The Politics of Evidence and Results in International Development : Playing the game to change the rules?

Understanding and demonstrating the effectiveness of efforts to improve the lives of those living in poverty is an essential part of international development practice.

But who decides what counts as good or credible evidence?

Can the drive to measure results do justice to and promote transformational change - change that challenges the power relations that produce and reproduce inequality, injustice and the non-fulfilment of human rights?

The Politics of Evidence in International Development provides a critical examination of the results agenda, with practical strategies for rendering it more helpful in supporting transformative development.

The book deconstructs the origins and concepts of the results and evidence agendas employed in international development.

It describes with concrete examples the current effects and consequences of the agenda, and goes on to outline a range of strategies used by individuals and organizations to resist, adapt or comply with the useful and problematic demands for results-oriented measurement and evidence of value for money.

It provides specific case studies that illustrate the politics of evidence in terms of data demands, their effects, and how people and organizations have responded.

Finally it discusses strategies for making the results agenda more supportive of transformational development. This book will inspire those working on international development policy, research and particularly implementation to consider concrete ways to use the results agenda for more transformational change.