About

Join us from September 19-21, 2023 at 8am-11am PT/11am-1pm ET for three days of deep connection, learning, and build your understanding on the evaluation and participatory practices that make causal pathways more visible. This virtual Symposium is intended for both evaluators and evaluation commissioners who want to learn more about how to use non-experimental methods in their evaluations, while making their evaluations highly participatory and equity focused.

 

Tuesday, September 19 - Being Inspired: Exploring what becomes possible when causal pathways are made visible 

Day 1 will focus on building a shared understanding and excitement about causal pathways evaluation, including combating some of the myths that create the greatest barriers to engagement and use.



Wednesday, September 20 - Getting practical: Exploring what it takes to explore causal pathways

Day 2 will make the practice of causal pathways evaluation more visible, including distinguishing it from other types of evaluative work and offering insights into when and how to use it. This will be an opportunity to engage in an active peer learning environment, to share and explore key questions with evaluation and philanthropic peers. 



Thursday, September 21 - Digging in: Choosing the methods, practices, and processes that help you learn about causal pathways 

Day 3 will focus on decreasing the knowledge barriers that impede adoption of causal approaches by tackling some of the topics that often come up when people ask to learn more.

We hope to see you online on September 19! Please send any questions you have to causalpathways@policysolve.com




Thank you to the Symposium Action Team that has been hard at work bringing the Causal Pathways Symposium to life!
The team is made up of Jewlya Lynn, Carlisle Levine, Heather Britt, Marina Apgar, Abdoul Karim Coulibaly, and Carolina De La Rosa Mateo.

A special thank you to our virtual event manager, Events by Dionne Inc. for their support in hosting the event!

Funders
Speakers
Fiona Remnant
Founder of Bath Social & Development Research Ltd & Co-Author
Fiona is co-author of the Qualitative Impact Protocol, a theory-based approach to impact assessment; she is founder of Bath Social & Development Research Ltd, a non-profit consultancy set up to continue developing QuIP, training practitioners and making practical resources available. She is also co-founder of Causal Map Ltd, a web application developed to enable causal qualitative data analysis.
Hippolyt Pul
President and Executive Leader of the Institute for Peace and Development

Hppolyt has more than 35 years of work in research, planning, management, and evaluation of programs and projects in social and economic development, governance, peacebuilding, and conflict across Africa.  He worked in various positions with Catholic Relief Services in Ghana and globally, including serving as Regional Technical Advisor on Governance for West Africa (2003-2004); Deputy Regional Director for Program Quality for Central and West Africa (Oct 2004-Sept 2009) and Coordinator for Justice, Peace, and Governance Working Group for Africa (Oct 2009-Jan 2014). He is currently working as the founding President and Executive Leader of the Institute for Peace and Development (IPD), where he heads up IPD’s provision of research and evaluation services on conflict research, development planning and management, social cohesion building, and peacebuilding interventions across Africa and beyond.  

Hippolyt evaluation and research interests focus on using holistic and participatory approaches, including storytelling and mapping, to enable participating communities raise and find their own solutions to issues that bridge the fields of conflict management and resolution, peacebuilding, governance, and livelihoods and sustainable development planning and management. He has worked principally across Africa, but also in Peru and in the Deep South of Thailand. He holds a PhD in International Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA; a master’s degree in Public and Social Policy, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, USAD; and several post graduate certificates and diplomas. He speaks and writes French and is adept in the use of various computer-based data analysis and reporting software for quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research and evaluations.

Mel Punton
Principal Consultant at Itad

Melanie Punton is a Principal Consultant at Itad and head of Itad’s Knowledge Hub, which works to establish a strong internal learning culture and share Itad’s insights and innovation with the wider world. She has over 10 years’ experience in monitoring, evaluation and learning in the international development sector, across a range of thematic areas including governance, organisational effectiveness, and health. She specialises in innovative theory-based evaluation approaches that help explain how and why complex programmes work, and is passionate about participatory methods that prioritise the voice of the people we serve. She has applied contribution analysis, realist evaluation, process tracing and outcome harvesting in several multi-year projects and has co-authored articles and practice papers on process tracing and realist evaluation.

