1. Thinking and working politically
Ed Laws (ODI) and Heather Marquette (University of Birmingham)
Synthesis report presentation and discussion, 8th March 2018
@EWDLaws
@TWP_Community

2. Why should we think and work politically?
Change is inherently political Change involves renegotiation of power and resources. It creates winners and losers, so there will always be people or groups who want to keep the status quo, and those who will welcome change because they stand to gain from it.
Change is complex and often unpredictable It is very hard to know with certainty how a given project or reform process will unfold at the outset because it will involve changes in behaviour, incentives and interactions.

3. TWP ‘success factors’ Politically smart and astute Locally-led
Iterative problem-solving
Relationships brokered with major interest groups
Flexible funding
A longer-term commitment
Innovative M & E
A supportive environment in the donor agency

4. Reviewing the TWP evidence base
Many of the well-known case studies of TWP programmes:
Have been written up as single case-study reports
Tend to focus exclusively on programme successes
Don’t incorporate counter-factual evidence or triangulation
Don’t appear in academic journals

5. How can we test TWP assumptions with greater rigour?
Systematically compare a broader range of programmes in different sectors and organisational contexts
Use a wider range of research methods to evaluate and support findings
NB – you need a good baseline to do this properly!

6. Where has the evidence been ‘clustered’ so far?
The wider political context of development interventions – how does the prevailing political settlement in a given country affect development programmes?
The sectoral level – how do the characteristics of specific sectors influence programme implementation and impact?
The organisational level – how do features of the funding or implementing organisation support or hinder politically-informed programming?

7. Where has the evidence been ‘clustered’ so far?
Sector

8. Where has the evidence been ‘clustered’ so far?
Organisation

9. Challenges and ways forward
The development landscape and the results agenda
Donors’ bureaucratic incentives and disbursement pressure
Pressures on implementing organisations

10. Links
@TWP_Community
linkedin.com/groups/
twpcommunity.org