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Legacy of the MacArthur Foundation's Maternal Health Quality Care Strategy in India: Reflections and Findings form the Endline Evaluation

February 1, 2020

Throughout its engagements in India, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has focusedon building in-country capacity that supports long-lasting change and betters the health and well-beingof those in the country. As the Foundation's Population and Reproductive Health (PRH) engagementscame to a close in 2019, it considered how to leave the field and stakeholders in India poised to take onthe ongoing task of improving maternal health—a key to achieving social, financial, and physical wellbeing. Recognizing quality as the linchpin for making more progress on maternal health, the MacArthurFoundation focused its final PRH grants on improving maternal health quality of care (MHQoC) in India.This final round of funding in India supported long-standing work designed to transition the country tothe next phase and launch promising innovations. Using information collected from the final phase ofthe MHQoC strategy (April 2018 through July 2019), this report represents the culminating review of thestrategy, assesses its contributions to the quality of maternal health care, and considers the implicationsfor the future of the field. Results are presented by each of MHQoC strategy's three core substrategies:supply, demand, and advocacy.

Big Bet On Nigeria: 2018 Synthesis Report

July 12, 2019

Since 2015, the MacArthur Foundation's Big Bet On Nigeria is investing in efforts to reduce corruption in Nigeria by supporting Nigerian-led endeavors that strengthen transparency, accountability, and participation. Corruption, impunity, and lack of accountability in Nigeria have far-reaching impacts on access to and quality of public services, the well-being of Nigerians, and overall development. The On Nigeria strategy builds on Jonathan Fox's "sandwich" theory,1 which recognizes the importance of the combination of a push from below and a squeeze from above to effect change and sustain momentum. The push from below is the "voice"— representing citizens' actions to demand change and develop local solutions to corruption, while the squeeze from above is the "teeth"—representing the efforts of government and other high-level actors to develop and enforce laws and regulations, using incentives to discourage corruption and sanctions to punish it. The On Nigeria theory of change harnesses the "voice" of Nigerian citizens and the "teeth" of Nigerian public and private institutions, and combined with capacity building and collaboration, intends to address the problem of corruption in Nigeria.The On Nigeria evaluation and learning framework seeks to answer three overarching evaluation questions: (1) How is the MacArthur Foundation's strategy contributing to changing transparency and accountability of government and private-sector actors? (2) How is the MacArthur Foundation's strategy contributing to changing social norms and citizens' behaviors related to corruption? and (3) What kinds of adaptation or changes are needed in the theory of change and/or strategy to achieve better results? The framework is designed to provide specific information related to On Nigeria's landscape, outcomes, impacts, and feedback on the strategy to assess progress and adapt the strategy as needed.

Evaluation and Learning for the Maternal Health Quality of Care Strategy in India: Phase II Report

February 1, 2019

For more than 20 years, we have supported work to improve population and reproductive health in India. After making significant progress in this field, particularly in the areas of maternal health and rights, we are preparing to exit the population and reproductive health field in India and are supporting a concluding round of grantmaking focused on maternal health quality of care.Through this four-year strategy, we aim to advance maternal health by supporting a shift in the field's focus from access to quality of maternal health care. To accomplish this goal, the strategy backs three main areas of work or sub strategies: strengthening the supply of quality maternal health services, building the demand for quality services through accountability mechanisms, and building an evidence base and support for maternal health quality of care. The strategy officially launched in June 2015. Our evaluation partner, Mathematica Policy Research, documented early progress of the strategy through March 2017. Building on earlier evaluations of the strategy, this document provides findings from the midline evaluation covering April 2017 to March 2018.

