Month: July 2009

Evaluation of Conflict Sensibility, Conflict Prevention and Peace Building Programmes

Date: 5-8 October 2009
Venue: Belgium

This annual course is an intermediate- to advanced level course based on the newest guidelines established by the OECD-DAC. It provides methodologies for carrying out assessments of conflict sensibility, conflict situations and, subsequently, evaluating the performance of peace-building and conflict prevention activities in a seminar format with focus on methods and challenges. The course is intended for those with experience in evaluations, and an interest in, and general experience of, conflict situations.

Based on Channel Research’s experience of running training programmes on evaluation, the participants in previous years have come from aid agencies (headquarters and field personnel), donor governments, consultancies and academia. This 4 days (5 nights) course is facilitated by Emery Brusset, Director of Channel Research, Tony Vaux, an expert on conflicts and Koenraad Denayer, expert in conflict sensibility and will take place at Orshof (www.orshof.be) near Brussels.

Please find attached the course outline and application form or on the link: http://www.channelresearch.com/peace-building/evaluation-of-peace-building. For any further information, please contact Maria Bak on bak@channelresearch.com.

You can find more information about Channel Research and our trainings on: www.channelresearch.com

Utilization-focused evaluation for agricultural innovation

Michael Quinn Patton and Douglas Horton
ILAC Brief No 22

Utilization-focused evaluation (UFE) is based on the principle that an evaluation should be judged by its utility. So no matter how technically sound and methodologically elegant, an evaluation is not truly a good evaluation unless the findings are used. UFE is a framework for enhancing the likelihood that evaluation findings will be used and lessons will be learnt from the evaluation process. This Brief, based on the book Utilization-focused evaluation, introduces this approach to evaluation, outlines key steps in the evaluation process, identifies some of the main benefits of UFE, and provides two examples of UFE in the context of programmes aimed at promoting agricultural innovation.

ALNAP 8th Review of Humanitarian Action

The ALNAP Review of Humanitarian Action series aims to advance analysis and understanding of key trends and issues relating to humanitarian learning and accountability as a means of supporting improvement in sector-wide performance. The 8th Review contains three in-depth studies:

Chapter 1: Counting what counts: performance and effectiveness in the humanitarian sector [http://www.alnap.org/pool/files/8rhach1.pdf

Chapter 2: Improving humanitarian impact assessment: bridging theory and practice [http://www.alnap.org/pool/files/8rhach2.pdf]

Chapter 3: Innovations in International humanitarian action [http://www.alnap.org/pool/files/8rhach3.pdf

The first study is on humanitarian performance and provides a wide-ranging overview of the performance agenda – at the heart of ALNAP’s work – drawing on experiences from the private, public and development sectors. The second study focuses on improving humanitarian impact assessment, and provides a comprehensive framework to help bridge theory and practice in operational settings. The third study is a systematic review of innovations in international humanitarian response, which presents ways to think about and strengthen innovations across the sector.

Key Messages from ALNAP’s Eighth Review of Humanitarian Action: [http://www.alnap.org/pool/files/8rhakm-eng.pdf
Key messages in French and Spanish will be available shortly.

Pan African Monitoring and Evaluation Conference

Date: 27 – 31 July 2009
Venue: Premier Hotel, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa

The leaders of Africa continue to grapple with service delivery and are looking for ways to improve their capabilities and help them to achieve tangible and sustainable results.

“Now, more than ever, governments are being held accountable to their constituents for their expenditure,” explains Hennie Oosthuizen, CEO of the African Information Institute. “It is prudent for Africa’s leaders to embrace monitoring and evaluation in order for them to accurately assess the quality and impact of their work against their strategic plan.”

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is a public management tool used to improve the way that government and other organizations achieve results. South African President, Jacob Zuma, has prioritised M&E through the establishment of an evaluation, monitoring and planning commission within the presidency, as well as in all government departments from national down to local level.
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