I am Dr. Deogratias Lwezaura, again, Principal Economist in the Ministry of Agriculture, Tanzania. 
 
I am in agreement with Mario Pareja (Message 58) in the definition of outcome, impact and sustainability. However,  I want to allude to the definition and approaches derived from the outcome mapping tool developed by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). According to outcome mapping: success of a program or project is assessed or looked at the outcome level, of which significantly I am in agreement. Outcome is any observed changes in people's attitudes, behaviour, practices, activities, values, etc. This is the most important as far as technology and innovations are concerned. What matters is to change attitudes, minds, behaviour and practices of people in any interventions for innovation, then impact and sustainability will come into reality. Impact can be in short-term or long-term - such as increased yield, income, agricultural GDP, Total Factor Productivity. So, my thinking is that any assessment and any interventions should have more focus on changing mindset, attitudes, behavior - that seem to me as the most important.
 
Dr. Deogratias Lwezaura (PhD)
BSc, Agric economics, MSc, agric. economics, PhD, economics 
Ministry of Agriculture 
Dar es Salaam, 
Tanzania
Mobile: +255 273 997
e-mail: Lwezaura (at) hotmail.com

[The outcome mapping approach is mentioned, and an on-line IDRC reference is provided, in Section 2.2.2 of the conference background document...Moderator]. 
 
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