The Whole Village Project: A Platform for Evaluating Projects

In recent years the funders of development projects have become more insistent that careful evaluation of projects be integrated into p randomized assignment— not always even conceptually feasible. undertaken by Savannas Forever Tanzania (a Tanzania University of Minnesota, undertaken at the scale of a small number of the conceptual foundations of the in rural Tanzanian villages. The central idea of the WVP is to collect detailed baseline data from a large number of rural villages, then return years, creating longitudinal data that will be valuable for project evaluation, as well as being a general source of information about rural Tanzania. In recent years the funders of development projects have become more insistent that careful evaluation of projects be integrated into project design. However, —the gold standard for project evaluation—is costly and not always even conceptually feasible. The Whole Village Project (WVP), jointly undertaken by Savannas Forever Tanzania (a Tanzania-based NGO) and the offers a cost-effective evaluation tool for projects undertaken at the scale of a small number of rural villages. This paper describes the conceptual foundations of the WVP and some details of its implementation villages. The central idea of the WVP is to collect detailed baseline data from a large number of rural villages, then return to the same villages every two to three years, creating longitudinal data that will be valuable for project evaluation, as being a general source of information about rural Tanzania. In recent years the funders of development projects have become more insistent However, is costly and The Whole Village Project (WVP), jointly based NGO) and the for projects describes and some details of its implementation The central idea of the WVP is to collect detailed baseline data from a large to the same villages every two to three years, creating longitudinal data that will be valuable for project evaluation, as 2 5 O c t o b e r 2 0 1 0 P a g e | 2 2 The number of villages that have been studied currently stands at 55, and is expected to grow to about 90 by the end of 2010, with an ultimate objective of 200-300 villages. At present, the villages are all in northern and central Tanzania. In each village a team of 8 field researchers conducts a multi-part study including an inventory of institutions operating in the village (local government, schools, clinics, NGOs, and so forth), interviews …