Archive for June, 2009

Assessing aid impact: a review of Norwegian evaluation practice

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

Authors: Espen Villanger ; Alf Morten Jerve Published in: Journal of Development Effectiveness, Volume 1, Issue 2 June 2009 , pages 171 - 194 View Article: View Article (PDF) View Article (HTML) Warning: Unfortunately you have to pay to get access to this article in full Abstract This article ...

NAO Review – DFID: Progress in improving performance management

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

Publication date: 12 May 2009 . Full report (PDF - 366KB) Executive Summary 1.  This brief review of the Department for International Development's (DFID) performance management arrangements during 2008 is a follow-up to our 2002 VFM report on the same topic. It responds to a request from DFID's Accounting Officer to re-visit ...

Learning purposefully in capacity  development 

Saturday, June 13th, 2009

Why, what and when to measure? An opinion paper prepared for IIEP,  by Alfredo Ortiz and Peter Taylor, INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES (IDS), 25th July, 2008 >>Full text<< Abstract Many capacity development (CD) programs and processes aim at long?term sustainable change, which depends on seeing many smaller changes in at times almost invisible fields (rules, incentives, behaviours, power, coordination etc.). Yet, most evaluation processes of CD tend to focus on short? term outputs focused on clearly visible changes. This opinion paper will offer some ideas on how to deal with this paradox, by examining how monitoring and evaluation (M&E) does, or could, make a difference to CD.  It explores whether there is something different and unique about M&E of CD that isn’t addressed by predominant methods and ways of thinking about M&E, and which might be better addressed by experimenting with learning?based approaches to M&E of CD. Contents 1.  INTRODUCTION—WHAT SHOULD MONITORING &EVALUATION (M&E) TELL US ABOUT CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT (CD)? ................................. 1 2.  CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT MEANS AND ENDS—“WHAT ARE WE MEASURING AND WHEN SHOULD WE MEASURE IT?”  .... 5 2.1.  IN SEARCH OF PERFORMANCE AND IMPACT .. 5 2.2.  STANDING CAPACITY  .... 10 3.  WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM M & E OF CD DILEMMAS? ... 13 3.1.  DEVELOPMENT BEING A PROCESS ALREADY IN MOTION ........ 13 3.2.  LINEAR VERSUS COMPLEX ADAPTIVE SYSTEMS (CAS) THINKING, PROGRAMMING AND MEASUREMENT ....... 14 3.3.  ATTRIBUTION ... 17 3.4.  DONOR ACCOUNTING FOCUS VERSUS OPEN ...

Guidance on using the revised Logical Framework (DFID 2009)

Friday, June 12th, 2009

Produced by the Value for Money Department, FCPD, February 2009. >>Full text here<< "The principal changes to the logframe from the earlier (2008) 4x4 matrix are: •  The Objectively Verifiable Indicator  (OVI) box has been separated into its component elements (Indicator, Baseline and Target), and Milestones added. •  Means of Verification has been separated into ...

BOND Quality Group – Debate on logframes

Thursday, June 11th, 2009

Date: 2-5.30pm 11th June 2009 Venue: NCVO offices, N1 9RL, London For more information contact: Alex Jacobs <alex@keystoneaccountability.org> Motion: this meeting believes that the logframe is the right tool for managing most NGO work Logframes (Logical Framework Analysis) are very widely used in NGOs. But they split opinion sharply throughout the ...

BEYOND SUCCESS STORIES: MONITORING & EVALUATION FOR FOREIGN ASSISTANCE RESULTS

Monday, June 8th, 2009

EVALUATOR VIEWS OF CURRENT PRACTICE AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CHANGE. This paper was produced independently by Richard Blue, Cynthia Clapp-Wincek, and Holly Benner. MAY 2009 See  Full-Report or Policy_Brief (draft for comment) "Findings derive from literature review, interviews with senior USG officials and primarily interviews with and survey responses from ‘external evaluators’—individuals who conduct ...

A brief summary and links to IDEAS global assembly held in Jo-Burg, March 2009

Sunday, June 7th, 2009

provided by Denis Jobin (IDEAS VP  2006-2009), in a posting on the MandE NEWS email list... “Getting to Results: Evaluation Capacity Building and Development” The IDEAS Global Assembly, Birchwood Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa, March 17-20, 2009. The International Development Evaluation Association‘s Global Assembly focused on the issues involved in evaluation capacity building, and how ...

Metaevaluation revisited, by Michael Scriven

Friday, June 5th, 2009

An Editorial in Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation, Volume 5, Number 11, January 2009 In this short and readable paper Michael Scriven addresses "three categories of issues that arise about meta-evaluation: (i) exactly what is it; (ii) how is it justified; (iii) when and how should it be used? In the following, ...

Impact Evaluation of Population, Health and Nutrition Programs

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

Date: October 5 - 16, 2009 Venue:  Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi, India USAID's MEASURE Evaluation Project is pleased to announce the regional workshop on "Impact Evaluation of Population, Health and Nutrition Programs," for English speaking professionals. The workshop is sponsored by the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), New ...

A Regional Workshop on Monitoring and Evaluation of HIV/AIDS Programs

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

Date: August 3-14, 2009 Venue: Pretoria, South Africa USAID's MEASURE Evaluation Project is pleased to announce a training opportunity for the Anglophone Africa region. The School of Health Systems and Public Health at University of Pretoria in Pretoria, South Africa is offering a regional workshop on Monitoring and Evaluation of HIV/AIDS Programs. ...