Evaluating the contribution of complex international research‑for‑development programmes to the sustainable development goals
Loading...
Date
2023
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer
Abstract
While evaluation of research-to-policy projects is a fundamental aspect of measur-
ing the impact of new knowledge, limited studies have examined evaluation methods
in such projects, as well as how the evaluation can generate learning to facilitate the
progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study conducted
a systematic literature review and found that the most commonly used methods for
SDG contribution evaluation were Analytical Hierarchy Process (40.4%), Fuzzy
TOPSIS (13.2%) and ELECTRE and SPADE Methodology (3.5% each). Rank-
ing analysis was undertaken to determine priorities among the six “Big Wins” as
defined for the UKRI-GCRF Trade Hub Project, as a case, where the ranking was
exercised by the project partners across the globe. Results revealed that “nature and
social factors” was better considered in international trade agreements as the prior-
ity (36.4%) among others. Moreover, among the four “mechanisms” of the project,
“knowledge, networks, and connectivity” was ranked as the top priority (56.9%),
followed by “capacity building” (28.5%), “metrics, tools and models” (7.2%), and
“improving the knowledge base” (4.6%). Mapping and evaluation revealed that the
Big Wins of the Trade Hub contributed to ten out of the 17 SDGs. The most ful-
filled goals were SDG 12 (Sustainable Consumption and Production), SDG 15 (Life
on Land), and SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) in descending order. Furthermore, interaction
analysis of the core SDGs revealed both synergy and tradeoff between different out-
puts. The research articles reviewed for this paper showed no gold standard frame-
work for assessing international development projects against the SDGs. Further
research should develop a tool to capture holistic and synergistic contributions of the
target outcomes of projects to sustainable development.
Description
The European Journal of Development Research
Keywords
SDG evaluation, AHP, Sustainable development, Impact mapping, Interaction analysis