Itad, a nongovernmental organization focused on inclusive development, conducted an independent evaluation of the Climate Investment Funds’ (CIF) portfolio. The CIF’s portfolio represents a variety of sectors and projects in different contexts and stages of implementation. This brief explains the challenge of identifying transformational change and presents the frameworks that were developed to assess transformational change using “signals.”

Signals are system characteristics that demonstrate progress towards transformation. They can be identified at the early, interim, and advanced stages of each of the four dimensions of transformational change: relevance, systemic change, scaling, and sustainability. Some signals are universal to all types of development programs but many are specific to one sector. For this reason, Itad developed frameworks, including illustrative examples, for each of the CIF’s four thematic programs: clean technology, scaling renewable energy, climate resilience, and sustainable forests.