municipalities that distributed one pair of ice cleats per capita (17.3 percentage points (95% CI 11.2 to 23.4)). No association was found among the ineligible age groups (−2.3 (95% CI −5.5 to 1.0)).ConclusionDistributing ice cleats to older adults may help increase their use of ice cleats in settings with icy road conditions.

This paper presents the Community Impact model, which provides a systematic evaluation of a programme or intervention and, consistent with Community Psychology methodologies, proposes new perspectives in selecting strategic tools to support systems, organisations and communities in order to activate a positive process of change. This contribution provides a state of the art in impact evaluation by means of a review of studies on empowerment evaluation, systemic approach, human rights impact evaluation and collective impact, and illustrates the success factors for achieving suitable policies and for promoting stakeholders' involvement in all stages of an intervention. Based on existing literature, a first prototype of the model was drawn up and tested in three case studies in European countries. Subsequently, the Community Impact (CI) evaluation model was defined. This paper presents its theoretical and operational aspects, which comprise six steps that are strictly connected to one another and pertain to: forming accountable groups and leadership, transferring knowledge, transforming “bad data” into useful data, providing added value to interventions, and increasing local partnerships in order to create a more effective narrative regarding the implemented process and its outcomes.

In recent years, a range of new indices, benchmarking and scorecard tools—also known as ‘indicators’—have been developed to influence public policy and to promote accountability. While subjected to important technical and political critiques, the policy impact of ‘indicators’ is often assumed yet rarely demonstrated. Suitable evaluative methods are in their infancy. This article adopts an innovative process tracing analysis to assess the policy impact of the Hunger And Nutrition Commitment Index (HANCI) in Bangladesh, Malawi, Nepal, Zambia and globally. We present a rare and empirically rich application of this systematic qualitative evaluative method. We further contribute to the theorisation of ‘indicators’ by positing a central role for equitable producer–user relations in mediating policy impact, and demonstrate that such relations can overcome significant political critiques on ‘indicators’.

In recent years, for the first time in Italy, impact evaluation has been requested as a standard for social projects implemented by public–private partnerships and, more specifically, a condition for them to be financed through the national educational poverty reduction program. This article presents and discusses the Developmental Outcome Monitoring and Evaluation (DOME) model, a mixed and participatory method for the impact assessment of complex and innovative educational poverty reduction programs.

Federal agencies have taken steps to include the public in a wide range of environmental decisions. Although some form of public participation is often required by law, agencies usually have broad discretion about the extent of that involvement. Approaches vary widely, from holding public information-gathering meetings to forming advisory groups to actively including citizens in making and implementing decisions. Proponents of public participation argue that those who must live with the outcome of an environmental decision should have some influence on it. Critics maintain that public participation slows decision making and can lower its quality by including people unfamiliar with the science involved. This book concludes that, when done correctly, public participation improves the quality of federal agencies' decisions about the environment. Well-managed public involvement also increases the legitimacy of decisions in the eyes of those affected by them, which makes it more likely that the decisions will be implemented effectively. This book recommends that agencies recognize public participation as valuable to their objectives, not just as a formality required by the law. It details principles and approaches agencies can use to successfully involve the public.

Illegal land-use change inside protected areas (PAs) in the global south is common. Yet little is known about whether PAs disproportionately discourage conversion of forests to capital-intensive land uses (CILUs) like coffee and oil palm-an important consideration because CILUs likely have outsized adverse ecological and political-economic effects. We use remotely sensed fine-scale data on tree cover loss and land use along with quasi-experimental statistical methods that control for confounding factors to identify the effect of PAs on CILUs in Honduras, where rates of deforestation both inside and outside PAs are among the highest in the world. We find that PAs do have disproportionate effects on the conversion of forestland to CILUs: on average, they reduce by more than two-thirds the probability that forestland will be converted to a CILU versus traditional agriculture or pasture. Land characteristics moderate this effect. Social media abstract. Protected areas disproportionately discourage conversion of forests to capital-intensive land uses.

We carry out a cluster-randomized trial among 1,578 children from 979 households in rural El Salvador to test the impacts of TOMS shoe donations on children’s time allocation, school attendance, health, self-esteem, and aid dependency. Results indicate high levels of usage and approval of the shoes by children in the treatment group, and time diaries show modest evidence that the donated shoes allocated children’s time toward outdoor activities. Difference-in-difference and ANCOVA estimates find generally insignificant impacts on overall health, foot health, and self-esteem but small positive impacts on school attendance for boys. Children receiving the shoes were significantly more likely to state that outsiders should provide for the needs of their family. Thus, in a context where most children already own at least one pair of shoes, the overall impact of the shoe donation program appears to be negligible, illustrating the importance of more careful targeting of in-kind donation programs.

The global nutrition community is currently putting significant efforts into supporting parliamentary advocacy, aiming to bring nutrition higher up on political agendas in low-income countries with high burdens of malnutrition. Evaluating the effects of parliamentary advocacy is fraught with methodological challenges and case studies are scarce. This article adopts a contribution analysis and process tracing procedure to evaluate whether parliamentary advocacy influenced political party manifestos in Tanzania in the run up to the 2015 general election. We present a rare and empirically rich application of this systematic qualitative evaluative method. We find that configurations of activities, actors and outputs can be plausibly understood to have had a contributory role in achieving increased attention to nutrition in the party manifesto of the election winner. We further identify key risks and assumptions that mediated parliamentary advocacy and development evaluators’ ability to evaluate its outcomes, including: targeting; timing; circulation; intelligibility; power; elites; resources; and political space.