IDSI Network Analysis Supplement

Abstract

As part of iDSI’s MEL strategy, baseline and endline social network and network health surveys were implemented to measure changes in the iDSI global network in terms of who is in the network, how relationships have shifted over time, how the network structure has changed over time, and the contribution of iDSI activities to these changes. Why is it important to evaluate iDSI’s global network? iDSI was established as a global network to leverage the comparative advantages and diverse expertise of organisations and individuals around the world to collaboratively address and make progress on complex issues related to priority setting for health. This is exactly how networks should be used; or how complex global issues ought to be solved. However, too often global ‘networks’ are established without careful monitoring and evaluation (M&E) that could optimise their results. Not only should we track the outputs and outcomes of networks, we should identify ways to leverage the network, for example through optimising the composition of actors and their expertise, or by building networks that are better structured to achieve objectives such as knowledge exchange or innovation. While routine M&E can help track certain network-specific indicators (e.g. the geographical representation of network actors), social network analysis (SNA) provides a full mapping of the network and measures its structure and how it is changing over time. The insights SNA provides enables iDSI and its partners to more specifically intervene on the actual network structure and consider how to directly shape the network’s structure to optimise impact.