Monitoring and evaluation : All Articles

Moving beyond strategy to implementation: Africa Capacity Indicators Report (ACIR) 2012

13 April 2012

The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) launched the second of its flagship annual reviews on the state of capacity development in Africa on 3rd April. This year's report is devoted to the theme of capacity development in agricultural transformation and food security. One of the highlights is Ghana's upgrading to the 'High' category of the ACI composite index. The composite index measures the policy environment, processes for implementation, development results at country level and capacity development outcomes. In 2011 there were no countries classified under the 'High' category.

Evaluation for equitable development results

01 April 2012

This wide-ranging publication aims to contribute to the international debate on how to achieve equitable development results by conceptualizing, designing, implementing and using evaluations focused on human rights and equity. It does so by offering a number of strong contributions from 27 world-level experts and senior officers in institutions and governments dealing with development and evaluation. The authors also presented their contribution in a series of webinars that are available for download on the My M&E web portal. The book complements an earlier manual “ How to design and implement equity-focused evaluations,” published in 2011.

LenCD case stories database

24 March 2012

Case stories are an important and accessible way of sharing experiences and learning lessons. Many organisations publish case stories on their websites, but finding these stories has always required a good deal of research.

LenCD (Learning Network on Capacity Development), has been building up an index of case stories including material from the United Nations Development Programme, the Task Team on South–South Cooperation, SNV, the World Bank Institute, ECDPM, and other sources.

More than 500 case stories have now been catalogued and are searchable by country and by keyword on www.lencd.org/case-stories.

Eldis governance assessments CDROM now available: Request your free copy!

23 March 2012

Since 2008 the Eldis project at IDS Knowledge Services has hosted an online resource library, The Eldis Governance Assessments dossier as part of a long-term partnership with the UNDP Global Programme on Democratic Governance Assessments. To mark the end of this collaboration Eldis collated a selection of documents from the library on to a CDROM. The disc contains over 200 resources from a range of different experts, institutions and organisations that work in the field of governance assessments. It is designed to provide detailed, practical information drawing upon evidence about what works, and identifying innovations in approaches, policy and practice. Eldis is trying to identify potential users for the CDROMs by means of a short survey (click here to download). If you would like to receive a copy, or to nominate possible beneficiaries, please fill in the questionnaire and send it by email to Jason Collodi, Eldis Governance Editor (j.collodi@ids.ac.uk).

Dealing with complexity through Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation (Praxis Paper 26)

22 March 2012

Published by INTRAC in February 2012, this paper shares initial findings from an ongoing action research project, involving nine Dutch and one Belgian international development organisation, in collaboration with their Southern partners. The objective of the project is to explore if and how more ‘complexity oriented’ Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) approaches can help them to deal with diverse challenges that they encounter in their day-to-day practice.

Capacity, complexity and consulting: lessons from managing capacity development projects

20 March 2012

In recent years, the Research and Policy in Development (RAPID) programme of the UK-based Overseas Development Institute (ODI) has increasingly focused on managing large, multiyear processes, aimed at building the capacity of local institutions in developing countries to change the way they engage with policy. This paper draws  on the observations of RAPID staff involved in various projects as well as on primary documentation such as trip reports, after action reviews and project reports. It also includes a ‘ light-touch’ review of some of the grey and academic literature available on capacity development, complexity, managing social change and aid agency behaviour.

Towards common standards in development evaluation

18 March 2012

Few development organizations have the capacity to effectively evaluate their programmes. While there is broad agreement on the need to strengthen evaluation capacity, there has been little consensus so far on how to go about this. With this in mind, the Evaluation Capacity Development Group (ECDG) and the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation (JCSEE) developed a proposal to create an International Workshop Agreement (IWA) on evaluation capacity development that has been approved by the International Standardization Organization (ISO).  During a workshop in Geneva, Switzerland on 17-21 October 2011, ECDG brought together M&E practitioners and standards experts to create a voluntary, consensus-driven agreement towards this end. A report of the workshop, which was supported by IDRC, GIZ and the OECD/DAC Evaluation Network, is now available.

