Measurement & Evaluation
Don’t Feed the Zombies
When funders aren’t accountable for impact, it ruins the party for everyone.
Kevin Starr directs the Mulago Foundation and the Rainer Arnhold Fellows Program.
When funders aren’t accountable for impact, it ruins the party for everyone.
Four steps to impact at a scale that really matters.
A wave of big-bet grants has left some funders asking whether recipient organizations still “need” their money. That’s always the wrong question.
Scale is a verb, not a noun: The trajectory and curve of impact are more important than the numbers.
Systems change is more a destination than a journey. "Scalable solutions" might be a better way to make the trip.
For all the glowing press that unconditional cash transfers (UCT) have gotten, cash is still a long way from living up to the hype and transforming the development sector.
The systematic scale-up of social entrepreneurs’ solutions by Big International NGOs (BINGOs) is simply not a thing. Why not?
Your awesome model doesn’t get to serious scale unless others replicate it, too. Here’s how to make it happen.
Daunting social problems need scalable solutions. Here’s how to know if you’ve got one.
We’re in big trouble if complicated, expensive schemes like these are what it takes to get big funders to fund for impact.
If we’re serious about solving problems, marginal businesses won’t do.
Fund primary health care. Everywhere. Now.
Don’t indulge. It can drain the joy right out of the work.
It’s hard to be a government minister in a country where resources are scarce. Don’t make it worse.
How stuff that doesn’t work can screw up stuff that does.
We need to double down on the gritty business of impact. Here’s how.
If you treat funders like prey, they'll probably run.
Liberia’s leaders are trying to jump-start their schools. Give them a break.
Even in the world of poverty and development, seduction sometimes works out OK.
Growth and scale aren't the same thing. Here's what you need to know if you're serious about getting to scale.
Greg Mortenson and Three Cups of Getting Away With It.
A simple way to think about investment and design.
The limits of technocratic, one-size-fits-all approaches to economic development have become all too evident.
Bringing a discussion of cash transfers in for a landing.
We are mistaking an important experiment for a proven solution.
You’ll never get what’s going on out there by sitting in here.
How one group of funders gets the most for the poverty-fighting buck.
Contests, challenges, awards—they do more harm than good. Let’s get rid of them.
The word from the trenches on how funders can make life easier for everyone.
“Good enough” = simple enough to do, but rigorous enough to mean something.
There needs to be more scrutiny around the use of the LifeStraw water filter and more debate about the validity of its carbon for water deal.
Unrestricted money makes an organization work smoothly, enables innovation, and provides fuel for growth.
Carbon for Water is engaged in a loopy funding scheme and offers a lousy public health solution.
More Than Good Intentions: How a New Economics Is Helping to Solve Global Poverty by Dean Karlan & Jacob Appel
By and large, the Central Asia Institute's supporters went for a feel-good story, didn’t do their homework, and didn’t ask the right questions with the Three Cups of Tea dust up.
It comes down to this: We’re all operating in a dysfunctional market for impact.