Shawna Hoffman
Managing Director for Strategic Learning and Impact, The Rockefeller Foundation

Shawna Hoffman is the Managing Director for Strategic Learning and Impact at The Rockefeller Foundation, where she’s worked since early 2016. In her role,  Shawna collaborates with program staff, leadership, and grantees to develop impactful strategies, to assess progress of those strategies, and to surface feedback and lessons learned in order to support informed adaptive management. 

An international development evaluation practitioner by training, Shawna has experience supporting large-scale monitoring, evaluation and learning efforts within various government, bi/multilateral and non-governmental organizations, including the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, where she served as interim head of MEL,  the Canadian International Development Agency (now Global Affairs Canada), World Food Programme, and MasterCard Foundation. Her work experience spans dozens of countries across North America, Asia, and Africa.

Shawna holds a Masters of International Affairs from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University and a B.A. in Political Studies from Queen’s University.

 
Steve Powell
Researcher & Evaluator
Steve has been involved in research and evaluation projects in many countries around the world over the last 25 years, from community resilience in East Africa to counting stray dogs in Sarajevo. He gained his PhD in psychology researching post-traumatic stress after the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina using mainly quantitative approaches. This research and evaluation work left Steve longing for a better way to collect and synthesise people’s ideas about ‘what influences what’. This inspired Steve to rediscover the long tradition of causal mapping and to co-found Causal Map Ltd.
Tom Aston
Monitoring, Evaluation, & Learning Specialist
Thomas Aston is a monitoring, evaluation, and learning specialist. He has fifteen years' experience in the international development sector, with experience across Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. He specialises in providing guidance to participatory analysis and planning approaches, accountability methods, and theory-based methods for monitoring and evaluation. He holds a PhD in Development Planning.
Zoe Sutherland
Principal Consultant at Itad's Inclusive Growth and Climate Change Practice

Zoë is a Principal Consultant in Itad’s Inclusive Growth and Climate Change Practice. She has over ten years of expertise in international development, with specialisms in evaluating large and complex portfolios, developing outcome monitoring systems and providing strategic support to impact measurement. Her current work is focused on evaluating the results of impact investments and development finance. Prior to joining Itad, Zoë has led evaluations and results measurement approaches as Senior Impact and Learning Advisor in Save the Children UK’s Business Programs Hub and as Head of Impact and Learning at Build Africa.

Marina Apgar
Research Fellow in Participation, Inclusion and Social Change at the Institute of Development Studies
Marina Apgar is Research Fellow in Participation, Inclusion and Social Change at the Institute of Development Studies. She has over 15 years’ experience working directly with marginalised communities in international development across the research-practice divide supporting locally defined development pathways. Her evaluation research focuses on understanding how social change happens from the perspective of diverse stakeholders, paying attention to equity and power, and she employs methodological bricolage, combining complexity-aware, theory based and participatory evaluation methods in her practice. She has recently co-edited the section of the SAGE Handbook of Participatory Research and Inquiry focused on Participatory Evaluation, delivers professional development courses on Contribution Analysis, Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation and Assessing Strength of Evidence, and is a core member of the Centre for Development Impact.
Kimberlin Butler
Equity-focused cross-sector bridge-builder for social impact

Dr. Kimberlin Butler is an equity-focused cross-sector bridge-builder for social impact with over 20 years of experience in public education, public affairs, and philanthropy. As Mathematica’s first Senior Director of Foundation Engagement, she pioneered development of the evidence-informed grantmaking and strategy framework – an approach that facilitates strategic learning to deeply understand community context through investments. Dr. Butler advances collaboration across the philanthropic ecosystem and centers the voices of those most proximate to social challenges as experts in shaping solutions. She founded Mathematica’s Equity Community of Practice and catalyzed companywide efforts to center equity in philanthropic practice. 

Dr. Butler managed a $15 million Accelerator Fund as Director of Strategic Partnerships at Strive Together, ensuring the success of 8.2 million students. A former advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Education, she launched the Place-Based Initiative Pilot Team as part of the White House Community Solutions agenda, improving outcomes across urban, rural, and tribal communities. 

Dr. Butler held leadership positions at the Zeist Foundation and Grantmakers for Education where she managed three national funder networks and partnered with 600 foundations to improve student outcomes. She was instrumental in shaping the Grantmakers Institute, a Harvard Graduate School of Education program focused on investing in educational equity. 