Islands of integrity: Identifying positive outliers

16 March 2012

Why have some public organizations or sectors seen a reduction in corruption (or a greater reduction than might be expected) while others have not? What explains the differences across or within countries and sectors? What are the political processes that drive corruption reduction and what policy lessons can be learned from studying cases where it has happened? This paper, the first in a series on this topic, is part of a project that seeks to try to answer those questions, and is being undertaken by the Developmental Leadership Program (DLP) in conjunction with Transparency International (TI). The paper outlines the way in which a ‘long list’ of cases has been identified by a careful statistical analysis of TI’s Global Corruption Barometer (GCB)

Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation: PRIA Global Partnership newsletter, Vol. 1, Issue 4

14 March 2012

The October 2011 issue of PRIA's Global Partnership newsletter contains a selection of papers that were presented and discussed in the International Conference on Monitoring and Evaluation: New Developments and Challenges, jointly organized by INTRAC, PSO and PRIA held on 14-16 June 2011 in the Netherlands.
 

New multi-language tool for measuring development effectiveness

10 March 2012

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has launched a learning tool meant to support trade unions worldwide in the application of the effectiveness principles in their everyday development cooperation practice. Known as the Trade Union Development Effectiveness Profile (TUDEP) the new tool is based on a questionnaire that is automatically evaluated and analysed in an active excel document. The aim is to contribute to the improvement of the quality and effectiveness of the development cooperation work of trade unions by helping partners to reflect on their practice as well as the principles and values that underpin their work. It also helps to facilitate the monitoring and evaluation of the progress in the use of the principles and guidelines for trade union development effectiveness.

Call for submission of countries' experiences with planning for and reporting on capacity development results (LenCD)

28 February 2012

Political processes and cultural and societal changes produce long-lasting transformation, but they are long-term and very complex in nature.The Learning Network on Capacity Development (LenCD) has launched a call for submission of experiences on how countries plan for, manage and report on results from investments in capacity development. LenCD is interested in understanding which approaches and methodologies country governments adopt, which innovations are out there, where the good practices are, and what other countries can learn from them. Ultimately, this collection of country driven approaches and methodologies could shed light into alternatives for donor-driven reporting requirements.

This call is restricted to government-funded projects for which national (as opposed to donors’) monitoring and evaluation approaches and methodologies are applied.The deadline for applications is 13 April 2012. 

How to write Terms of Reference for an evaluation

23 January 2012

Developing an accurate and well-specified terms of reference (ToR) is a critical step in managing a high-quality evaluation. The evaluation ToR document serves as the basis for a contractual arrangement with one or more evaluators and sets the parameters against which the success of the assignment can be measured. This practical guide from the World Bank's Independent Evaluation Group sets out a few basic principles and guidelines to help in the development of an effective evaluation.

Empowerment: A journey not a destination

19 January 2012

The DFID-funded Pathways of Women’s Empowerment Programme launched a synthesis report based on the findings and recommendations from five years of research in London on 13th January. The report, entitled 'Empowerment: A Journey not a Destination' draws on the collective works of 60 academic-activists in 12 countries on four continents. With six companion policy papers and case studies, the publication shares the latest learning and analysis on what works to enhance women’s empowerment in different parts of the world.

Assessing decentralization and local governance in West Africa

12 January 2012

This document examines a number of initiatives to build the capacity of local stakeholders to monitor and evaluate decentralisation and local governance processes in a participatory way. It includes case studies from Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali and Niger.

CAPACITY → RESULTS

30 November 2011

This new publication from the Learning Network on Capacity Development (LenCD) features case stories on capacity development and development results. The collection showcases how endogenous investments in capacity development have led, over time, to produce short, medium and long-term sustainable results.

Learning to evaluate capacity development: The making of 'Facilitating resourcefulness'

30 November 2011

This article is a supplement to Issue 43 of Capacity.org. It takes a look behind the scenes of an extensive evaluation of 26 case studies covering the support to capacity development of seven Dutch Development Partners under the coordination and partial responsibility of the Policy and Operations Evaluation Department (IOB) of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign affairs. The evaluation aimed to draw lessons on how to improve the effectiveness of future capacity development interventions.

