Anyone who has ever applied for a grant from 3ie knows that we care about theory of change. Many others in development care about theory of change as well. Craig Valters of the Overseas Development Institute explains that development professionals are using the term theory of change in three ways: for discourse, as a tool, and as an approach.

In early 2016, 193 governments across the world put together a to-do list that would intimidate even the most workaholic overachiever: wipe out poverty, fight inequality and tackle climate change over the next 15 years. The United Nations led in articulating these into 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which were then translated into 169 target indicators that will be monitored – a remarkable feat given the disparate views of the various stakeholders.

The 2015 Year of Evaluation has now come and gone. There were many noteworthy events (more than 80 conferences, workshops, seminars and the like, according to some accounts), most of which focused on the needs in developing countries. Participants included some of the best known from the evaluation community across the public or non-government sectors. However, the interesting question raised in these events was, Where was the private sector?