Evaluation of the MacArthur Foundation's International Connections Fund (ICF) Program

January 31, 2019

The International Connections Fund (ICF) was established in 2008 with the goal of helping Chicago nonprofit organizations advance their work by collaborating with peer organizations abroad. While eligibility criteria for ICF grants have shifted over the program's lifespan, this core mission has remained unchanged. During the life of the ICF program, MacArthur has administered 14 grant cycles, making 141 grants totaling more than $5.8 million. The majority of these grants—133 in all, totaling $5.4 million—have been awarded to support arts and culture projects. These projects have enabled Chicago artists, audiences, and arts and culture organizations to participate in international exchanges with counterparts from 63 different countries on six continents.Ten years into the program, MacArthur commissioned NORC at the University of Chicago to take stock of how the program has operated; learn what impact it has made on ICF grantees, their collaborators, and audiences; and consider how the program can best serve future grantees as ICF enters its second decade. The evaluation reviewed 12 ICF grant cycles that took place between 2008 and 2016, during which 114 grants were made to 91 different arts and culture organizations.

Fortalecimiento de la Partería Profesional en México: Evaluación de los Avances 2015-2018

January 8, 2019

MacArthur Foundation's Population and Reproductive Health Program in Mexico entered a final phase from 2015 – 2019. Since entering the field in 1986, the program aimed to contribute to Mexico's progress in reducing the national maternal mortality ratio. In the 1990s, it helped create and strengthen a national movement that followed two of the field's most important international conferences for reproductive health: the International Conference on Population and Development (1994) and the Fourth World Conference on Women (1995).The Foundation contracted with Consultores Colibrí an external evaluator, to conduct the evaluation of its midwifery initiative. A baseline evaluation was completed in February 2016. It explores the landscape and baseline information related to the four thematic areas of the final phase of our work: legal and normative framework, recognition and demand, education, deployment and quality of care. And a progress report was completed in 2018. The progress report focuses on the same four areas of work: documenting knowledge and acceptance of the concept of midwifery, professional midwives who attended labor and delivery in the public health care system, evidence-based practices used in midwifery training, and the quality of care provided by midwives and physicians. Both reports represent the use of quantitative and qualitative methodologies and analysis techniques.

Strengthening Midwifery in Mexico: Evaluation of Progress 2015-2018

January 8, 2019

MacArthur Foundation's Population and Reproductive Health Program in Mexico entered a final phase from 2015 – 2019. Since entering the field in 1986, the program aimed to contribute to Mexico's progress in reducing the national maternal mortality ratio. In the 1990s, it helped create and strengthen a national movement that followed two of the field's most important international conferences for reproductive health: the International Conference on Population and Development (1994) and the Fourth World Conference on Women (1995).The Foundation contracted with Consultores Colibrí an external evaluator, to conduct the evaluation of its midwifery initiative. A baseline evaluation was completed in February 2016. It explores the landscape and baseline information related to the four thematic areas of the final phase of our work: legal and normative framework, recognition and demand, education, deployment and quality of care. And a progress report was completed in 2018. The progress report focuses on the same four areas of work: documenting knowledge and acceptance of the concept of midwifery, professional midwives who attended labor and delivery in the public health care system, evidence-based practices used in midwifery training, and the quality of care provided by midwives and physicians. Both reports represent the use of quantitative and qualitative methodologies and analysis techniques.

Energy Efficiency as a Tool for Preservation of Affordable Rental Housing: Evaluation of the Efficiency Emphasis in the MacArthur Foundation’s Window of Opportunity Initiative

