9.2 Introduction

Implementation analysis focuses on the relationship between the intervention and its context. It analyzes the causal relationships between the context, activities, and effects. All intervention implementations are shaped by local dynamics and characteristics. For example, interventions will encounter some barriers or, on the contrary, some facilitators specific to the implementation context. Sometimes the intervention will be modified during its implementation. Not all components will be implemented or completely implemented due to the local conditions (Brousselle & Champagne, 2004). Implementation analysis tries to understand the context’s influence on the intervention and its effects. It provides an explanation of the implementation and the results produced. It offers complementary information to an effect analysis. It can explain why a program worked or why it didn’t work, which is equally important (King et al., 1987; Patton, 1997; Saunders et al., 2005). We often hear that it opens the “black box” to show what happened in the intervention (Saunders et al., 2005). “Unless the programmatic black box is opened and its activities made explicit, the evaluation may be unable to identify strengths or suggest appropriate changes” (King et al., 1987, p. 9). Implementation is an important evaluation subject with questions meant to understand the conditions under which an intervention can be generalized to other contexts.