Mita Marra

The Contribution of Evaluation to Socialization and Externalization of Tacit Knowledge: The Case of the World Bank

International organizations are increasingly focusing on organizational learning. The experience accumulated by development agencies throughout the world has become a source of organizational knowledge, which, according to Nonaka, is transferred through processes of socialization and externalization. Based upon three case studies and in-depth interviewing of World Bank managers and evaluators over two years, this article explores the contribution of evaluation to organizational learning. The study analyses the use patterns of evaluation as a source of knowledge within the World Bank. Findings show that participatory designs and processes favour socialization of tacit knowledge through interaction between organizational members. Theory-driven evaluations help externalize tacit into codified or explicit knowledge. Particular evaluation constructs - i.e. ‘chilling effect’ - provide vocabulary that clarifies discussion and debate for strategic planning. Overall, managers value those evaluation properties associated with (a) first-hand data collection within country case studies, and (b) theory-driven analyses, externalizing tacit insights coming from the field.

Social Return On Investment (SROI): Problems, solutions … and is SROI a good investment?

The conclusion of this special issue on Social Return On Investment (SROI) begins with a summary of both advantages and problems of SROI, many of which were identified in preceding articles. We also offer potential solutions for some of these problems that can be derived from standard evaluation practices and that are becoming expected in SROIs that follow guidances from international SROI networks. A remaining concern about SROI is that we do not yet know if SROI itself adds sufficient benefit to programs to justify its cost. Two frameworks for this proposed metaevaluation of SROI are suggested, the first comparing benefits to costs summatively (the resource→outcome model). The second framework evaluates costs and benefits according to how much they contribute to or are caused by the different activities of SROI. This resource→activity→outcome model could enable outcomes of SROI to be maximized within resource constraints (such as budget and time limits) on SROI. Alternatively, information from this model could help minimize the costs of achieving a specific level of return on investment from conducting SROI. Possible problems with this metaevaluation of SROI are discussed.

Cooperating for a more egalitarian society: Complexity theory to evaluate gender equity

Evaluating gender equity involves the assessment of the equality of opportunities and the equality of outcomes that public policies seek to attain for women and men. It focuses on how and to what extent both genders cooperate to expand access to paid work and control over material resources while sharing care and reproductive responsibilities. Drawing on complexity theory, this article puts forward a theoretical framework to identify cooperative behaviors within the household and the workplace as well as within broader socioeconomic, political and institutional domains.

What coordination mechanisms work to manage regional development programmes? Insights from Southern Italian regions:

The European Structural Fund programmes are embedded in a multi-level governance system, which has grown in parallel with European integration. Decision-making power is increasingly delegated to territorial authorities on the assumption that local agents possess both contextual knowledge and political legitimacy to integrate different policy measures in a cooperative fashion. Within contexts of structural socioeconomic constraints, problems of coordination are associated with policy co-formulation, governance network management, meta-governance processes, and performance management and evaluation use. This paper aims to examine the variety of coordination mechanisms adopted by regional government agencies in order to collaborate with local authorities to stimulate economically lagging territories. The paper analyses management techniques of local organizational capacity and network building, project development, monitoring and evaluation, highlighting the rationale of regional development policies and the role of institutions. Building upon 2 years of field research on local development programmes in four regions in the south of Italy, this paper shows that cooperation co-exists with opportunistic behaviour during programme design and implementation, while bureaucratic culture and organizational weaknesses hamper managerial leadership and administrative decentralization. Findings highlight that centrally guided decentralization is a more sustainable capacity-building strategy. Furthermore, perceived efficiency, equity, uncertainty, and relational quality shape coordination and its evolution over time. Interpersonal relations may increase to reduce uncertainty, or higher procedural formalization may ensure efficiency, equity, and fair dealings. The evolution of coordination mechanisms has a bearing on administrative capacity of public spending absorption against corruption and waste as well as on the potential for economic development and social cohesion.

Introduction: Social Return On Investment (SROI)

An introduction to the issue Social Return On Investment (SROI), including an overview of problems prompting this special issue, plus definitions and examples of terms in this exciting, burgeoning area of cost-inclusive evaluation.

The Italian Electronic Public Administration Market Place: Small Firm Participation and Satisfaction

The paper reconstructs the path taken by the reform of public procurement in Italy which has gradually evolved from a and centralized market to an open and accessible one. Despite the development of the Electronic Public Administration Market Place (MEPA), information regarding its performance is scant. There are no available collected data on firm satisfaction. The paper discusses the role Consip, a public company owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, has played (and continues to play) to guide the decentralization of public e-procurement. At the same time it shows the results of a sample investigation aimed at analysing the level of satisfaction of small/medium enterprises (SMEs) participating in the MEPA.