December 7, 2018

Note: This evaluation is accompanied by a blog post by the RAND Corporation about the initiative. Access these related materials here: https://www.macfound.org/press/grantee-publications/evaluation-investments-energy-efficiency-through-window-opportunity-initiative.In the late 1990s, there was growing concern that the significant portion of subsidized rental homes that were coming to the end of their initial subsidy period would not obtain renewed subsidy and that the amount of affordable rental housing for low and middle-income families in metropolitan areas would fall to even lower numbers. Responding to this escalating concern, the MacArthur Foundation identified preservation of the existing stock of affordable multifamily rental housing as a pressing need. Consequently, the Foundation launched the Window of Opportunity: Preservation of Affordable Rental Housing initiative in 2000. The initiative would expand to become a 20-year effort, during which the Foundation awarded $214 million in grants and loans to a wide range of organizations including non-profit owners of affordable rental housing, state governments, researchers, financial institutions, industry associations, and advocates.By 2011, the Foundation and its Window of Opportunity borrowers and grantees had increasingly recognized that energy costs of multifamily rental properties could be better controlled. To this end, the Foundation opted to extend Window of Opportunity with an explicit focus on increasing the energy efficiency of subsidized and unsubsidized multifamily affordable housing. Between 2012-2015, the Foundation awarded $27.5 million through 39 grants or loans as a part of what we term the Window of Opportunity - Energy Efficiency. The loans were Program-Related Investments, which were low-interest loans to create new business models or grow mission-oriented businesses. The Window of Opportunity - Energy Efficiency activities comprised a little over 10 percent of the overall $214 million Window of Opportunity initiative.

Safety and Justice Challenge: Evaluation Report

December 4, 2018

In 2015, MacArthur Foundation launched the Safety and Justice Challenge—an initiative to tackle over-incarceration, one of America's greatest social problems. The over-use and misuse of jails disproportionately impacts communities of color, people with low-incomes, nonviolent offenders, and those with mental illness. The Challenge supports systems change efforts aimed at safely reducing incarceration and racial and ethnic disparities in jails.In 2015, the Foundation engaged RTI International to develop an evaluation framework focused on learning. The evaluation of the Safety and Justice Challenge is at the initiative level, thus it does not examine a single program or set of programs but instead seeks to understand how the Safety and Justice Challenge activities contribute to long-lasting and sustainable change within participating jurisdictions' criminal justice systems. Rather than looking at all aspects of the initiative, the evaluation examines the elements that will provide an understanding of what is and isn't working and why and the extent to which efforts are resulting in meaningful change across the multiple jurisdictions and levels of the initiative.The evaluation design uses quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis techniques and includes activities to measure the outcomes and impact of the initiative. Outcome evaluation activities assess the effects of the Challenge on criminal justice measures within the funded sites relative to a series of comparison sites. Impact evaluation activities document contributions from the Safety and Justice Challenge toward broader national changes in jail populations, increasing public awareness of jail misuse and overuse, and support for systems reform.

MacArthur Foundation X-Grants Evaluation

May 1, 2018

Over the past 40 years, MacArthur has often fielded requests from grantees and other organizations for small amounts of money to support various time-limited efforts, like attending or convening a meeting. In response to this need, the Foundation established a grantmaking tool, known as an expedited grant (X-Grant), to improve our ability to make small, strategic grants with greater speed and efficiency. We also contracted with the Institute of International Education (IIE) to administer X-Grants, given its experience operating a similar expedited grantmaking program for another funder.The pilot phase of the X-Grant program launched in April 2015 and lasted for the remainder of the year. During this time, Foundation staff could make X-Grants between $1,000 and $30,000 to a 501c(3) public charity, or an organization with an equivalency determination, for four types of defined activities: (1) attendance at a meeting, (2) convening a meeting, (3) knowledge building and professional development, and (4) small research projects. Furthermore, all activities funded through an X‐Grant were required to be completed within the calendar year of the fully‐executed grant agreement letter.In 2015, MacArthur made $425,000 available to program staff across the Foundation to make X-Grants on a first-come, first-served basis. By the end of the year, 18 X-Grants had been made totaling $410,617. The Foundation hired The Silver Line to evaluate the pilot phase of the X-Grants program, which surfaced strong support for the X-Grant program across the Foundation and among participating grantees. The program was reinstituted in June 2016.  By the end of 2016, 12 X-Grants were made totaling $436,658. In 2017, 76 X-Grants were made totaling $1,955,568.The overall management of the X‐Grants program has remained consistent over time—the Foundation reviews and approves X-Grant applications, while IIE administers the X-Grant funds to grantees. However, several substantive changes have been made to the X-Grants program since its pilot phase. First, the budget limit for an X‐Grant was increased to $50,000 from $30,000. Second, the form used by Foundation staff to request an X-Grant now includes a section requiring a description of how the proposed X‐Grant served to advance one of the Foundation's existing areas of programming. Furthermore, starting in 2017, Foundation programs other than changing areas of work were given the opportunity to incorporate X-Grant funds into their overall budget requests. MacArthur contracted with The Silver Line to collect feedback on adjustments made to the X-Grant program since its pilot phase and further assess the value of X-Grants to staff and grantees.

