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While clear causal links – from inputs and activities
through outputs to outcomes and impacts – form the basis
of project design, the attribution of a particular result tends
to become more tenuous along the results chain.
GRID-Arendal’s outputs, such as reports and websites,
are relatively easy to identify and attribute. Direct
linkages to outcomes and impacts are generally harder
to establish. One reason for this is the time lag that often
exists between the delivery of products and services
and the emergence of related outcomes and impacts -
especially when the latter depends on decision-making
processes. Several of GRID-Arendal’s projects are subject
4.
Attribution of results
to these delays along the results chain: the end result of
the 2014 West African Continental Shelf submission (see
page 25) may well not be known for another 10 years,
for example. For the same reason, some of the results
that have emerged this year relate to work done before
2014. The
Zambia: Atlas of Our Changing Environment
is
a case in point: its collaborative approach and influence
on the public were officially recognised in an award
received almost a year after its launch in 2013 (see page
19). In addition, decision-makers rarely make decisions
based on a single source of information. Many of GRID-
Arendal’s reports are likely to have influenced decisions,
but it is rarely possible to prove this connection.