Since the use of NH₄CI – the standard agent for short duration acid loading – may be hazardous in patients with hepatic disease, the acute renal response to another acidifying agent, orally administered CaCl₂ (2 mEq/kg body weight), was compared to that obtained with NH₄CI (1.9 mEq/kg body weight) in normal subjects during a 5- to 6-hour test. Urine pH decreased in all subjects to less than 5.20, and there were no significant differences in the maximal renal responses to either agent. Both in terms of acidification of the blood and as a stimulus to lowering of urine pH and excretion of acid, CaCl₂ can adequately replace NH₄CI as an acidifying agent in a short duration test and can be used in clinical settings in which NH₄CI is contraindicated.

This study explores the use of Participatory Narrative Inquiry (PNI) in evaluating development interventions by contributing to the debate of using participatory narrative methods. Stories on personal experience are used to evaluate the project’s effects as with similar methods such as Most Significant Change and Sensemaking. To the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the early applications of PNI to the evaluation of international development programmes. The study discusses advantages and limitations, and provides a scholarly reflection based on an application of PNI in the evaluation of gender and women’s empowerment in Niger. The study concludes that PNI is a powerful alternative to existing qualitative and participatory narrative evaluation methods. Within mixed-method approaches, PNI allows for greater inclusion of project beneficiaries in the evaluation process, while helping to elaborate a thorough theory of change, understand the complexity of the context, identify and assess outcome pathways, and provide an evidence-based evaluation.

The Climate Change Sub-programme (CCSP) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has four components: Adaptation, Mitigation, REDDþ and Science and Outreach. It cuts across all UNEP divisions located in Nairobi and Paris, and relies a lot on partnerships to drive its work and scale up its impact. The CCSP evaluation conducted by the UNEP Evaluation Office over the period 2013-2014, aimed at assessing the relevance and overall performance of the CCSP between 2008 and 2013. The complexity, geographical spread and rather weak results framework of the CCSP, coupled to rather limited evaluation resources and a shortage of evaluative evidence, required the Evaluation Office to develop an innovative analytical framework and data collection approach for this evaluation. It combined three areas of focus (strategic relevance, sub-programme performance and factors affecting performance), five interlinked units of analysis (UNEP corporate, sub-programme, country, component and project level), a Theory of Change approach and an appropriate combination of data collection tools. This chapter discusses the overall evaluation approach and process, followed by a summary of lessons learned which could be useful for future similar exercises.