Summary
This guide is about understanding the livelihood impacts of first-generation REDD+ projects. [...] In the core text of the guide, [the authors] focus on the basic building blocks of careful research design and causal mapping. [They] make the case that the best way to learn from projects is to use a mixed-methods approach that employs the most rigorous impact evaluation methods to quantify impacts and interprets those impacts in light of a theory of change. The guide includes a series of technical worksheets (Annex A) and an annotated bibliography of toolkits, methods and research relevant to understanding the social welfare impacts of REDD+ projects (Annex B). The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) is building the evidence base on REDD+ through the Global Comparative Study on REDD+ (GCS-REDD). This study is examining REDD+ at both national and project scales, in terms of its effectiveness at reducing carbon emissions as well as its efficiency, equity and co-benefits (the 3E+). Also included in the CD accompanying this guide are the GCS-REDD research instruments and accompanying technical guidelines that are being used to examine the consequences of REDD+ projects for social welfare. Although the focus of the guide is on REDD+ projects, the theoretical foundations and empirical methods described have relevance to a wide variety of conservation and development interventions. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.