Evaluating Capacity-Strengthening Impact: A Funder Perspective

The Think Tank Initiative (TTI) was a large-scale, ten-year, multi-donor-funded programme of institutional research capacity strengthening for thinktanks in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It offered flexible, long-term funding combined with technical support to help over 40 organisations move along a pathway to sustainability, generating a consistent flow of high-quality evidence, data, and analysis to inform and influence national and regional policy debates. This CDI Practice paper by Peter Taylor describes the evolution of the TTI evaluation approach as it engaged progressively with the complexity of the programme. It reflects critically on key lessons learned through process and outcomes. It also offers some takeaways for those commissioning evaluation of large, complex capacity‑development interventions