A Transaction Cost-Based Approach to Partnership Performance Evaluation

Denis Jobin

National Crime Prevention Center, Public Safety Canada, Canada, denis_jobin@yahoo.ca, denis.jobin@ps.gc.ca

Partnerships are often considered an alternative way to deliver programs provided by governments and organizations (potentially) more cost effectively. However, this assumption needs to be verified. Evaluators and auditors now face a challenge: how to assess the performance of this hybrid organizational form.This article suggests one powerful way of evaluating partnerships: transaction cost economics (TCE). A key hypothesis of TCE is that partners choose a governance structure that minimizes transaction costs (TCs). If a partnership’s governance structure is misaligned with its transactions, higher TCs will decrease the partnership’s performance. Hence, measuring the partnership’s TCs is essential. After defining what constitutes a partnership, the article introduces the TC framework. It then identifies relevant factors in the literature affecting partnership performance. It concludes with key steps in applying the framework and shows how it fits into partnership performance evaluation.

Key Words: evaluation partnership • performance • transaction cost

Evaluation, Vol. 14, No. 4, 437-465 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1356389008095487

International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) First Annual Conference

Date: 20th/21st October 2009

Venue: Amazon Auditorium, World Forum, The Hague

” In the conference to be opened by Bert Koenders, Dutch Development Minister, participants from donor agencies, partner country governments, and CSOs will come together to explore aid transparency within the broader context of ownership, domestic accountability and mutual accountability. Click here for the draft conference programme. Please contact r-greenhill@dfid.gov.uk for information.

Link to IATI website

US Congress Committee on Financial Services that looked into ‘The World Bank’s Disclosure Policy Review and the Role of Democratic Participatory Processes in Achieving Successful Development Outcomes’.

(from the Pelican email list)

Dear all,

In reaction to the message that I sent to you earlier today, Alnoor Ebrahim sent me a link to a recent hearing of the US Congress Committee on Financial Services that looked into ‘The World Bank’s Disclosure Policy Review and the Role of Democratic Participatory Processes in Achieving Successful Development Outcomes’.

At this hearing, he gave a testimony based on the results of research he did into the reforms and accountability efforts undertaken at the World Bank over the past fifteen years, particularly those in which civil society organizations played a significant role. A PDF of the written testimony is available here:
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/ebrahim.pdf <http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/ebrahim.pdf>

The testimonies of all five witnesses (Joseph Stiglitz, Richard Bissell, Vijaya Ramachandran, Thomas Blanton and Alnoor) as well as a video of the hearing are available on this page:
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/FShr_091009.shtml <http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/FShr_091009.shtml> ,

From: Niels Keijzer/ECDPM


Quality Review consultation ends: 23rd October 2009

The Quality of DFID’s Evaluation Reports and Assurance Systems

Request for comments on reports ( by Roger Riddell, Burt Perrin and Richard Manning) commissioned by IACDI.

As part of its role in monitoring evaluation quality in DFID, IACDI commissioned a review to assess the quality of DFID’s evaluation reports and its assurance systems. The review is now complete and available here on the website in 3 parts. It was undertaken by experts Burt Perrin and Richard Manning, managed by Roger Riddell, a member of IACDI, who has also produced an overview report drawing on and summarising the other two.

The review highlights 11 key recommendations for DFID to improve the quality of evaluation work, and to strengthen DFID’s approach in using evaluation work for lesson learning (see pages iii – vii of Roger Riddell’s report). As part of the review, DFID’s evaluation systems were compared with other donor agencies, and found to be broadly on par with those of comparator bilateral agencies.

IACDI now invites and welcomes comments on the reports – particularly on the overview report by Roger Riddell. IACDI will be discussing the reports at its next meeting on 4th November, and would particularly welcome comments from external stakeholders before then, so that they can be taken into account at its meeting.

Please send comments to mail@iacdi.independent.gov.uk by 23 October 2009.

Postscript (17th November 2009)

On 4th November there was a meeting in London where DFID invited people to comment on the recommendations made by Riddel, Perrin, and Manning. A summary of the issues raised in that meeting is available here. My own feedback, also provided in written form after the meeting, is available here..

Executive education course, “Evaluating Social Programs” in Santiago, Chile

Date: December 15 – 19, 2009
Venue: Santiago, Chile

The Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) will conduct an executive education course, “Evaluating Social Programs” in Santiago, Chile from December 15 – 19, 2009. This five-day course will provide a thorough understanding of randomized evaluations and pragmatic step-by-step training for conducting one’s own evaluation. While the course focuses on randomized evaluations, many of the topics, such as measuring outcomes and dealing with threats to the validity of an evaluation, are relevant for other methodologies.  The program is designed for people from a variety of backgrounds: managers and researchers from international development organizations, foundations, governments and non-governmental organizations from around the world, as well as trained economists looking to retool.For more information, please visit our website.

Please note: The application deadline is November 1, 2009
Continue reading “Executive education course, “Evaluating Social Programs” in Santiago, Chile”

Strengthening humanitarian networks: Applying the network functions approach

Ben Ramalingam, Enrique Mendizabal and Ed Schenkenberg van Mierop April 2008

>This note< offers a simple, flexible and powerful methodology — the network functions approach (NFA) — that can be applied to analyse and strengthen humanitarian and development networks. Based on research undertaken at ODI and elsewhere, the NFA suggests there are six overlapping functions that different networks perform in varying combinations. Through reflection on a network’s current activities and how they relate to each of these functions, the NFA helps those facilitating, acting within or supporting networks to work towards an ‘ideal’ functional mix. The aim is for network strategies to be honed, thinking clarified, activities sharpened and ultimately, humanitarian performance improved.

