Value chains, partnerships and development: Using case studies to refine programme theories

Vellema, Sietze; Ton, Giel; Roo, Nina de; Wijk, Jeroen van

doi:10.1177/1356389013493841

Cited by 48 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(36 reference statements)

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“…Following Van Dijk and Trienekens (2012) and Vellema et al (2013), we position the interactions among actors in the partnerships at the crossroads of the ''vertical'' value chain and the ''horizontal'' network. The vertical dimension refers to the value chain the farmers are participating in which relates to supply and demand issues and to the market the farmers are part of.…”

Section: Governance Challenges: a Diagnostic Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Governance challenges of cocoa partnership projects in Indonesia: seeking synergy in multi-stakeholder arrangements for sustainable agriculture

Wijaya

Glasbergen

Leroy

et al. 2016

Environ Dev Sustain

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This paper investigates multi-stakeholder arrangements initiated by businesses and NGOs from the North that aim to enhance a more sustainable agricultural production at specific localities in Southern countries. We aim to better understand the search for concerted action in multi-actor arrangements. Therefore, this paper presents a diagnostic framework with three strategic challenges the partnership projects are facing: linking global economic objectives to local needs, values and interests; bridging public and private interests and responsibilities; and seeking trade-offs between social, environmental and economic values. Starting from the partnerships' Theory of Change, this diagnostic framework is applied to comparative case studies of partnership projects in the cocoa sector in Indonesia, which are part of a Northern-based public-private partnership to improve farmers' prospective. It is concluded that the economic reality faced by the farmers differs from that of the Northern actors; collaboration with governments is difficult because of different organizational cultures; and the partnership projects underestimate the strength of vested social relations the smallholders are part of. Overall, the initiators of the partnerships seem to work with a too restricted economic interpretation of the local reality.

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Section: Governance Challenges: a Diagnostic Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Governance challenges of cocoa partnership projects in Indonesia: seeking synergy in multi-stakeholder arrangements for sustainable agriculture

Wijaya

Glasbergen

Leroy

et al. 2016

Environ Dev Sustain

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Further, we aim to verify the contribution of these intermediate outcomes to business performance (ultimate outcomes) and development impact. This entails a combined use of the realist notion of verifying and refining programme theories (Pawson and Tilley 1997;Rogers 2009;Vellema et al 2013) and a mix of methods to collect evidence that bolsters the 'contribution story' (Mayne 2001(Mayne , 2012. Data collection in an impact evaluation along the lines of contribution analysis uses multiple strands of evidence to verify, support or challenge the key assumptions in the intervention logic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Triviality of Measuring Ultimate Outcomes: Acknowledging the Span of Direct Influence

Ton

Vellema

2014

IDS Bulletin

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Sustainability standards and certification schemes have been promoted as a market-driven instrument for realising development impacts and receive public funding. As a result, companies, NGOs and supporting donors and governments want to know if these ambitions have been fulfilled. Their tendency is to commission household surveys to assess net effects of certification in areas such as poverty, productivity and food security. This article argues that, rather than trying to measure precise net effects on farmer income, the focus should be on detailed measurement of more immediate outcomes in terms of knowledge and implementation of good agricultural practices. Contribution analysis is proposed as an overall approach to verify the theory of change, combining survey-based net-effect measurement of these immediate and intermediate outcomes with less precise, lean monitoring of indicators to verify the contributory role of these outcomes that are outside the span of direct influence, such as household income and poverty alleviation.

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“…Finally, Complexity-Sensitive ToCs facilitate the aggregation of evaluation results into a broader base of programme knowledge (Weiss 1995). Putting ToCs to the test of practical application has been called causal process tracing (Vellema et al 2013). It allows researchers to refine programme theory through a comparative case analysis of partnerships that uses the same type of intervention to reach a common objective.…”

Section: Matching Theories Of Change With the Transformative Capacitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Capturing Collaborative Challenges: Designing Complexity-Sensitive Theories of Change for Cross-Sector Partnerships

Tulder

Keen²

2018

J Bus Ethics

155

121

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Systems change requires complex interventions. Cross-sector partnerships (CSPs) face the daunting task of addressing complex societal problems by aligning different backgrounds, values, ideas and resources. A major challenge for CSPs is how to link the type of partnership to the intervention needed to drive change. Intervention strategies are thereby increasingly based on Theories of Change (ToCs). Applying ToCs is often a donor requirement, but it also reflects the ambition of a partnership to enhance its transformative potential. The current use of ToCs in partnering efforts varies greatly. There is a tendency for a linear and relatively simple use of ToCs that does limited justice to the complexity of the problems partnerships aim to address. Since partnership dynamics are already complex and challenging themselves, confusion and disagreement over the appropriate application of ToCs is likely to hamper rather than enhance the transformative potential of partnerships. We develop a complexity alignment framework and a diagnostic tool that enables partnerships to better appreciate the complexity of the context in which they operate, allowing them to adjust their learning strategy. This paper applies recent insights into how to deal with complexity from both the evaluation and theory of change fields to studies investigating the transformative capacity of partnerships. This can (1) serve as a check to define the challenges of partnering projects and (2) can help delineate the societal sources and layers of complexity that cross-sector partnerships deal with such as failure, insufficient responsibility taking and collective action problems at four phases of partnering.

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Value chains, partnerships and development: Using case studies to refine programme theories

Cited by 48 publications

References 29 publications

Governance challenges of cocoa partnership projects in Indonesia: seeking synergy in multi-stakeholder arrangements for sustainable agriculture

Governance challenges of cocoa partnership projects in Indonesia: seeking synergy in multi-stakeholder arrangements for sustainable agriculture

The Triviality of Measuring Ultimate Outcomes: Acknowledging the Span of Direct Influence

Capturing Collaborative Challenges: Designing Complexity-Sensitive Theories of Change for Cross-Sector Partnerships

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