Month: June 2008

Impact assessment: Drivers, dilemmas and deliberations

Prepared for Sightsavers International by Jennifer Chapman & Antonella Mancini
jenny.chapman@tiscali.co.uk antonella.mancini@blueyonder.co.uk 9 pages 10th April 2008

“This paper investigates key debates and issues around impact assessment and performance measurement for UK development NGOs. It was originally written for Sightsavers to stimulate debate and thinking among staff, Board and senior management team. This version has been amended to be relevant for a wider NGO audience. It is based on the authors’ many years experience, reading of key documents and 11 interviews with informants selected because they are inluential in these debates and/or they have first hand experience of trying to implement impact assessment or performance measurement systems within NGOs. The paper has been put together in a relatively short period of time and does not claim to be based on rigorous research.”

Training on Evaluation of Sustainability, by EASY-ECO Saarland

Date: 20th to 24th October, 2008
Venue: Saarbrücken, Germany

The next training opportunity within the EASY-ECO series of conferences and training courses will be held from 20th to 24th October, 2008 in Saarbrücken, Germany. The training will focus on the areas of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of regional development programmes and evaluation of climate protection initiatives, water management programmes and environmental education. This is the first training with a new structure: an e-learning phase lasting 3-4 months, followed by a 5-day on-site case training (for details, see http://www.sustainability.eu/easy/?k=training&s=germanycourse). Continue reading “Training on Evaluation of Sustainability, by EASY-ECO Saarland”

The material and political bases of lived poverty in Africa: insights from the Afrobarometer

The lived poverty index: strongly related to measurement of political freedoms
Authors: M. Bratton (ed)
Publisher: Afrobarometer, 2008
Full text of document

(Via Eldis Development Reporter)

Abstract: The Afrobarometer has developed an experiential measure of lived poverty called the Lived Poverty Index (LPI). It measures how frequently people go without basic necessities during the course of a year. This is a portion of the central core of the concept of poverty not captured by existing objective or subjective measures.

As an individual measure, the LPI is found to be valid and reliable. However, it exhibits only moderate external validity when compared with absolute measures of national wealth: contrary to what appears to be the consensus among economists, GDP growth is accompanied by increases in lived poverty. Also, there is only a weak relationship between LPI and measures of human development or income poverty.

At the same time, lived poverty is strongly related to country level measures of political freedom. This supports Sen’s (1999) arguments about development as freedom and Halperin et al’s (2005) arguments about the “democracy advantage” in development. This paper concludes that this measure does well at measuring the experiential core of poverty, and capturing it in a way that other widely used international development indicators do not.

Glossary of Key Terms in Evaluation and Results Based Management

(via Xceval email list)

We are pleased to inform you that the Arabic version of the DAC Evaluation Network’s “Glossary of Key Terms in Evaluation and Results Based Management,” has been released. The glossary is now available in thirteen languages! The multilingual glossary serves to promote shared understandings and facilitate joint work in evaluation. The strong demand for new versions of the Glossary is an indication of its relevance for DAC members and other development partners around the world. The Arabic Glossary was produced in collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank and the African Development Bank.

You can find a video link in English and Arabic presenting the new glossary on our website. The interviews were held at the recent launch event at the African Development Bank. The Islamic Development Bank will make an official launch with the Arab co-ordination group later in the month of June.

The Secretariat

Event: Navigating Complexity – An innovation dialogue

Date: May 26-27, 2008
Venue: Wageningen International, Netherlands.

[Ten presentations given at this event are now available online]

What does complexity thinking mean for development interventions? This innovation dialogue offers a unique opportunity for exploring how emerging insights from the complexity sciences and systems thinking, combined with field practice, could reshape assumptions about the design, monitoring and evaluation of development work. What does it mean to shift from compliance with external standards to investing in capacities for navigating complexity? Continue reading “Event: Navigating Complexity – An innovation dialogue”

Two MSC workshops: for first time and experienced users

Date: 24-28 November 2008
Venue: New Delhi – India

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We would like to inform you of the following forthcoming, PRAXIS-promoted training workshops:

  • Innovations in the use of the “Most Significant Change” (MSC) Technique. REVIEW WORKSHOP: For Experienced Users. 24-25 November 2008, New Delhi – India. More info
  • The “Most Significant Change” (MSC) Technique. TRAINING WORKSHOP: For first time users 27-28 November 2008, New Delhi – India. More info

Rick Davies – the developer of this Participatory Monitoring & Evaluation technique – and Veronica Magar – Director of REACH – will facilitate.

If you are interested and want to pre-book your place, please, send an email to raffaellac@praxisindia.org (specifying which of the two workshops you’d like to attend)

Looking forward to hearing from you,
Raffaella Catani
PRAXIS, Institute for Participatory Practices
C-75 South Extension, Part II
New Delhi 110049
Ph. (+91) 011- 41642348/51

Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness

Date: 2-4 September 2008
Venue: Accra, Ghana,

In September 2008, ministers from over 100 countries, heads of bilateral and multilateral development agencies, donor organizations, and civil society organizations from around the world will gather in Accra for the Third High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (2-4 September). Their common objective is to help developing countries and marginalized people in their fight against poverty by making aid more transparent, accountable and results-oriented. The Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (Third HLF) will:

  • review progress in improving aid effectiveness
  • broaden the dialogue to newer actors
  • chart a course for continuing international action on aid effectiveness

Poverty and environment indicators

Produced by: Capability and Sustainability Centre, University of Cambridge (2008)

The aim of this report is to explain technical aspects in using and developing Poverty & Environment indicators (P&E) by providing a toolbox that will enable the readers to use indicators to mainstream environment into poverty reduction strategies. The document targets policy-makers working with poverty and environment issues in Africa.

The main messages of this document include:

  • poverty reduction strategies needs to encompass the environment in order for it to be successful
  • human development can be promoted with moderate increases in countries’ ecological footprint
  • general human well-being and general environment indicators are not particularly focused on the links between poverty and environment
  • the existing P&E indicators can only partially solve the problems of ‘integration’ between their different dimensions

This report recommends the use of ‘adjustment factors’, which can take into account the nature and extent of environmental problems and ‘regression analysis’ to develop P&E indicators. It proposes a new methodology that enables the development of indicators to be: relational, objective and multidimensional.

Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=36898

[This notice was copied from the ELDIS POVERTY REPORTER 3 June 2008]

National Audit Office: Good Governance Review on DFID’s Monitoring and Evaluation Arrangements

The following information has been sent out by email

—————————-

“The role and remit of the NAO

The NAO is tasked with examining the economy, effectiveness and efficiency
with which government departments have used public money. Our review will
examine DFID’s monitoring and evaluation framework and whether it
influences decision making and operational activities. In this instance,
our work will take the form of a management report to DFID, which will be
publicly available but not aimed at Parliament or the media.
Continue reading “National Audit Office: Good Governance Review on DFID’s Monitoring and Evaluation Arrangements”

Online M&E training: Additional sources

Solape Bamijoko, Gede Foundation, Abuja, Nigeria has identified these two sites providing online M&E training:
  • The Inter-American Development Bank website. http://www.iadb.org/int/rtc/ecourses/
    • “In an effort to train a critical mass of civil servants throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, the Bank is currently developing a number of electronic courses which are accessible from the IDB web-page, free of charge. Courses currently available are The Logical Framework for Project Design, Monitoring and Evaluation of Projects, Environmental Impact Assessment, and Institutional and Organizational Analysis.”

Continue reading “Online M&E training: Additional sources”

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