An avid volunteer sitting on numerous boards, she recently received Women We Admire’s Top 50 Leaders of DC for 2023 Award. A native of Baton Rouge, Dr. Butler attained a Bachelor of Arts degree in mass communication (LSU) and a Master of Public Administration degree (Maxwell School of Syracuse University). She earned a doctorate in educational and organizational leadership at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Butler is a former Atlanta Public Schools teacher and Teach For America alumna.

Hanh Cao Yu
Chief Learning Officer, The California Endowment (TCE)
Hanh Cao Yu is the Chief Learning Officer at the California Endowment (TCE) where she oversees learning, strategic development, evaluation, and impact activities, and ensures that local and state grantees, board and staff understand the results and lessons of the Foundation’s investments in its 10-year Building Healthy Communities (BHC) initiative. BHC focused on social determinants of health, policy systems change through a community-driven, power building approach. Dr. Yu 25-year career span the research, evaluation, philanthropic sectors. Prior to joining TCE, served as Vice President at Social Policy Research Associates, where she oversaw much of the research and evaluation work in education, philanthropy and adolescent development. Dr. Yu has more than 20 years of experience in qualitative and quantitative research in the areas of health and racial equity social change philanthropy, leadership development, organizational effectiveness, policy advocacy evaluation, community organizing, and vulnerable populations. As a researcher at Stanford University, Dr. Yu is the author of numerous publications, including Adolescent World: Navigating theMultiple Worlds of Family, Peers, and School (Teachers’ College Press, 1998), The Handbook on Leadership Development Evaluation (Jossey-Bass, 2006) and served on the RISE for Boys and Men of Color Advisory Group in 2016.
Matthew Carr
Strategy, Learning, and Evaluation Director, Walton Family Foundation
Matthew Carr is the Strategy, Learning, and Evaluation Director at the Walton Family Foundation. He ensures the foundation Board and staff are provided with accurate, timely research and analysis to support strategic decision-making. Previously, Matthew was Director of Evaluation for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. He was responsible for measuring and understanding the impact of grant investments and program activity. Prior to joining the Kauffman Foundation, Matthew was a senior research officer at the Walton Family Foundation. He is the author of several journal articles, including articles in The Foundation Review, Non-Profit Quarterly, and the Stanford Social Innovation Review.
Julia Coffman
Founder & Co-Executive Director, Centre for Evaluation Innovation
Julia Coffman (she/hers) is founder and co-Executive Director of the Center for Evaluation Innovation and a co-founder of the Causal Pathways initiative. For more than 25 years she has worked with philanthropy on approaches to strategy, evaluation, and learning. Julia has particular expertise in evaluating complexity, including advocacy, policy, and power-building efforts. For 15 years prior to founding CEI, she led evaluation efforts at the Harvard Family Research Project, a research and evaluation organization at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Kevin Hong
Acting Director of Evaluation at Wellspring Philanthropic Fund
Kevin Hong is currently the Acting Director of Evaluation at Wellspring Philanthropic Fund. A randomista who has seen the “light” beyond experimental methodologies, Kevin has sat on a few different sides of the evaluation table, both commissioning and managing evaluations at funding and implementing organizations and working as an evaluator for non-profit, think tank, and funder clients (as well as running randomized controlled trials at research institutions). He also teaches monitoring and evaluation at Columbia University. He holds a Master in International Affairs from Columbia University and a Bachelor in Computational and Systems Biology from Cornell University.
Jewlya Lynn
Systems change facilitator
Jewlya Lynn is a facilitator, advisor, and researcher focused on helping leaders around the world tackle wicked problems. She has developed practical tools and processes that help people unpack complexity, explore the many potential futures ahead, ask powerful questions, and find answers. Her emergent strategy stories and tools, learning models, evaluation frameworks, and other planning tools have been published by the Foundation Review and the Center for Evaluation Innovation. She has forthcoming book chapters looking at the intersection of futures thinking and evaluation and exploring why causal pathways need to be made more visible when evaluating systemic change strategies. Jewlya has served as a facilitator, researcher, evaluator, and strategy partner to major US and international initiatives, including the National Science Foundation’s EarthCube initiative (building cyber infrastructure in the hard sciences for the 21st century), N Square (the cross-roads for nuclear security innovation), Humanity United and the Freedom Fund’s joint effort to end slavery in the seafood industry, the Ford Foundation and Atlantic Philanthropies’ global Narrative Initiative, and Imaginable Future’s work to transform education systems in Kenya and Brazil, among many others.
