Thinking it Through: Using Diagrams in Impact Assessment. An overview and set of six diagram tools for use at all stages of impact assessment.Diagrams provide a universal language based on logical structures and relationships. Diagram tools have a key role to play at many different stages and levels of impact assessment. They have the potential to considerably increase the usefulness and reliability of information and contribution to empowerment and capacity-building. The six diagram tools can be applied at all levels of impact assessment:Grassroots learning - diagrams allow people with low levels of literacy to contribute to discussions and have their ideas documented in a way which they can also understand. Program level and researchers - diagrams provide a useful shorthand for thinking through and documenting complex ideas which are difficult to capture in conventional note taking.Policy makers - diagrams provide an effective means of representing and communicating findings of research and assessment and focus for discussion of policy responses.Each tool describes, with illustrations, the particular diagram, appropriate applications of that diagram, and how to use in practice.Guide to tools:Overview of diagram types and general guidelines for addressing issues of analysis, quantification, participation and documentation. Practical suggestions on ways of using the different diagram tools for enterprise development impact assessment at different levels.Diagram Tool 1: Webs, Networks and Flow Diagrams - variants of diagrams which examine interrelationships elements.Diagram Tool 2: Trees - a simplified type of network useful for bringing together information about peoples’ visions, problems and livelihoods and different possible solutions.Diagram Tool 3: Road Journeys - very useful for bringing together information about peoples’ perceptions or actual experience of change and development interventions.Diagram Tool 4: Diamonds - to investigate extent and criteria of social differentiation within communities and/or groups.Diagram Tool 5: Venn Diagrams - show the relationships between different elements or institutions represented as overlapping circles of different sizes and forms.Diagram Tool 6: Maps - show the geographical locations, topographical or conceptual relationships between things like households, resources, markets.These tools have been developed by Linda Mayoux, a consultant at WISE Development Ltd, for the Enterprise Development Impact Assessment Information Service Tool Box.

P. K. Aiyasamy, Neal Bliven, Barbara Harriss, John Harriss, Mauricio Jaramillo, Per Pinstrup-Andersen, V. Rajagopalan, and Sudhir Wanmali, Edited by Peter B.R. Hazell and C. Ramasamy, 286 pages / 199, Published for IFPRI by Johns Hopkins University PressTHE "GREEN REVOLUTION"—a term used for rapid increases in wheat and rice yields in developing countries brought about by improved varieties combined with the expanded use of fertilizers and other chemical inputs—has had an important impact on incomes and food supplies in many developing countries. It has also spawned a lively controversy over its impact on the poor, with some critics claiming that inequality, and perhaps even absolute poverty, has increased in rural areas as a consequence of the green revolution. Given the importance of future rounds of yield-increasing technologies for fostering economic development and feeding growing populations in most developing countries, it is imperative that the economic and social forces released by these technologies be better understood so that they can be harnessed to achieve the twin goals of growth and equity. To this end, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) embarked, in the early 1980s, on a series of in-depth case studies of the impact of technological change in agriculture. This study of the North Arcot district in South India is the first in that series, and it was undertaken in close collaboration with the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) at Coimbatore. A companion study has also been undertaken in the Eastern Province of Zambia. A unique feature of these studies lies in the emphasis given to the growth linkage effects of agricultural growth on the rural nonfarm economy. Inspired by the earlier work of John Mellor and associates at Cornell University, it was hypothesized that the rural poor may obtain significant indirect benefits from agricultural growth because of increases in income-earning opportunities that arise in the local nonfarm economy. Moreover, this potential has not been adequately addressed in previous studies of the green revolution.

Enterprise Development Impact Assessment Information Service (EDIAIS): The goal of EDIAIS is increased contribution of Enterprise Development (ED) to poverty elimination through equitable and sustainable growth. The purpose of the service is to provide a central resource that can advise regional and country-based Enterprise Development Advisers (EDAs) on 'good practice,' design and methods of impact assessment (IA). In this context EDIAIS will aim to provide information and expertise in enterprise development impact assessment to DFID and the wider development community.Activities include:Enterprise Development Impact Assessment Information Service (EDIAIS): The goal of EDIAIS is increased contribution of Enterprise Development (ED) to poverty elimination through equitable and sustainable growth. The purpose of the service is to provide a central resource that can advise regional and country-based Enterprise Development Advisers (EDAs) on 'good practice,' design and methods of impact assessment (IA). In this context EDIAIS will aim to provide information and expertise in enterprise development impact assessment to DFID and the wider development community.Activities include:1. Management of a web site providing information on integrated impact assessment design and methodologies.2. Production of written material for dissemination on the key issues in ED impact assessment.3. Management of studies on key areas of ED policy4. Advice for enterprise advisers in London and in the country offices on development of IA strategies and assessing impact of specific projects.5. Provision of a communication network with other specialists, donors and southern organisations.

The Collaborative, Participatory, and Empowerment Evaluation group is part of the American Evaluation Association. This is a page of resources for our colleagues, ranging from online survey software to self-help manuals.