Abstract
Evaluations of private sector development programmes look at what changed to the workings of the system, and whether these changes are scalable, resilient, and sustainable. We present an evaluation lens that primarily qualifies changes to the systemic nature of food provisioning in markets. It converts theoretical frameworks into ‘antennae’ receptive to early signs of systemic effects of inclusive agribusiness that fosters food and nutrition security. The tools for this theory-informed approach were developed and applied in 2SCALE, a Dutch-funded programme aiming to incubate inclusive agribusiness and contribute to food and nutrition security goals in Africa. The article reflects on what to monitor to detect early signs of systemic effects and how monitoring can be embedded in unfolding business and partnering processes. It concludes that taking a theory-informed approach gives directionality to strategising and planning, and enhances capacities of partners in inclusive business projects to lead actions towards realising systemic effects.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 103-122 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | IDS Bulletin |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Feb 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:To that end, we use experiences with the design and implementation of M&E in the 2SCALE programme,4 which supports partnerships that aim to incubate inclusive agribusiness that fosters food and nutrition security in Africa. The 2SCALE programme works in partnership with so-called ‘business champions’, i.e. companies open to fitting an inclusiveness agenda into their commercial strategy as players in their markets. The 2SCALE programme has a strong focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and its partnership facilitators support collaborating businesses. Besides agribusinesses, partnerships supported by 2SCALE can involve producers’ organisations, governments, and a variety of technical and financial service providers. The M&E system in 2SCALE combines several theoretical frameworks to develop ‘antennae’ that are able to detect early signals of systemic change resulting from the actions and changes in practices of inclusive agribusiness which foster food and nutrition security. The use of these antennae opens space to make the search for systemic change an integral part of reflection and strategising processes of 2SCALE’s partners.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. IDS Bulletin © Institute of Development Studies.