Using theory to understand how policy change happens: Insights from agricultural research for development

Boru Douthwaite, Claudio Proietti (), Vivian Polar and Graham Thiele
Additional contact information
Boru Douthwaite: CGIAR - Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research [CGIAR]
Claudio Proietti: Cirad-Dgdrs-Dims - Cirad-Dgdrs-Direction de l'impact et du Marketing de la Science - Cirad-Dgdrs - Direction Générale Déléguée à la Recherche et à la Stratégie - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement
Vivian Polar: CIP - Centre international de la pomme de terre
Graham Thiele: CIP - Centre international de la pomme de terre

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Abstract: Influencing policy is an important scaling mechanism. However, if a program is to plausibly claim that it has or can influence policy, it needs to explain how. This is not straightforward because of the complex nature of policy change. Scholars suggest the use of theory to help answer the 'how' question. In this article, we show how, in practice, a middle-range policy change theory—Kingdon's Policy Window theory—helped us model the workings of four outcome trajectories that produced agricultural policy outcomes in four cases. By providing a common framework, the middle-range theory helped accumulate learning from one evaluation to the next, generating specific and generalizable insights in the process. Accumulation learning in this way can help organizations become more convincing in the proposals they write to donors, more accountable and better able to identify and deliver on their goals.

Keywords: recherche agricole pour le développement; théorie du changement; Theory of change; Evaluation; Policy change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05179970v1
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Published in Research Evaluation, 2023, 32 (2), pp.200-212. ⟨10.1093/reseval/rvac038⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05179970

DOI: 10.1093/reseval/rvac038

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