Rachel Reichenbach
Senior Director of Strategy, Learning, and Impact, Humanity United
Rachel is the Senior Director of Strategy, Learning, and Impact at Humanity United, a foundation focused on cultivating the conditions for peace and freedom worldwide. She is passionate about building a learning culture that values foresight, reflective practice, sensemaking, adaptation, co-creation, and epistemic justice. Rachel has deep experience working with foundations to develop, implement, and evaluate grantmaking strategies. Previously, she was a director at Arabella Advisors, where she partnered with clients committed to solving complex international problems and ending human rights abuses. Prior to joining Arabella, Rachel was a senior program officer at the Global Philanthropy Forum, where she managed the organization’s evaluation work and helped to develop a focus on philanthropy in Africa. She also served as the director of programs, monitoring, and evaluation at Nest, where she facilitated organizational learning and strategy development around artisan supply chains. She holds a PhD in development sociology from Cornell University.
Abdoul Karim Coulibaly
Evaluator
Abdoul Karim Coulibaly, is a seasoned evaluator with a background in Statistics and Demography. He has over two decades of experience working in various sectors and countries. His expertise lies in impact assessment, program design, participatory methods, and both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Abdoul Karim has held leadership positions at renowned organizations such as the Mozilla Foundation, The Mastercard Foundation, and CARE International. Abdoul Karim is also involved in community service as the President and Founding member of AFRIK-POLL, a non-profit organization committed to promoting opinion polls, governance, and accountability in Africa.
Carlisle Levine
President and CEO of BLE Solutions
Carlisle J. Levine, Ph.D., President and CEO of BLE Solutions, is an advocacy, rights, peacebuilding, and capacity building evaluator with more than 20 years of experience working globally, as well as nationally and locally in the United States. She is a skilled facilitator and trainer with expertise in strengthening evaluation capacity, leading complex evaluations, and fostering collaborative learning processes within dispersed and diverse teams. Her work has contributed to more effective practices for private and public foundations, international non-governmental organizations, and governmental and quasi-governmental organizations. Prior to launching BLE Solutions, Carlisle worked for CARE USA, Catholic Relief Service, the US Agency for International Development, and the Inter-American Foundation and partnered with InterAction. She has worked in the United States, Latin America, Central and West Africa, and Europe and is fluent in English and Spanish. Carlisle has co-authored a peer-reviewed chapter and a brief on using contribution analysis to assess advocacy’s impact, as well as a chapter on democratizing evaluation practice in the book Democratic Evaluation and Democracy: Exploring the Reality.
Carolina De La Rosa Mateo
Causal Pathways Initiative Project Manager
Carolina De La Rosa Mateo (she/her) is an evaluator and serves as the project manager for the Causal Pathways Initiative. Carolina graduated from the University of Minnesota with a masters in public health, with a focus on community health promotion. She is passionate about evaluation, health equity, disability advocacy, and actively working on being an anti-racist. She is one of the five co-founders of the Minnesota IBPOC in Evaluation Community of Praxis, which convenes BIPOC evaluators in Minnesota to network, share resources, and think through how we can dismantle racism in evaluation. When she’s not working, Carolina can be found rehearsing with her afro-latin dance team or looking for the best cheese curds in town.
Giel Ton
Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies and Director of the Centre for Development Impact
Giel Ton is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies and Director of the Centre for Development Impact. He specializes in the design of mixed-methods research on agricultural value chains and private-sector development. He promotes Contribution Analysis as an overarching approach of theory-based evaluation and a stepwise process to identify the hot spots where additional data collection and reflection is needed. He co-convenes the professional course Contribution Analysis for Impact Evaluation. Most of his projects focus directly or indirectly on supply chain governance and coordination in food systems to make these more equitable and environmentally sustainable. To do so, he tries to analyse the heterogeneity of effects/impact, using the core question of realist evaluation: What works for whom under what conditions, and why? One of Giel’s latest publications, ‘Contribution, Causality, Context, and Contingency when Evaluating Inclusive Business Programmes’, elaborates on the methodological challenges of evaluating impacts in inclusive business programmes and highlights the promises of a behavioural system lens to identify the relevant context conditions that make interventions work for some, and not for others. Often the only way to know whether one factor in a configuration of factors makes a difference is to ask it to the ones that know their complex environment best. Therefore, In the paper ‘Evaluating the impact of business coaching programmes by taking perceptions seriously’, he piloted a survey module that helps reflecting on a large set of outcomes, computing so-called Contribution. Similarly, Contribution Scores were applied in the evaluation of a large private sector development programme, documented in the paper ‘Assessing the ‘Contribution to market system change of the Private Enterprise Programme Ethiopia’, where he used these scores, together with the process-tracing of the main impact stories, to get a plausible estimate of the programme’s impact on job creation.
