Retrospective Impact Evaluation Scoping Guide

A retrospective impact evaluation (RIE) is an ex post evaluation of an evaluand to assess its value, worth, and merit, with a special focus on examining the sustainability of intended results as well as unintended impacts. However, due to resource constraints, international development donors and organizations cannot afford to conduct many RIEs, limiting our ability to truly understand longer-term outcomes and impacts after the closure of a program.

Save the Children’s sponsorship programs are currently investigating the feasibility of conducting RIEs in order to optimize learning from scarce resources. With invaluable consultation from E. Jane Davidson (RealEvaluation) and Thomaz Chianca (independent consultant), we developed a RIE Evaluability Scoping Guide to assess the feasibility of conducting an RIE. The RIE Scoping Guide assesses 24 issues categorized into the following four dimensions:

1) Internal Stakeholder Support,

2) External Stakeholder Support,

3) Availability of Evidence & Documentation, and

4) Context

After program staff review, discuss and score each of the 24 issues, a tally of the scores indicate which of the four feasibility categories best describes the feasibility of a RIE.