SIM TIG Week: Unintended Consequences of Impact by Andrea Nelson Trice

“Impact” is an interesting word choice to describe the results of development work. The Oxford Dictionary defines impact as “the action of one object coming forcibly into contact with another.” We don’t engage in development work to maintain the status quo nor to make subtle changes. But when we come in with “force,” there will be unintended consequences – consequences that we can easily overlook. 

In my work as an evaluator and while conducting research for my new book Strong Together: Building Partnerships across Cultures in an Age of Distrust, I heard numerous examples of unintended consequences:

“I foresee issues of increased conflicts between the pastoralists and the farmers because [our program] was promoting agriculture so that would mean we have more farmers at risk for their gardens being destroyed by animals and escalated conflicts. It’s an unintended result.”

“I know of a small town where the women have to walk two towns away to fetch water. Americans had a big ceremony when the well was finished. Women bypassed it and continued to walk to the water two towns away. … They are not interested in the well because you are actually causing depression, loneliness, fatigue. [Talking along the way means] you have a happy home, a happy family. She has a distressing area in her life, and she goes back to her husband with no problems after going to get water.”

And finally someone shared an observation about the long term impact of foreign assistance generally:

“I recently spent three hours in the [Nigerian] bank, waiting for them to “print” three documents for me. It broke my heart to see my own people being sloppy and unprofessional in many aspects of their lives…This is a result of a learned helplessness that we have adopted.”

Throughout the interviews I conducted for my book, Americans tended to focus on economic impact as they engaged in development work. It’s easily measurable and economic flourishing is one of our key values. But we must recognize that, in the process of trying to improve people’s economic status, we are also shaping culture – values, beliefs, and customs – whether we openly acknowledge this or not.

“Culture” originally meant to cultivate or improve the land, as in “agriculture” or “horticulture.” In the 19^th century, “culture” began referring to bettering or refining a person, particularly through education. We would be wise to think through the implications of that etymology. Social finance and social impact work seek to better people’s lives. But when we operate from a position of trying to better someone’s life, we presume we know what a better life looks like. We are operating from assumptions about how the world is and how it should be, and can be blind to the unintended consequences of our work.

If we as evaluators approach our work with a predetermined theory of change and with little or no input from the people a program is seeking to help, we will almost assuredly overlook the unintended consequences that have occurred. I remain hopeful, though, that if we assume, as outsiders, that we operate with significant limitations and seek local people’s help in addressing them, a new story can unfold.