Page - (000265) - in Evaluating Climate Change Action for Sustainable Development

13.7 Methodological Implications Thepurposeof thismeta-analysiswas toapplyacritical realismphilosophical lens and realist approachproposedbyPawsonandTilley (1997, 2004).Concretely, the purposethuswas to introduceandapply themethodtoextractingandhypothesising theoriesofchangeandcontextualconditionsunderwhichprogrammesareexpected to generate results through an underlying mechanism. In addition to a focus on programme theories, the realist approach pays close attention to the kinds of contextual conditionswhichenable (but not necessarilydetermine) aprogramme’s IOstoberealised.Therefore, thefirst implicationofadoptingarealistapproachina meta-analysisofCCAprogrammesis its focusonenablingcontextualconditions. It can be a significant element since non-realistic evaluations often focus on the aspects that are only related to programme interventions and their programme theories andnot such contexts. Second, the contextual conditions that are identified and hypothesized in this meta-analysiscanbeuseful forfutureCCAprogramming,particularlysincesimilar types of interventions are often designed without necessarily thinking of the contexts. A realistic approach can provide explanations (rather than deterministic “answers”) as towhat typeofprogramme interventionsmayworkunderwhat type of conditions, and forwhom.CCAprogrammes are embedded in quite a complex environment, e.g. involving a number of stakeholders and beneficiaries, implementing partners, funding sources and their requirements, and differing programme goals and local priorities, on top of the five types of challenges identified by Valencia (2009). All of these aspects can further be influenced by thecountry’sculture,historyandsocio-economicconditions.Thesearealso impor- tant context aspects to explore in further deepening the CMO configurations for CCA programming. By paying close attention to such contextual conditions, the realistapproachcanthusbeconsidereduseful forknowinghow,whenandwhere to place the relevant interventions in a relevant context. Third, this typeofmeta-analysisbasedonarealist approachmaybeable toshed new light onto a number of ex-post evaluations that have been already prepared. Though itwill be difficult to prove quantitatively, there seems tobe a tendency in the development practitioner’s community to pay inadequate attention to such ex-post evaluations, since they may be simply perceived as a mere requirement routinelyaskedbysponsoringagenciesanddonors.Sinceonly in recentyearshave we started to complete ex-post evaluations of multilateral CCA programmes, a realist approach can provide a good analytical lens in fully utilizing those evalua- tions to better inform futureCCAprogramming. 13.8 Conclusion Thispaperpresentsacaseofmeta-analysisusinga realist approach, theevaluation approachbasedonaphilosophyofsciencecalledcritical realism.Theauthorshave adopted this approach in themeta-analysis of the nineCCAprogramme terminal 13 WhatDoEvaluationsTellUsAboutClimateChangeAdaptation?Meta-analysis. . . 251