3ie launches online database on systematic reviews

16 November 2011

The International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) has launched an online database of systematic reviews. This database provides policymakers and practitioners with easy access to systematic reviews that examine evidence on the effects of social and economic development interventions in low- and middle-income countries. It currently has over 100 reviews for many sectors, including agriculture, education, nutrition and health.

Humanitarian action in drought-related emergencies

11 November 2011

The Action Learning Network on Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action (ALNAP) has published a Lessons Paper that identifies seventeen key lessons for humanitarian agencies responding to droughts, on topics such as: early warning, targeting, working with government, food aid, water interventions and nutrition. It builds on the 2007 ALNAP/ProVention paper Slow-onset Disasters: Drought and food and livelihoods insecurity and a review of over 100 evaluative documents produced by humanitarian agencies in the period 2007-2011.

World Development Report 2012: Gender equality and development

03 October 2011

Policymakers and practitioners still face gaps in knowledge both in how gender equality matters for development and how best to incorporate these links in policy design. The World Development Report 2012 aims to bridge these gaps by building upon the growing body of multidisciplinary theory, evidence, and data on these links while highlighting the knowledge gaps that remain across the world in the context of the development process. The Report argues that closing gender gaps is not only a core development objective in its own right, it is also smart economics.

Evaluating capacity development

13 September 2011

Why evaluations seldom satisfy – could we do better?

As capacity development becomes mainstreamed in international development assistance programmes, demand for the systematic evaluation of capacity-development initiatives is growing. Doug Horton explains how the evaluation of capacity development can be improved.

A practitioners guide to results-oriented capacity development

07 September 2011

Capacity development is usually marketed as a ‘process of change’. However, there is little point to change for the sake of change. Results-Oriented Capacity Development. A Practitioner's Guide for Leaders of Organizations and Development Managers, published in August 2010 by the Austral Foundation, offers a simple and practical approach to leaders, programme designers and managers, advisers and facilitators for implementing a results-based approach to capacity devleopment.

When does rigorous impact evaluation make a difference?

01 September 2011

Different methods to estimate impacts are clearly suitable in different settings. But there is sharp disagreement about exactly when high standards of rigour in impact estimation are a luxury and when they are a necessity. Advocates of more rigorous impact evaluation argue that it can improve incentives for development agencies by increasing transparency and avoid the waste of scarce resources on attractive but ineffective projects. Advocates of more indirect and heuristic impact evaluation methods argue that high demands for rigor are often better suited to academics than practitioners, focus inordinate attention on easily quantifiable outcomes, take too long to yield results, and divert scarce resources away from interventions already known to work well. The Center for Global Development's Working Paper 225 (October 2010) seeks to contribute to this debate by dissecting the case for and against rigorous impact evaluation in one concrete and high-profile setting: the Millennium Village Project (MVP), a large, experimental intervention which aims to spark local economic development in fourteen village clusters across Africa.

Facilitating resourcefulness: Synthesis evaluation report of Dutch support for capacity development published

29 August 2011

A long-awaited evaluation report of Dutch support for capacity development carried out by the Policy and Operations Evaluation Department (IOB) of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been published. The report synthesizes the findings of seven separate evaluations carried out since 2008, and covering 26 individual case studies. The evaluation is the result of collaboration between IOB and six Dutch NGOs (Agriterra, Netherlands Commission for Environmental Assessment, Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, Partos, PSO, SNV) and the Ghana Ministry of Health.

Tracking health workers in Botswana

18 August 2011

In June 2011, Botswana's Ministry of Health began partnering with CapacityPlus to implement iHRIS Manage, a free, open source software (OSS) designed to maintain information on health worker deployment and attrition. CapacityPlus is a USAID-funded global project that focuses on strengthening human resources to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The goal of the Botswana programme is to track all health workers in the country, what districts they work in, and what cadre they belong to, in order to ensure that the right provider is at the right place with the right skills.

