Client
Rainforest Alliance,
BHP Foundation

Period
2021,
2024-2025

Services
Evaluation,
Partnership

Locations
Colombia, Indonesia,
Mexico, Peru, Global

Areas
Sustainable Agriculture & Food,
Climate Resilience,
Sustainable Business & Industry,
Governance and Social Accountability,
Social Justice and Empowerment,
Research to Policy and Practice

Collaborative Impact conducted the 2021 Mid-Term Evaluation and the 2024 End Evaluation of LandScale—an initiative for integrated landscape governance led by Rainforest Alliance in partnership with Conservation International and Verra. While the Mid-Term Evaluation focused on assessing LandScale’s performance, the End Evaluation adopted a more forward-looking business-focused approach aimed at adapting the partners’ strategy for improving and scaling LandScale in the next phase.

Both evaluations adopted a PIALA-based design, but with a different lens. The 2021 Mid-term Evaluation focused on assessing the performance of the LandScale partnership at the global level and the LandScale pilots in local landscapes in Mexico and Peru. Addressing evaluation questions related to the DAC/OECD criteria of relevance, coherence, effectiveness and efficiency, the evaluation conducted Constituent Voice interviews to gather evidence on predefined KPIs and targets.

The 2024 End Evaluation moved away from a traditional KPI-centred approach and instead adopted an explicitly forward-looking perspective to gather insights into LandScale’s use cases, engagement incentives, community benefits, and impact potential to prepare for scaling and strengthening its market position. Case study inquiries were conducted globally and in local landscapes in Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico, and Peru. The approach combined Outcome Harvesting, Constituent Voice, and Contribution Tracing for data gathering and analysis, along with the Value Proposition Canvas and Participatory Sensemaking for cross-validation and the prioritisation of strategic actions, all against a forward-looking Evaluative Theory of Change.

This End Evaluation highlights LandScale’s pivotal role in supporting bottom-up sustainable landscape initiatives to grow, mature, and sustain themselves—initiatives that will become increasingly vital as sustainability challenges and climate hazards intensify.

LandScale drives long-term sustainability and impact by fostering multi-stakeholder collaboration that mobilizes communities, governments, producers, businesses, and civil society around shared landscape sustainability goals.

Developed by Rainforest Alliance (RA) in partnership with Conservation International and Verra, the LandScale initiative promotes sustainable landscape development by empowering landscape stakeholders to collaboratively measure, learn and improve the environmental and socioeconomic sustainability conditions in their region. It supports communities, governments, producers, businesses, and civil society to formulate shared landscape development goals, build shared evidence on landscape-level health and sustainability, undertake collective actions to effectively address critical sustainability challenges, and attract investments for sustainable development initiatives.

Models and Methods Used

• Participatory Impact Assessment & Learning Approach (PIALA)

• Theory of Systems Change

• Participatory Sensemaking

• Constituent Voice

• Contribution Tracing

• Configurational Analysis

• Value Proposition Canvas

Reports

• Van Hemelrijck A, Cubides Alvarez P, Giordano N, Olmedo P, and Sri Hidayati N. (2025). Final Evaluation of Rainforest Alliance’s LandScale Initiative. Strengthening LandScale’s functionality and business viability, effectively engaging and benefiting communities, and clarifying LandScale’s UVP.

• Lee S, Castillo G, Van Hemelrijck A, and Lumaldo N. (2021). LandScale Mid-Term Evaluation.