The Results Chain in Resource Governance

Exemplary applications for EITI stakeholders

By Jim Bennett (GIZ consultant)

Kinshasa, May 27, 2011

The challenge of RG

• Achieve a broad consensus around the overall goals and the means to attain them,

• Identify and deal with the obstacles (including uncertainties and risks) to the achievement of these goals,

• Nurture and maintain the commitment of many stakeholders with diverse interests,

• Measure and report on progress regularly,

• Ensure the equity and sustainability of the flow of benefits.

The Results Chain

• A results chain is a set of interlinked cause-effect relationships.

• It describes a desired change and the means by which to attain it.

• The desired change relates typically to the situation, behavior and/or capabilities of a target group.

• Results chains are also known as “impact chains“ and “chains of effects“.

The Results Chain (2)A typical results chain includes the following elements:

1. Inputs = available resources (human, physical etc.)

2. Activities = processes to transform inputs into...

3. Outputs = goods and services for...

4. Outcomes = utilization of outputs by target groups or intermediaries,

5. Direct impacts on their situation, behaviour, capacity and

6. Indirect impacts in the same sense, or on a larger scale (e.g. on the MDGs).

In graphic form, a results chain can look like this:

Ou comme ça:

… or like this:

Inputs

Activities

Outputs

Outcomes (use of output)

Direct impacts

Indirect Impacts

What resources are available?

What resources are available?

What does the project team do, together with

whom and when?

What does the project team do, together with

whom and when?

What does the project produce / deliver

during the current phase?

What does the project produce / deliver

during the current phase?

What do the users do differently because

they use the outputs?

What do the users do differently because

they use the outputs?

What contribution is provided by the direct

benefit to the „big“ development goals?

What contribution is provided by the direct

benefit to the „big“ development goals?

Which direct benefit occurs because of

those changes?

Which direct benefit occurs because of

those changes?

… or like this

External contribution(donors and others)

Contribution of local partners

Contributions of private sector and civil society

Contributions of other bi- and multilateral donors

Attribution Gap

SystemBoundary

SystemBoundary

Fictive example 1: The results chain of an MSG

Fictive example 2: National EITI reporting system

Using the results chain

• To facilitate consensus building between diverse stakeholders,

• To structure complex change processes around clearly defined objectives and means,

• To serve as a frame of reference for identifying risks (obstacles) to implementation,

• To define indicators at various levels of implementation to measure progress towards expected results,

• To align expected results with available means (human resources, financing etc.) and time.

Some perspectives

• To elaborate results chains for key stakeholder groups in the extractive industries value chain,

• To align external support (e.g. from donors) to EI stakeholders’ own results chains,

• To use the results chain approach to improve risk management in the implementation of EI stakeholders’ strategies and action plans,

• To define objectively verifiable indicators based on broadly consensual results chains to measure EITI / PWYP progress at all levels.

Thank you for your attention!