Work-Life Reconciliation Policies from Well-Being to Development: Rethinking EU Gender Mainstreaming

Across the European Union (EU), gender policies are cross-cutting initiatives incorporated within the major axes of regional operational programs, and specifically, within active labor-market, local development and inclusion policies. This is the so-called gender mainstreaming across EU Structural Funds, calling for increasing policy instruments integration. The aim of this paper is to understand if and how to improve women’s well-being and subsequently participation in collective action through reconciliation policies. These measures aim to allow women and men to choose how they can reconcile family care, paid work, career advancement, and leisure. The idea is that such a choice implies a time allocation pattern, which is not exclusively determined by market mechanisms and/or policy measures, but also by cultural trajectories, moral values, intrinsic motivations and rules (Folbre, Nelson 2002; North, 2005; Witt 2003), varying across regions and within groups. Furthermore, the outcomes of this choice are not completely internalized as individual well-being but they can also create positive externalities. First, this paper reconstructs reconciliation policies and their governance structures across less-developed regions in Italy (so-called EU Objective 1 areas) within the EU programming phase 2000-2006. Drawing upon this reconstruction, out analysis seeks to account for differences in both contextual conditions and individual characteristics, which, in turn, shape regional development processes. Second, the paper focuses on the design of conciliation policies to unveil what underlying microeconomic premises explain the expected beneficiaries’ behavioural change. Departing from the inadequacy of standard economics, whereby work-life reconciliation would be reduced to a unique choice pattern at the individual level, the paper examines those factors of subjective identities and contextual characteristics that actually affect work-life reconciliation choices, and by this way they can have a development impact (Bowles 1998, Ray, 2000, Sen 1999). In fact, the traditional public choice approach to gender policy may not only perpetuate a male-dominated structure of socioeconomic relations but it may also keep the economy working at a less efficient level. In other words, reconciliation policies may end up reinforcing a path dependent equilibrium of low efficiency, accentuating institutional, economic, social, and cultural traps (Bowles, Durlauf and Hoff 2006). By contrast, our idea is that reconciliation policies can work as development policies as long as they alter current power structures and enhance women capabilities. Building upon this critical review of the existing gender policy framework, we put forward a cognitive framework for work-life reconciliation as a driving force to development.

Intersectionality and emergence in time use analysis: possible pathways for gender research and work–family reconciliation policy in Italy

ABSTRACT Tracking how time is shared between work and family has the potential to unearth implicit gender biases and empowerment processes as women mobilize hidden resources and become aware of their own agency and differences vis-à-vis social groups they belong to or are excluded from. Building upon a time use study of a sample of 100 women working within administrative agencies, firms and social coops within the Italian Mezzogiorno, I examine work–family reconciliation interfaces through the epistemological dimensions of intersectionality and reflexive emergence. I interpret time use findings intersectionally to identify those workers who are vulnerable to time poverty associated with different degrees of freedom and power. Through the lens of reflexive emergence, I seek to grasp the unpredictable, unique and oftentimes invisible empowerment situations women experience in balancing work responsibilities with family care. Intersectionality and reflexive emergence in time use analysis help design work–family reconciliation policies by targeting occupational measures and welfare provisions according to different beneficiaries’ needs in public agencies, private firms and non-profit work organizations.

Lavoro flessibile, inclusione sociale e legalità per una strategia integrata di emersione

L’incidenza del lavoro irregolare e legata in modo complesso, secondo nessi di causalita bi-direzionale, all’assetto istituzionale dei contesti in ritardo di sviluppo e risponde a motivazioni sia dei datori di lavoro, sia dei lavoratori stessi.Al fine di spiegare come e perche alcune politiche “falliscono” in alcuni contesti mentre in altri generano l’impatto atteso e necessario indagare le motivazioni razionali che spingono imprenditori e lavoratori ad operare nel sommerso, considerando la loro reciproca interazione. Il presente lavoro propone una riflessione critica sull’impianto delle politiche di regolarizzazione dell’economia sommersa finora messe in campo in Italia: gli strumenti “diretti” di emersione, le politiche del lavoro “flessibile” e le misure di contrasto all’irregolarita/illegalita nel Mezzogiorno. Il ragionamento si articola nell’ambito di un quadro teorico che lega la prospettiva neoistituzionale, l’approccio economico-evolutivo e la valutazione realista delle politiche di emersione. Ne risulta che queste ultime sono sistemi complessi di governance del mercato del lavoro, del sistema di welfare e di ordine pubblico in relazione a contesti circoscritti, che agiscono come vincolo e/o opportunita di cambiamento delle scelte degli agenti. I processi di regolarizzazione sono perseguibili, quindi, attraverso un approccio integrato di policy che promuova l’accesso e l’espansione dei mercati e assicuri l’efficacia della vigilanza, incidendo su meccanismi individuali e sociali di natura economica, cognitiva e motivazionale.