Designing a results-focused capacity development strategy

17 August 2011

In this guide published in August 2011, the World Bank Institute (WBI) presents operational steps to help a project leader or task team facilitate stakeholders in designing a capacity development strategy.

Taking responsibility for complexity

21 June 2011

Implementers of development policies and programmes must deal with interdependent problems, navigating nonlinear and often unpredictable change processes, involving a diverse range of stakeholders. The point of departure of this ODI discussion paper published in June 2011 is that the main problem is not (necessarily) intractable problems, or poor application of the right tools, but rather use of the wrong tools for the job. Rather than specify what problems should be considered ‘complex’, the paper aims to give readers the tools to decide for themselves whether an issue faced is complex, and to provide guidance on what to do if it is.

Micro methods in evaluating governance interventions

18 June 2011

Although billions of dollars have been invested on improving governance in developing countries in the past decade, few of the programmes that have received funding have been subjected to strong and rigorous impact evaluation. The aim of this discussion paper from the German Development Institute (DIE) is to answer three key questions: what are the features of governance interventions that make rigorous impact evaluation difficult and challenging? Second, what aspects of governance have been evaluated by rigorous quantitative methods? And third, what evaluation lessons can we learn from previous experience and what practical implications does it have?

Bringing African indigenous wisdom to organizational development and social learning processes

27 May 2011

Understanding Organizational Sustainability Through African Proverbs: Insights for Leaders and Facilitators (Practical Action, forthcoming 2011), authored by Chiku Malunga and Charles Banda, explores how the traditional wisdom that is contained in African proverbs can be applied to organizational development and change. Rediscovering the power of African proverbs opens up creative avenues to communicate organizational improvement efforts in a language that touches peoples hearts and motivates them to personal and organizational transformation. It also offers an entry point for much-needed cross cultural dialogue among individuals, organizations and societies in an increasingly diversified world.

Theories of change: A resource list

24 May 2011

Research to Action has developed a list of resources for researchers and organizations looking to develop a ‘theory of change’ for their work. The page is worth visiting for capacity development practitioners as many of the resources provide practical guidance on how to fit the different theoretical frameworks to a variety of practice contexts.

An innovative methodology for assessing multi-stakeholder networks

24 May 2011

In this informative blog post, Steve Waddell reflects on a recent study focusing on the effectiveness of multi-stakeholder relationships, which he describes as a notoriously under-developed field. The study was commissioned by the International Land Coalition, a multi-stakeholder network aiming to promote secure and equitable access to, and control over, land through advocacy, dialogue, knowledge sharing and capacity building. The blog explains the unique methodology developed by iScale (a global network that works to advance the effectiveness of social change efforts through process, methodological and technological innovations) for conducting such assessments.

Virtual evaluation writeshop 2011

16 May 2011

BetterEvaluation - a new interactive web facility that allows those dealing with evaluations as designers, commissioners or implementers to make informed methodological choices - seeks participants for its first-ever "Virtual Writeshop" on evaluation, to run between May and September 2011. Interested evaluation professionals with experience in diverse aspects of evaluation - including design, collection, sensemaking and reporting - are invited to participate.

Inaugural Africa Capacity Indicators Report published

29 April 2011

The 2011 Africa Capacity Indicators Report (ACIR) is the new flagship publication of the African Capacity Building Foundation. It aims to track the evolution of African capacity across space and time. The report builds upon and augments the existing body of knowledge to help optimize the use of capacity development strategies, with particular attention to Africa's post-conflict states.

"Evaluation revisited" workshop report published

12 April 2011

This report published in March 2011 summarizes the outputs of the Conference ‘Evaluation Revisited: Improving the Quality of Evaluative Practice by Embracing Complexity’’, which took place in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in May 2010. It also adds additional insights and observations related to the themes of the conference that have emerged at follow-up events.

Making evaluations matter

01 April 2011

“ Too often evaluations are shelved, with very little being done to bring about change within organizations that requested the evaluation in the first place." This new guide published by the Wageningen University Research Centre for Development Innovation explains how to maximize the usefulness of evaluations. It explains some of the conceptual issues involved and discusses how the evaluation process can help contribute to changing mindsets and empowering stakeholders.