The NFA is now undergoing a process of review. Rick Davies (manager of www.mande.co.uk) has provided ODI with a 2 page >comment< on the Background Note on the NFA

Training: Evaluation of Humanitarian Action

Date: 9-13 November 2009
Venue: Belgium

Channel Research wish to draw your attention to two forthcoming coming courses in Evaluation of Humanitarian Action, using materials developed in collaboration with ALNAP. These courses will take place in Belgium on the following dates:

9-11 November 2009 (introductory- to intermediate level)

12-13 November 2009 (advanced level)

Full details including application forms can be found by clicking on the above links.

For any further information, please contact Maria Bak on bak@channelresearch.com

Please do not hesitate to forward this information to your network

Maria Bak,

Knowledge Manager, Channel Research , 45 Route des Marnières, 1380 Lasne, Belgium, Tel: +32 2 633 6529, Fax: +32 2 633 3092 , Mobile: +32 (0) 473 12 36 23, Skype: maria_bbak, mail: bak@channelresearch.com, www.channelresearch.com

3ie will award up to $10 million in research grants to improve development effectiveness

Open Window Round 2 – Deadline: 27 November 2009

To enhance development effectiveness and ultimately improve people’s lives in developing countries, the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) has launched a request for proposals (RFP) for quality impact evaluations. This RFP is the second round under 3ie’s Open Window, which accepts proposals for the impact evaluation of social and economic development interventions in low and middle income countries in any sector. 3ie will award up to US$10 million in grants under this round.

Preference will be given to proposals which:

  • evaluate large scale programs that affect many lives,
  • are done in partnership with an agency implementing the development intervention to be evaluated, and
  • involve developing country researchers and/or evaluators in the investigation.

Examples of studies funded under the first Open Window include:

  • the use of mobile phones to help monitor patients’ compliance to Tuberculosis treatment in Karachi;
  • the distribution of cooking oil to compensate for dowry to delay adolescent marriage in remote parts of Bangladesh;
  • early childhood development centres in Mozambique;
  • a community driven development pilot in post-conflict Sierra Leone; and upgrading of slum-houses in Peru.

Download

Read more on detailed guidelines and how to apply at: www.3ieimpact.org/openwindow
Any queries regarding this RFP should be sent to: Arun Virk, Programme Officer at proposals@3ieimpact.org

The International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) works to improve the lives of people in the developing world by supporting the production and use of evidence on what works, when, why and for how much. 3ie is a new initiative that responds to demands for better evidence, and will enhance development effectiveness by promoting better informed policies. 3ie finances high-quality impact evaluations and campaign to inform better program and policy design in developing countries.

Community Radio Performance Assessment System.

[Via ELDIS blog] The Nepali Community Radio Support Centre (CRSC) has launched a new manual entitled Community Radio Performance Assessment System. UNESCO is calling it the “most comprehensive set of indicators concerning community media is the result of a decade-long work of CRSC in promoting, enabling and facilitating the community radio movement in Nepal.”

Like many other developing countries with forbidding landscapes and isolated communities, radio is to be the most effective way of communication in Nepal, where the majority of population lives in villages and the half of it cannot read and write. UNESCO says, “the Nepal experience of community radio is fascinating, inspiring and full of lessons to be learned. But the huge proliferation of community radios there urgently requires well-considered benchmarks and criteria. The new CRSC manual is a major contribution to the development of community media not just in Nepal but more widely in South Asia and internationally.”

Community Radio Performance Assessment System draws from both the grassroots experience of community media and from international broadcast practices. It considers the issues that are the real basis for the success of community media: public accountability, community representation, locally relevant programming, diverse funding and acknowledgement of staff, including volunteers. It covers in details many key success factors, such as participation and ownership, content, management, volunteerism and networking; it can be applied across a wide range of contexts, from policy issues to the assessment of a local station.

CRSC was established by the Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists (NEFEJ) in 2000.

BOND Quality Group meeting: Managing partnerships

Date: 8 October, Time: 13.30 to 17.00
Venue: VSO International, Carlton House, 27A Carlton Drive, Putney SW15 2BS, London, UK

Topic: Managing Partnerships: what does it mean for quality and effectiveness?

Many INGOs operate in partnership with national and local NGOs. The tools we use to manage these relationships have a major effect on everyone involved, and the effectiveness, quality and relevance of our work. This session will offer an opportunity to engage with two initiatives which focus on making these relationships work better.

  • Tracey Martin will present the Barefoot Collective’s approach to supporting organisations to develop their potential to bring about change.
  • Natalia Kiryttopoulou will share Keystone Accountability’s feedback surveys which help organisations understand how partners perceive their work.

These approaches present exciting challenges to the way that we manage performance and measure results with partners. Come along to join the discussion!

This is an open event, for BOND members and others. Please pass this invitation on to others who may be interested.

BOND members can reserve their place online at http://groups.bond.org.uk Click on the ‘Quality Group’ then ‘Meetings’.

Non- members should send an email Ivan Kent at ikent@cafod.org.uk .

Follow the links below to find out more about these presentations:

%d bloggers like this: