This week the Development Informatics Group from the School of Development Policy and Management (IDPM) in the University of Manchester publicised and made available a  “Compendium on Impact Assessment of ICT-for-Development Projects”.

Parts of the Compendium appear highly relevant to the assessment of projects looking to implement the use of mobile technology within the context of marketplaces in developing countries. As far as I am aware many such efforts have followed the Project Goals methodology outlined in Section 2 of the Compendium, meaning that projects have followed a rather straightforward impact assessment involving the measurement of indicators consistent with the project goals.

Having been involved with theoretical Economics for a long time I find myself drawn to Cost-Benefit Analysis and Information Economics as evaluation methodologies for the impact assessment of projects oriented towards the development of technology-based marketplaces. Nonetheless, all of the eleven frameworks elaborated on in the Compendium have their relevance and application. I would be eager to hear your opinions on the matter. Which framework do you favour for the evaluation of  implementations of information technology in commodity markets in the developing country context?