Heather Britt
Independent Evaluator
Heather Britt has 25 years of experience in evaluation, technical assistance, and capacity building with a wide-variety of development actors including local organizations, international NGOs, foundations, UN agencies and bi-lateral donors like USAID. Her special expertise include complexity-aware M&E approaches that inform the adaptive management of uncertain, emergent, contested, and dynamic aspects of programming. She authored USAID’s Complexity-Aware Monitoring Discussion Note, co-authored method briefs on Outcome Harvesting and Causal Link Monitoring, and various resources on innovative solutions to M&E challenges.
Karuna Chibber
Evaluator
Karuna S. Chibber has over 15 years of experience in evaluation, working both domestically and internationally and across various settings – nonprofits, international development agencies, academia, and non-profit consulting. Karuna joined the Packard Foundation as an Evaluation & Learning Officer in December 2020. Her work includes providing guidance and technical assistance to staff in monitoring, evaluation, learning (MEL) and continuous improvement efforts. In addition, she leads cross-foundational learning efforts to ensure that all staff have the skills, tools and resources to support robust and right-sized evaluation and research efforts. Prior to joining the Foundation, Karuna worked in public health consulting and academia, where she designed and lead evaluations and research in the areas of women’s health, maternal and child health, health care delivery transformation, violence and childhood trauma prevention, systemic and social determinants of health. Karuna’s expertise lies in the development of evaluation plans, data collection tools, Theories of Change, measures development and prioritization, and using a range of quantitative and qualitative research methods. Karuna has extensive experience as a strategic planning facilitator partner and technical assistance provider. Her career has been dedicated to ensuring a balance between rigor and feasibility of implementation, using innovative and community-led approaches to evaluation and learning, building partnerships across sector lines, and helping partners employ data to improve programs, maximize impact, and share stories of their impact. Karuna holds a Doctorate in Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley.
Richard Margoluis
Chief Adaptive Management and Evaluation Officer at Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
Richard is the chief adaptive management and evaluation officer at Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and oversees a team dedicated to supporting the foundation’s four grantmaking programs, helping staff and grantees use adaptive management to improve outcomes and results. Richard came to Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation in 2016 from Foundations of Success, a small nonprofit organization he co-founded. Foundations of Success is dedicated to improving the practice of conservation and development through enhanced monitoring, evaluation, learning, and collaboration. Through that organization, he developed concepts, tools and approaches for enhanced practices; assisted partner organizations to develop adaptive management systems; evaluated conservation projects and programs; managed applied research related to evaluation; and facilitated cross-site and cross-institutional learning. Prior to co-founding Foundations of Success, he was the director of the Analysis and Adaptive Management Program and the Latin America and Caribbean Program at the Biodiversity Support Program in Washington, DC. Before the Biodiversity Support Program, Richard worked internationally as an assistant director of a biosphere reserve, founder and director of two community-based health and development organizations, field analyst for a food security information system, and evaluator of post-disaster interventions. Richard holds a Ph.D. in epidemiology and an M.P.H. in international public health from Tulane University. He also holds a bachelor’s in Latin American studies from Northwestern University.
Agenda
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15
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18
12:00 PM
- 1:00 PM
Staff & Speakers Open House
19
11:00 AM
- 11:35 AM
Welcome & Opening | Lost causal: What we mean, why it's lost, and why it matters that we find it again
11:03 AM - 11:13 AM - Welcome & Opening - Matthew Carr & Abdoul Karim Coulibaly
Please join us for welcoming comments from a funder and a network leader who helped to shape the symposium. We’ll orient you to the day’s session and why we are all here together.


