Reviewing the evidence - how effective is the MSD approach?
BEAM Grab the Mic webinar
Date: 24 October 2019
Speakers: Kevin Conroy, Private Sector Development Consultant / Adam Kessler, DevLearn / Mike Albu, BEAM Exchange
The BEAM Exchange aims to help decision-makers assess the effectiveness of the MSD approach. Our Evidence reviews analyse the expanding database of ‘evidence documents’ that report programme outcomes. They examine their impact on businesses, incomes and the livelihoods of people living in poverty.
The 2019 BEAM Evidence Review reported that the MSD approach often achieves significant, lasting, large-scale results.
Evidence of systemic change - meaning markets working more efficiently and inclusively - was the main story in a third of the documents. Evidence of how such change is leading to poverty reduction predominated in a further 40 documents.
In this webinar, Kevin Conroy and Adam Kessler (authors of the 2019 BEAM Evidence Review), and Mike Albu (BEAM Director), discussed the main issues raised in the review and responded to crucial questions from the MSD field:
- Do the aggregate benefits of a few large-scale intervention successes outweigh the costs and risks of more numerous small intervention failures?
- What scope is there for ex-post impact evaluations of the overall performance of MSD programmes, two, three or five years after interventions end?
- How can we overcome publication bias in reporting of results?