In 2021, DIAL and Limestone Analytics conducted a comprehensive evaluation to assess the overall impact of DIAL's first strategy, covering October 2016 through December 2020, and its programs on the digital ecosystem.
The evaluation and its instruments, based on desk review of 237 documents and the insights of 70 key informant interviews and focus group participants, were crafted to answer four main evaluation questions:
- What changes have occurred in the digital ecosystem since October 2016, and since the start of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic?
- Which of these are as a direct or indirect result of DIAL’s work?
- Which of DIAL’s interventions have been most effective in creating these changes?
- What can DIAL learn or adopt from these experiences as it moves into a new strategy?
The evaluation also assesses DIAL’s work against the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee evaluation criteria of relevance, coherence, impact, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability.
The audience for this evaluation report and its executive summary is primarily the DIAL team and its funders. The evaluation team recognizes that other organizations focusing on digital for development, including DIAL’s current and future partners may be interested in the findings.