MacArthur Foundation Executive Order Awards Evaluation: Summary of Findings

April 2, 2018

In January 2017 President Trump announced dramatic shifts in federal immigration policies and made sweeping changes to immigration law enforcement. These new executive orders affected Chicagoans, immigrant communities, and organizations working in this field. By May 2017, recognizing the importance of this work to the city, its diverse communities, and all its residents, MacArthur awarded $1.2 million (eight expedited grants and five traditional grants) to 13 organizations supporting efforts to overturn laws and policies that undermine people's rights and to protect the rights and liberties of racial, ethnic, religious, and other social groups.In October 2017, the Foundation hired The Silver Line to conduct an evaluation of the package of grants made in response to President Trump's executive orders on immigration. The purpose of the evaluation was to help the Foundation understand the value and perceived benefit of the grants for the recipients and the communities they serve and assess the potential for applying this mode of targeted and responsive grantmaking in the future. The primary questions guiding this evaluation included:To what extent have these funds helped organizations respond to the needs of the immigrant and refugee communities they serve? What are perceived accomplishments? What additional benefits emerged for organizations? To what extent did the awards influence the grant recipients' ability to network and/or coordinate efforts around the executive orders?How has this package of awards supported alliances across immigrant, ethnic, and religious communities?What are the pros and cons of the Foundation's process to make these awards? What can be learned from what worked? Or from what did not work?

Models for Change Legacy Phase Evaluation Report

March 12, 2018

Note: This evaluation is accompanied by an evaluation of the National Campaign for this initiative as well as introduction to the evaluation effort by MacArthur's President, Julia Stasch, and a response to the evaluation from the program team. Access these related materials here: https://www.macfound.org/press/grantee-publications/evaluation-models-change-initiative.This report summarizes the findings of the Evaluation of the Models for Change Legacy Phase andreviews what has been achieved thus far to create fairer, more effective, and developmentallyappropriate justice systems throughout the United States; documents the progress that has been madein specific goal areas; and assesses current capacity to sustain and grow these efforts in the years ahead.

Climate Solutions Big Bet: 2014-2017 Initiative Baseline and Landscape Report

March 5, 2018

The overall goal of MacArthur Foundation's Climate Solutions program is to work to ensure that global temperature rise stays well below 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels. The working theory of change for the Climate Solution program is that the United States, India, and China must lead the world's efforts to address climate change. Each nation will have its own style, approach, advances and setbacks, and goals, though collectively they must ensure a steep decline in current and future greenhouse gas emissions within the next decade. If these three nations exert leadership on climate change, then other nations will be encouraged to follow suit, and humanity will be on a path toward ensuring global temperature rise stays well below 2 degrees Celsius. Leadership can come from government, the private sector, and civil society. It will be demonstrated through policies, actions, and investments by the United States, India, and China that decrease the carbon-intensity of their respective economies, reduce greenhouse gas emissions (e.g. carbon dioxide, methane, and hydrofluorocarbons), and build political will and public demand for climate solutions.Beginning in 2016, Grassroots Solutions and M+R Strategic Services (the Foundation's evaluation and learning partner) partnered with the Climate Solutions program to evaluate its program.