The benefit of hindsight: Lessons on improving development effectiveness

01 April 2011

Impact and Aid Effectiveness: Mapping the Issues and Their Consequences, is a free-to-download compilation of analytical work spanning three decades. One of the interesting insights that can be gained from such a historical perspective is a better understanding of how some ongoing preoccupations have been shaped by their proximity to other debates or policy concerns. 

How can donors best support the strengthening of domestic accountability in developing countries?

23 March 2011

Rather than encouraging the adoption of particular models of governance, donors should seek to nurture the environment of transparency and accountability out of which appropriate solutions to the challenges of development might emerge, led and owned by local stakeholders. This is one of the key messages from a panel discussion on domestic accountability during the European Development Days in Brussels, on 6th December 2010. It is also the focus of a new ECDPM discussion paper that explores how emerging capacity development perspectives can help foster democratic ownership.
 

Online discussion: Is capacity development on the brink of maturity?

21 March 2011

We are pleased to invite you to participate in an online discussion on some of the issues tackled in "Capacity Development in Practice", the resource volume for practitioners.

Scaling up in development cooperation

21 March 2011

For over 30 years one of the core tasks of the German international cooperation agency GIZ's core tasks has been to support people, organizations and societies in developing and emerging countries as they undergo the learning and change processes needed to achieve capacity development. Specifically, this entails supporting people in acquiring technical expertise, managerial competence and performance capability. And it means supporting organizations, public institutions and private companies in making their organizational, management and production structures more efficient and effective. 

Evaluation of capacity-building impacts of Belgian NGO Partnerships

04 March 2011

This report describes the results and conclusions of the evaluation of Belgian NGO partnerships and capacity development (CD) commissioned by the Belgian Directorate-General of Development Cooperation and carried out by a consortium led by HIVA at the University of Leuven. 

Review of Impact and Effectiveness of Transparency and Accountability Initiatives, Institute of Development Studies (2010)

18 January 2011

As traditional forms of state-led accountability have been increasingly found to be inadequate, thousands of multi-stakeholder and citizen-led approaches have come to the fore, to supplement or supplant them. Despite their rapid growth, and the growing donor support they receive, little attention has been paid to the impact and effectiveness of these new transparency and accountability initiatives. Responding to this gap, this report, based on a review of literature and experience across the field with special focus on five sectors of transparency and accountability work, aims to improve understanding among policy-makers and practitioners of the available evidence and identify gaps in knowledge to inform a longer-term research agenda. 
 

People-centred M&E: Aligning Incentives So Agriculture Does More to Reduce Hunger (Special Issue, November 2010)

14 December 2010

After more than two decades of hiatus agriculture is back on the agenda of donors and governments. Issues of harmonisation, results orientation, mutual accountability and payments for performance have become mantras in development assistance. Placing intended beneficiaries at the centre stage is the new motto. But the articles in this seminal IDS Bulletin provide systematic evidence to lay open the widely shared secret among development practitioners that the cupboard of agricultural monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is bare. Agricultural M&E has been weak at best. Where it exists it has concentrated on tools and methods, a narrow focus on project performance ratings and 'rates of return' with accountability upwards to donors rather than downwards to the intended beneficiaries of programmes.

Facilitating WASH forums

08 December 2010

Online expert roster and study database on impact evaluation

08 November 2010

3ie is a US-based organization that seeks to improve the lives of poor people in low- and middle-income countries by providing, and summarizing, evidence of what works, when, why and for how much.

Conference: Perspectives on impact evaluation

08 November 2010

This conference, which took place in Cairo, Egypt from 29 March-2 April 2009, addressed how evaluations could best be conducted and used to inform policies, strategies and interventions that benefit the poor. Participants included policy makers, practitioners and other stakeholders in evaluation and in development from all over the world. The conference was co-hosted by the African Evaluation Association (AfrEA), the Networks of Networks on Impact Evaluation (NONIE) and the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3IE).

