Strengthening ICT4D evaluation: lessons from the fields of program evaluation, IS/IT evaluation, and aid/development evaluation

This study suggests ways to strengthen and clarify conceptual underpinnings of information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) evaluation by exploring its associations with other related evaluation fields – program evaluation, information system/information technology (IS/IT) evaluation, and aid/development evaluation. These fields have developed long and rich theoretical discourses, models, and approaches over the years, which are of interest to strengthen evaluation practices in ICT4D. Through detailed content analyses and expert interviews, we find that ICT4D evaluation shows significant parallels with the three fields in theory and practice. Also, we see that ICT4D evaluation has developed its own discourse – in particular, ICT4D researchers have valued capturing the situated development context of ICT. We argue that ICT4D evaluation can learn more from other evaluation traditions and disciplines, in order to help move the field to a more ‘mature’ stage.