A useful article by Donna Loveridge to help think through evaluating systems change, in particular in narrowing down the right set of questions.

It’s important to find the right combination of questions in systems change that are simple and straightforward enough, but will also give you a deeper sense of what to then do about the data that’ uncovered. It’s important for them to relate to one another, to understand for example the informal institutions or practices shaping behaviour, the relationships between activities and outcomes – therefore helping us better understand what success looks like.

From my experience of systems change evaluations, the flow is also very important – we need to examine the foundation, landscape, and context first before exploring offshoots that can tell us more about how change looks in this system, and the factors affecting it.

For example, starting with the deeper, thought-provoking questions first can help you understand what you truly want to get out of the evaluation as a whole, from which a conceptual framework can be developed.