October 2008 – Monitoring and Evaluation NEWS

Participatory Impact Assessment: a Guide for Practitioners

The Feinstein International Center has been developing and adapting participatory approaches to measure the impact of livelihoods based interventions since the early nineties. Drawing upon this experience, the guide aims to provide practitioners with a broad framework for carrying out project level Participatory Impact Assessments (PIA) of livelihoods interventions in the humanitarian sector. Other than in some health, nutrition, and water interventions in which indicators of project performance should relate to international standards, for many interventions there are no ‘gold standards’ for measuring project impact. This guide aims to bridge this gap by outlining a tried and tested approach to measuring the impact of livelihoods projects. The tools in the guide have been field tested over the past two years in a major research effort, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and involving five major humanitarian NGOs working across Africa.

Download a PDF copy of the guide here

Is Empowerment Efficient?: A Data Envelopment Analysis of 260 Local Associations in Bangladesh

“This report presents one of the first formal analyses, outside the microfinance area, of the efficiency (as different from the effectiveness) of a development NGO program. The author [Aldo Benini], who invites comments and suggestions, offers this summary:

“Empowerment, a concept with a successful twenty-century cultural career, has been recognized for its relevance and, increasingly, effectiveness in liberating the poor, both at the individual and local community level. Efforts to create valid measurement tools have advanced, with a focus on causality, thus on effectiveness of empowerment programs. The efficiency of such programs, in other words considerations of optimal resource use, has not been investigated widely, with the exception of microfinance projects. Such programs are sheltered from efficiency pressures by the subsidies of aid chains and by the need to work out, in precarious social environments, organizational arrangements that produce credible empowerment effects in the first place. Continue reading “Is Empowerment Efficient?: A Data Envelopment Analysis of 260 Local Associations in Bangladesh”

GRDC Helpdesk Research Report: Monitoring and Evaluation of Participation in Governance

M&E of Participation in Governance: Please identify toolkits, methodologies and indicators for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of programmes aimed at improving governance (particularly of urban infrastructure/services). Please highlight methods of relevance to NGOs for monitoring and evaluating poor people’s participation in decision-making processes.

Helpdesk response
Key findings: There is generally very little information available on evaluating the effectiveness of the inclusive/participatory aspects of governance programmes. A particular difficulty is that there is a limited understanding of what improvements in governance actually look like. Nevertheless, some common principles identified in the literature include the need for both quantitative and qualitative indicators and the importance of focusing on purpose, processes, context and perception as well as outputs and outcomes.

Some common indicators for assessing the effectiveness of participatory programmes include:

the level of participation of different types of stakeholders
institutional arrangements to facilitate engagement
active engagement of stakeholders in the programme, and confidence and willingness to get involved in future
the extent to which participants are mobilising their own resources
transparent access to and use of resources
equality of access to decision-making
transformation of power through e.g. new relationships and access to new networks
level of trust and ownership of the process behavioural changes of stakeholders (values, priorities, aims)
level of self-reliance, self-management, capacity and understanding of the issues sustainability and ability to resolve conflict.

Full response: http://www.gsdrc.org/docs/open/HD549.pdf

Produced by the Governance and Social Development Resource Centre

Michael Scriven teaches “An Introduction to Evaluation” online

Date: Oct. 11-12 and Nov. 1-2, 2008
Venue: Claremont Graduate University, California

Four Days of Evaluation Training with a Master in the Field: Michael Scriven teaches “An Introduction to Evaluation”

Dr. Michael Scriven, one of the founders of Evaluation Science as a modern discipline, will be offering two 2-day courses on the foundations, power, and practice of evaluation. These courses will be taught in a live virtual classroom environment, and are open to the public. Thanks to the online nature of the course, these are available to anyone anywhere on the globe.

Save Your Seat Today: Total cost: $350 for four sessions

Full course descriptions are available on our website. Don’t miss your chance to learn firsthand from this giant in the field!

Meeting Schedule: Oct/11/08 and Oct/12/08 (Part I) Nov/1/08 and Nov/2/08 (Part II) 10 am to 1 pm PST

Technology Requirements: Computer microphone and speakers required. (Webcam not required, but can be a plus.)

India Swearingen
SBOS Outreach Assistant
School of Behavioral and Organizational Sciences
Claremont Graduate University
outreach@cgu.edu