international standards where there is no evidence? (rob allport et al)
TRANSCRIPT
Where There Is No Evidence? Developing international standards and guidelines with limited
“hard evidence”
28th ALNAP Annual Meeting on Evidence and Knowledge in Humanitarian Action, Washington DC, March 2013
Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards
Rob Allport, Philippe Ankers, Andy Catley, David Hadrill, Guido Govoni, Solomon Hailemarium, Ong-orn Prasarnphanich, Cathy Watson
Developing LEGS• High demand• Limited evaluation and impact assessment cf. humanitarian
assistance in general• No peer-reviewed papers• Description of activity – very common– Tendency for agencies to view activity as impact– Flaws in setting objectives/describing activity
Process
Multi-agency Steering Group Field experience
Understanding contextsOverall decisions on structure and content
Sphere
Cross-cutting themesCore standards
Practitioner experienceEmail contributions Review of drafts
Plausibility
Biological logic of strategies and activities
“Hard evidence”
Impact assessmentsBenefit-cost analysisSystematic participatory impact assessment
Triangulate
Handling weak evidence• Acknowledge deficits in evidence, advise caution where
needed• Encourage impact assessment
o M&E as a LEGS Common Standardo LEGS as a reference point for evaluationo Agency-level issues
• Continuous feedback; frequent revision• Timeframes for change – accepting new evidence
