What are the most common mistakes when evaluating international impact?

Understand that you can't fix other people's problems. You can however, provide them with access to the "capitals" (not just money), that will allow them to start fixing their own problems. Focus on the root cause, and don't be another "palliative care provider". Finally, when we travel there is a good chance that we will not understand the traditions, rites, rituals, religions, ceremonies, historic social constructs, etc., etc., of the people we are visiting. These are vitally important aspects that must be built in to innovations, hence, the work has to be done "in place".

In our contemporary societies like Ghana; success is often celebrated while failure is stigmatized. For this reason evaluators find it easier to share their successes by trying to find faults in each project they evaluate. In my experience in evaluating, failure to not finding fault means you didn’t do a good job as evaluator. There are of course exceptions.

The change you want to see must also be fundementally relevant to the change that you want to sustained. Hence, change is constant and must be rooted in a process that nutures continuous change and excellence as perfection is unattainable.

Speculation is the biggest mistake. The second biggest mistake would be to base your decisions on religion and politics. The best indicator would be the fundamentals of demand, population growth rate and competing environments.

Prior to defining the relevant indicators, we must first and foremost define and truly understand the primary and secondary goals.

In my experience it is when evaluation objectives and the theory of change is not agreed with stakeholders from the get go. The chances of “failure” then increase due to weak alignment and thus, implementation. By the time an evaluation is being done practitioners start pulling at straws to show the “success” of interventions. This is also done based on external terms because they can’t agree or never agreed on desired outcomes with stakeholders and beneficiaries.

Impact assessments of the environment are done in different contexts to evaluate different aspects. Any impact assessment is based on the 'probability or possibility of the impact and the magnitude of the impact. Generally, there are 4 types of impact assessments; global, policy, strategic and environmental. Therefore, if we use the correct path for the impact assessment to evaluate international impact, then the risks of ignoring the context and the stakeholders can be mitigated.

Using the proper methodology may help us to avoid the failures for attribution and contribution. It is the process and outcome will be natural.

Effective communication is pivotal in the analytical process, as it can either enhance or undermine the entire analysis. It's imperative to accurately identify stakeholders and comprehend the language and nuances that resonate with them. The true impact of any communication is realised only when the conveyed message is fully understood. Therefore, before disseminating results, it's essential to grasp the foundational principles that influence stakeholders.

Best case example the Global Risk Assessment 2023 by the Global Economic Forum. The published document could be treated as the bench mark for any evaluation.