Lesson Learned

Project and Evaluation Design Must Match Desired Learning: Because the BRIGHT and BRIGHT II interventions were implemented in all of the same communities, and because all treatment sites received all of the interventions, it was not possible to disaggregate the impacts from different parts of the project.

Project and Evaluation Design Must Match Desired Learning: Because the BRIGHT and BRIGHT II interventions were implemented in all of the same communities, and because all treatment sites received all of the interventions, it was not possible to disaggregate the impacts from different parts of the project. For instance, it was not possible to know how much of the improvements in enrollment and/or test scores were due to school construction vs having access to gender-specific latrines, activities to increase community engagement in education, etc. Early attention to matching project and evaluation design to desired learning can help mitigate these types of issues. Also, early attention to desired learning can also suggest additional methods (such as qualitative methods) to address desired research questions that can’t be well answered through quantitative analyses.