Final report of the external evaluation of the Think Tank Initiative September 2013

IDRC was instrumental in setting up TTI, and there is broad consensus among interviewees that “the programme would not be where it is today without IDRC”. TTI management and reporting systems are flexible and effective compared to those of other donors, and most participants have welcomed TTI’s lighttouch support for grantees to develop their own strategies and plans. However, the programme does not fit neatly within IDRC’s existing systems, and establishing more appropriate systems has taken time. Furthermore, the frequent changes in TTI leadership have not been helpful. The balance between staff at headquarters and those at regional offices is also suboptimal, with more resources needed in the regions.This report presents the findings of the 2013 External Evaluation of the Think Tank Initiative program, a multi-donor program dedicated to strengthening the capacity of independent policy research institutions in 20 developing countries. This evaluation was commissioned to look at the achievements and lessons learned from Phase 1 of programming (2009-2014) and help improve the design of Phase 2 of TTI programming (2015-2019)