Improving monitoring and evaluation in the civic tech ecosystem: Developing theories of change to support future contribution analysis

Abstract

For nearly a decade, civic tech stakeholders have been creating technology supported solutions to civic challenges. Globally, the civic tech movement is rapidly professionalizing but has lim-ited documented evidence of successes and challenges. Comprehensive monitoring and evaluation in the civic tech ecosystem are necessary to create a foundation of knowledge for future initiatives. Monitoring plays a key role in improving services, pivoting approaches, and guiding more efficient resource allocation. Evaluation highlights what is working, what is not working, and critically, why? In a sector that merges data, design, and technology with user-centred principles, monitoring and evaluation in the civic tech ecosystem has several inherent chal-lenges. This paper suggests that a theory-based evaluation approach called Contribution Analysis has the necessary sophistication and agility to support comprehensive monitoring and evaluation to support the growth and sustainability of the movement. This paper applies the early steps of contribution analysis to two Canadian civic tech projects to demonstrate its feasibility.