11:15 AM -  11:35 AM - Lost causal: What we mean, why it's lost, and why it matters that we find it again - Jewlya Lynn & Julia Coffman
Participants will be introduced to the core concept of understanding causal pathways and how and why it is important. The focus will be on debunking a set of myths that have prevented the social sector from exploring causal pathways when evaluating social and environmental change initiatives, including myths about their usefulness and appropriateness for advancing equity.
11:03 AM - 11:13 AM - Welcome & Opening - Matthew Carr & Abdoul Karim Coulibaly
Please join us for welcoming comments from a funder and a network leader who helped to shape the symposium. We’ll orient you to the day’s session and why we are all here together.


11:15 AM -  11:35 AM - Lost causal: What we mean, why it's lost, and why it matters that we find it again - Jewlya Lynn & Julia Coffman
Participants will be introduced to the core concept of understanding causal pathways and how and why it is important. The focus will be on debunking a set of myths that have prevented the social sector from exploring causal pathways when evaluating social and environmental change initiatives, including myths about their usefulness and appropriateness for advancing equity.
Virtual Plenary
11:35 AM
- 12:05 PM
Everyone’s causal: Discovering the value of causal learning within a participatory, action research initiative

11:35 AM - 12:03 PM Everyone’s causal: Case study 1:  Moderator: Jewlya Lynn  Speaker: Marina Apgar
Through a video with on the ground participants and talking to the lead evaluator, we will explore how, where, and with whom causal pathways are becoming visible as part of an action research project with children. The pathways through which children end up in hazardous and exploitative work are multifaceted, uncertain and not well understood. Yet, the main actors of these stories, the children engaged in hazardous and exploitative work, are not usually involved in the development of interventions that seek to solve the problem of child labour. As a result, solutions miss key underlying systems dynamics and fail to build momentum for change from within the system. In response to this systemic challenge the Child Labour: Action-Research-Innovation in South and South-Eastern Asia (CLARISSA) programme, is involving children and other stakeholders directly in building understanding of the underlying drivers and seeking innovative solutions. We will bring stories of children working in the leather sector in Dhaka, Bangladesh and in the adult entertainment sector in Kathmandu, Nepal into the presentation through videos that illustrate their experience of collecting and analysing 400 life stories to uncover the complex realities that influence if and how they end up in child labour. We will describe the process and findings from the embedded participatory monitoring and evaluation system that brings stakeholders into causal analysis to explore if and how the actions that 36 action research groups are designing and implementing are working, and to explore emergent causal pathways that support the rippling of change throughout the system.

11:35 AM - 12:03 PM Everyone’s causal: Case study 1:  Moderator: Jewlya Lynn  Speaker: Marina Apgar
Through a video with on the ground participants and talking to the lead evaluator, we will explore how, where, and with whom causal pathways are becoming visible as part of an action research project with children. The pathways through which children end up in hazardous and exploitative work are multifaceted, uncertain and not well understood. Yet, the main actors of these stories, the children engaged in hazardous and exploitative work, are not usually involved in the development of interventions that seek to solve the problem of child labour. As a result, solutions miss key underlying systems dynamics and fail to build momentum for change from within the system. In response to this systemic challenge the Child Labour: Action-Research-Innovation in South and South-Eastern Asia (CLARISSA) programme, is involving children and other stakeholders directly in building understanding of the underlying drivers and seeking innovative solutions. We will bring stories of children working in the leather sector in Dhaka, Bangladesh and in the adult entertainment sector in Kathmandu, Nepal into the presentation through videos that illustrate their experience of collecting and analysing 400 life stories to uncover the complex realities that influence if and how they end up in child labour. We will describe the process and findings from the embedded participatory monitoring and evaluation system that brings stakeholders into causal analysis to explore if and how the actions that 36 action research groups are designing and implementing are working, and to explore emergent causal pathways that support the rippling of change throughout the system.
Virtual Plenary
12:40 PM
- 1:15 PM
Philanthropy’s causal: Discovering how philanthropy strategy, learning and adaptation can be informed through causal approaches

