Engaging with Institutions: Clarifying Goals and Developing Theories of Change

Summary

EBA working papers are shorter studies that investigate a question of limited scope or that complements a regular EBA study. Working papers are not subject to a formal decision from the expert group but instead reviewed by the secretariat before publication. The authors are, as with other EBA publications, responsible for the content of the report and its conclusions.

At the end of 2020, the Swedish Agency for Public Management (Statskontoret) and the Swedish National Financial Management Authority (ESV) undertook a review of the government’s governance of Sida, and of the agency’s internal efficiency and management procedures. One of the recommendations was that Sida should develop its work with theories of change (ToC) on a strategic level to strengthen learning and the application of experience, evaluation and evidence in the implementation of the government’s strategies. To contribute to this work, the Expert Group for Aid Studies (EBA) decided to produce an anthology with texts that shed light on ToCs from different perspectives.

This working paper is one of the contributions to the forthcoming anthology. The author, Adam Pain, explores ToCs for a common type of intervention in Swedish development cooperation, support to institutions and institutional change. He builds the text on two recent evaluations of Swedish and international aid to Afghanistan and Swedish bilateral research cooperation. While very different in scope, size and context, the two cases both illustrate how donors engage with institutions. And
through both cases Adam provides us with ample lessons learned, breaking down the explicit ToCs that guided two cases. The analysis focuses on the importance of understanding context, leadership and social agency when engaging with institutions.

EBA hopes that this text will contribute to the overall conversation on the theory and practice of ToCs in general as well as the hands-on development of ToCs for institutional change. With that said, the text also raises a number of questions for development practitioners on the importance of deep local and contextual understanding that might challenge current organisational setups withing Sida and other donors.