The MacArthur Foundation’s On Nigeria Big Bet programme supported Nigerian-led efforts to reduce corruption by promoting transparency, participation, and accountability.
The programme supported collaboration, capacity building, and – in alignment with the Foundation’s Just Imperative – the application of a gender equity and social inclusion (GESI) lens. Between 2015 and 2024, On Nigeria awarded 340 grants worth $154.1 million to 135 organizations across two programming phases: On Nigeria 1.0 (2016-2019) and On Nigeria 2.0 (2020-2024).
Our role
As the Evaluation and Learning Partner for On Nigeria, our team guided the co-creation of the programme’s strategy, theory of change, and learning framework, while also completing a final evaluation of the full ten-year portfolio.
Over five and a half years, our team in Nigeria and the United States worked closely with the MacArthur Foundation, its partners, and grantees to generate and use evidence for learning and decision-making. We used participatory and development-focused approaches to help stakeholders interpret findings, identify challenges and lessons, and adapt programmes based on data and insights.
Between 2020 and 2024, we produced 22 impact and learning studies for the Foundation and its partners. Each study was supported by participatory learning and sensemaking workshops that enabled stakeholders to discuss findings, share perspectives, and identify actions for improvement.
In 2025, we designed and delivered a participatory evaluation of the full On Nigeria programme, using mixed-methods and systems-thinking approaches. Grantees and partners helped shape the evaluation by contributing to its design, selecting key evaluation questions, and co-creating the recommendations presented in the final report.
Outcomes and impact
The final evaluation report was presented to the MacArthur Foundation Board in December 2025 and directly informed the design of the Foundation’s next programme in Nigeria.
You can access all impact and learning studies produced during On Nigeria 2.0 through the On Nigeria publications page.
To learn more about our approach and partnership with the Foundation, read “Adaptive Learning Partnerships in Action: Insights and Reflections from the MacArthur Foundation’s Big Bet On Nigeria“, published in the Summer 2026 edition of The Foundation Review and co-authored by Michael Moses, philanthropy lead at Itad, and Julian Williams, Senior Evaluation Officer at the MacArthur Foundation.