Enhancing learning in the M&E process

29 October 2010

The Ceja Andina project has shown that with Outcome Mapping it is possible to engage a wide range of stakeholders in monitoring and evaluation that can satisfy the need for accountability as well as learning about the process of change.

Strengthening systems for results-based M&E

29 October 2010

The World Bank’s BRAVA programme is assisting the government of Brazil in the development of systems for results-based M&E. Strengthening these systems from both the top down and the bottom up can have considerable demonstration effects.

Sharing local governance M&E tools

29 October 2010

The members of REDL, a network of development actors working in the field of decentralisation and local government in West Africa, are documenting, analysing and sharing their methods and lessons learned. Now no one has to reinvent the wheel.

Fostering African M&E expertise

29 October 2010

Oumoul Ba Tal is chair of the African Evaluation Association (AfrEA). She believes that evaluations can contribute to development, provided they go beyond the level of projects and programmes.

The managing for impact approach

29 October 2010

There are increasing calls for new M&E approaches that encourage learning and participation. The authors explain how the managing for impact approach places M&E at the centre of learning and management processes.

Embracing innovative practice

29 October 2010

Many years of experience in the field had led David Watson to question the value of monitoring and evaluation. Recently, a range of innovative to M&E approaches has given him new hope. Here he explains why.

Participatory video for monitoring and evaluation

29 October 2010

Participatory video lends itself well to project monitoring and evaluation. Chris Lunch, director of Insight, describes how communities are using video to capture and interpret stories of significant change.

Capacity for M&E: moving beyond results-based management

29 October 2010

Measuring the results and outcomes of our work is part and parcel of the work we do. One reason is that we have to report to our directors and our donors what it is we actually achieve. If a project or programme is based on results-based management (RBM), the methodology allows us to do a results-based evaluation. In other words, we use the results as the starting point for the evaluation, and then determine to what extent the programme has achieved them.

Focusing on spirit

29 October 2010

Barry Kibel has designed and implemented evaluations for complex programmes. Here he explains journey mapping, its use in monitoring and evaluation, and how it can contribute to capacity development.

To Know is to be empowered

11 October 2010

If you want to effectively tackle gender inequality, you need to be able to measure it and identify its underlying causes. Putting local governments in the know is half the battle.

Tracking progress in advocacy

05 October 2010

This INTRAC paper, published in December 2009, introduces the scope of, and rational for, engaging in advocacy work as part of development interventions

The wisdom of crowds? An innovative development experiment called to account

04 October 2010

Can the internet phenomenon of “crowdsourcing,” or collective intelligence, which has been successfully applied in such areas as open source software development and medical solutions, also be chanelled to promoting rural development?

Embracing complexity

03 June 2010

The Evaluation for Development conference held in Utrecht, the Netherlands, from 20-21 May 2010, focused on how 'embracing complexity' can help to improve the quality of evaluative practice. The conference explored concrete evaluation practices that reconcile an understanding of complex societal change processes with quality standards, including rigorous, ethical concerns, appropriateness and feasibility. 

Monitoring flexible funding: navigating the challenges

14 September 2009

This INTRAC paper examines the debate that has emerged around the problems encountered in funding flexibly whilst trying to meet the demands for more results-based grant management (often from governments).

New book tackles M&E for evidence-based policymaking

05 February 2009

This book brings together the vision, lessons learned and good practices from twenty-one stakeholders on how country-led monitoring and evaluation systems can enhance evidence-based policy making. It builds on a previous publication "Bridging the gap. The role of M&E in evidence-based policy making" published in 2008.

The book analyses diverse country-led monitoring and evaluation processes by exploring the following questions: • Why is M&E not playing its role to its full potential? • What are the factors, in addition to the quality and adequacy of the evidence, influencing the decision-making processes in organizations and societies? • How can the uptake of evidence in decision-making be increased?

The publication is a partnership of UNICEF, the World Bank, UN Economic Commission for Europe, IDEAS (International Development Evaluation Association), IOCE (International organization for Cooperation in Evaluation), DevInfo and MICS. A presentation with key findings is also available.