12:40 PM - 12:45 PM - Welcome back - Carolina De La Rosa Mateo

12:45 PM - 1:13 PM Philanthropy’s causal: Case study 2: Moderator: Kevin Hong Speaker: Shawna Hoffman
Even though India claims to have universal energy access, a significant share of people, especially in rural areas, still do not have reliable, sufficiently high-quality electricity that would enable them to use it when and how they need. Taking a systems approach, there are many factors contributing to this – one of the most significant being the overall economic health and viability of rural utility companies. In response to this challenge, in 2018, The Rockefeller Foundation initiated an innovative pilot program with the aim of improving utility health, ultimately believing that this, in turn, could lead to higher quality power for those already connected, and growth in the number of rural energy customers overall.

Several years into the program, we sought to assess what difference – if any – it was making for the energy system, and especially for rural energy customers.  Doing this assessment required the Foundation to reconstruct a theory of change, to be attentive to the possible pathways through which impacts for customers might be realized, and to meaningfully bring in customer voices and collect evidence to test our causal assumptions. This case will explore the Rockefeller Foundation’s experience applying causal pathways and discuss the influence that experience had on the practice of strategy development and evaluation in the organization more broadly.

12:40 PM - 12:45 PM - Welcome back - Carolina De La Rosa Mateo

12:45 PM - 1:13 PM Philanthropy’s causal: Case study 2: Moderator: Kevin Hong Speaker: Shawna Hoffman
Even though India claims to have universal energy access, a significant share of people, especially in rural areas, still do not have reliable, sufficiently high-quality electricity that would enable them to use it when and how they need. Taking a systems approach, there are many factors contributing to this – one of the most significant being the overall economic health and viability of rural utility companies. In response to this challenge, in 2018, The Rockefeller Foundation initiated an innovative pilot program with the aim of improving utility health, ultimately believing that this, in turn, could lead to higher quality power for those already connected, and growth in the number of rural energy customers overall.

Several years into the program, we sought to assess what difference – if any – it was making for the energy system, and especially for rural energy customers.  Doing this assessment required the Foundation to reconstruct a theory of change, to be attentive to the possible pathways through which impacts for customers might be realized, and to meaningfully bring in customer voices and collect evidence to test our causal assumptions. This case will explore the Rockefeller Foundation’s experience applying causal pathways and discuss the influence that experience had on the practice of strategy development and evaluation in the organization more broadly.
Virtual Plenary
20
11:00 AM
- 12:00 PM
Welcome & Opening Presentation | Aren't we already doing this? How understanding “how, why, and under what conditions” differs from predicting causality
11:00 AM - 11:15 AM Welcome & Opening: Hanh Cao Yu & Carlisle J. Levine, Ph.D
Please join us for welcoming comments from a funder and a network leader who helped to shape the symposium. We’ll orient you to the day’s session and why we are all here together.

11:15 AM - 11:55 AM Aren't we already doing this?: Moderator - Julia Coffman   Presenters - Giel Ton, Karuna Chibber & Richard Margoluis 
11:00 AM - 11:15 AM Welcome & Opening: Hanh Cao Yu & Carlisle J. Levine, Ph.D
Please join us for welcoming comments from a funder and a network leader who helped to shape the symposium. We’ll orient you to the day’s session and why we are all here together.

11:15 AM - 11:55 AM Aren't we already doing this?: Moderator - Julia Coffman   Presenters - Giel Ton, Karuna Chibber & Richard Margoluis 
Virtual Plenary
12:43 PM
- 1:15 PM
When should we be doing this? Evaluation questions and needs that benefit from causal approaches
12:43 PM - 12:45 PM Host welcome - Carolina De La Rosa Mateo

12:45 PM - 1:15 PM  When should we be doing this?: Moderator - Kimberlin Butler Presenters - Carlisle Levine, Ph.D & Abdoul Karim Coulibably
Not every evaluation can or should explore causal pathways in depth. It is important to know when the need and readiness are high, and how to match that readiness with the right causal pathways approach. This presentation will highlight what to look for when deciding whether to bring a causal pathways lens to an evaluation, including participant needs, the use case, the questions being asked, the amount of evidence for the type of strategy being deployed, and more.
12:43 PM - 12:45 PM Host welcome - Carolina De La Rosa Mateo

