Articles authored by Hirschmann, David

Articles

This article focuses on performance measurement in the democracy and governance (DG) programme of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in its Zimbabwe mission. The article tells the story of one qualitative indicator used for measuring progress, namely the 'Advocacy Index.' It traces the history of this indicator, from rationale and concept through the early stages of implementation. The article discusses the problems of quantitative measurement and observes that there have been a number of suggested 'qualitative' responses.
Many readers will be familiar with the work of Robert Chambers, including his six biases of the development professional - namely spatial, project, person, seasonal, diplomatic, and professional - and with his suggestions for overcoming them. Many will also be familiar with the challenge of putting his advice into practice, notably on short-term assignments. The question asked here is whether the consultant can do anything constructive about those who are last on the development ladder; and in so doing render the invisible just a bit more visible.