Substantiating cause and effect is one of the great conundrums for those aiming to have a social impact, be they an NGO, social impact investment fund, or multinational corporation. All face the same quandary: how do you know whether, or how, you contributed to an observed social change? A wide range of impact evaluation methodologies exist to address this need, ranging from informal feedback loops to highly elaborate surveys. But generating useful and credible information in a timely and cost-effective way remains an elusive goal, particularly for organizations working in complex, rapidly evolving and diverse contexts.

Attributing Development Impact brings together responses to this challenge using an innovative impact evaluation approach called the Qualitative Impact Protocol (QuIP). This is a transparent, flexible and relatively simple set of guidelines for collecting, analysing and sharing feedback from intended beneficiaries about significant drivers of change in their lives. Innovative features include the use of ‘blindfolded’ interviewing to mitigate pro-project bias, and the application of a flexible coding system to make analysis and reporting faster and more transparent.

The QuIP has now been used in seven countries (Ethiopia, India, Malawi, Mexico, Tanzania, Uganda and UK) with activities to promote food security, rural livelihoods, factory working conditions, medical training, community empowerment and microcredit for house improvement. This book includes comprehensive ‘how to’ QuIP guidelines and practical insights based on case studies from these countries into how to address the numerous methodological challenges thrown up by impact evaluation.

Essential reading for evaluation specialists within NGOs, governments and donor agencies; social impact investors; community development practitioners; and researchers and students interested in evaluation methodologies.

• Introduction
• 1. Introducing the causal attribution challenge and the QuIP
• 2. Comparing the QuIP with other approaches to development impact evaluation
• 3. A deep dive into Diageo’s malt barley supply chain in Ethiopia
• 4. Improving working conditions in the Mexican garment industry
• 5. Exploring the social impact of housing microfinance in South India
• 6. Faith-based rural poverty reduction in Uganda
• 7. Harnessing agriculture for better nutritional outcomes in Southern Tanzania
• 8. Placing volunteer educators: the Global Health Service Partnership
• 9. Bending but not breaking? Adapting the QuIP for use with local authorities in England
• 10. Conclusions: Insights gained and issues outstanding
• Annnex: The QuIP Guidelines in full
• Acknowledgements
• Details of contributors
• Index

‘QuIP is well geared to do what it promises: it offers a simple, transparent method to deliver timely, cost-effective and credible causal attributions. And it is well grounded. The theory, history and case studies in this book show why we can trust that it can do what it says. QuIP is a really welcome contribution to methodology for causal inference.’
Nancy Cartwright, Distinguished Professor, UCSD; Professor of Philosophy, Durham University; Co-Director of CHESS, Durham University

'The assessment of complex interventions is defined by the need to make difficult trade-offs: time, money, talent and support always seem inadequate. But such pressures only intensify the need for good theory, breadth of experience, depth of commitment to professional standards, and giving stakeholders a reasoned basis on which to act. The strategies and cases outlined in this insightful book demonstrate how this can be realized in practice. The Qualitative Impact Protocol enables applied social science to do its job: to faithfully uphold accountability norms while generating sound and useable conclusions.'
Michael Woolcock, World Bank and Harvard University

James Copestake
James Copestake lectures in economics and international development at the University of Bath, UK. He has previously published research on the impact of microfinance in India, Southern Africa and Latin America.

Marlies Morsink
Marlies Morsink is Research Officer at the Department of Social and Policy Sciences, University of Bath. In the past year Marlies conducted action research into adapting QuIP for use by UK town councils.

Fiona Remnant
Fiona Remnant worked on research and development of the QuIP at the Centre for Development Studies before going on to co-found and run a non-profit research organisation, Bath Social & Development Research (BSDR), which continues to curate and develop the QuIP through consultancy and research.