12:45 PM - 1:15 PM  When should we be doing this?: Moderator - Kimberlin Butler Presenters - Carlisle Levine, Ph.D & Abdoul Karim Coulibably
Not every evaluation can or should explore causal pathways in depth. It is important to know when the need and readiness are high, and how to match that readiness with the right causal pathways approach. This presentation will highlight what to look for when deciding whether to bring a causal pathways lens to an evaluation, including participant needs, the use case, the questions being asked, the amount of evidence for the type of strategy being deployed, and more.
Virtual Plenary
1:45 PM
- 2:00 PM
Synthesis and Closing (Day 2)
Virtual Plenary
21
11:00 AM
- 11:30 AM
Welcome & Opening | Engaging with the Causal Pathways Initiative: Removing your barriers to using causal approaches
11:03 AM - 11:13 AM - Welcome & Opening: Rachel Reinchenbach & Heather Britt
Please join us for welcoming comments from a funder and a network leader who helped to shape the symposium. We’ll orient you to the day’s session and why we are all here together.

11:13 AM - 11:30 AM - Engaging with the CPI: Julia Coffman & Carolina De La Rosa Mateo
Before breaking into working sessions on chosen topics, participants will learn about the opportunities to continue to engage with and learn from the Causal Pathways Initiative. They will have an opportunity to share the barriers and questions they are still grappling with to help guide future content from the initiative.
11:03 AM - 11:13 AM - Welcome & Opening: Rachel Reinchenbach & Heather Britt
Please join us for welcoming comments from a funder and a network leader who helped to shape the symposium. We’ll orient you to the day’s session and why we are all here together.

11:13 AM - 11:30 AM - Engaging with the CPI: Julia Coffman & Carolina De La Rosa Mateo
Before breaking into working sessions on chosen topics, participants will learn about the opportunities to continue to engage with and learn from the Causal Pathways Initiative. They will have an opportunity to share the barriers and questions they are still grappling with to help guide future content from the initiative.
Virtual Plenary
11:35 AM
- 12:35 PM
Breakout 01 - How do I pick & Combine Methods?
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
11:35 AM
- 12:35 PM
Breakout 02 - Causal Link Monitoring
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
11:35 AM
- 12:35 PM
Breakout 03 - Outcome Harvesting
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
11:35 AM
- 12:35 PM
Breakout 04 - Causal Map
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
11:35 AM
- 12:35 PM
Breakout 05 - Redefining Rigour
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
11:35 AM
- 12:35 PM
Breakout 06 - Process Tracing
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
12:45 PM
- 1:45 PM
Breakout 01 - How do I pick & Combine Methods?
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
12:45 PM
- 1:45 PM
Breakout 02 - Qualitative Impact Assessment Protocol (QuiP)
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
12:45 PM
- 1:45 PM
Breakout 03 - Realist Evaluation
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
12:45 PM
- 1:45 PM
Breakout 04 - Causal Link Monitoring
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
12:45 PM
- 1:45 PM
Breakout 05 - Outcome Harvesting
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
12:45 PM
- 1:45 PM
Breakout 06 - Redefining Rigour
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
Each participant will have an opportunity to join two deep dive breakout sessions on specific topics that are often asked about related to causal pathways evaluation. The registration process includes identifying which topics participants are most interested in and from there we will set up the relevant sessions.  Possible topics include methods like Outcome Harvesting, Contribution Analysis, Realist Evaluation, Process Tracing, QUIP, etc.; tools like the Causal Maps; and overarching considerations including Participatory Evaluation and Maintaining and Redefining Rigour. Each session will be led by an expert from the Causal Pathways network and will include a combination of presentation, practice, and discussion.
1:45 PM
- 2:00 PM
Conclusion
1:45 PM - 2:00 PM Conclusion: Jewlya Lynn & Julia Coffman
The closing session will connect participants to next steps, including additional resources, and reflect back on the insights generated by presenters and participants from throughout the convening.
1:45 PM - 2:00 PM Conclusion: Jewlya Lynn & Julia Coffman
The closing session will connect participants to next steps, including additional resources, and reflect back on the insights generated by presenters and participants from throughout the convening.
Virtual Plenary
Close