The International Council on Human Rights Policy has produced two documents under the above named project(See here for details of the project):

• No Perfect Measure: Rethinking Evaluationand Assessment of Human Rights Work. Report of a Workshop, January 2012. Contents: Introduction and Context,,A Brief History,,NGO Hesitations, The Shift, Assessing the Impact of Policy Research, Impact Assessment in the context of Advocacy, Impact Assessment in the context of Capacity Building and Development, The Donor perspective, Third-Party Perspectives—Building a bridge, A note on integrating Human Rights Principles into development work, References, Selected Additional Bibliographic Resources
• Role and Relevance of Human Rights Principles in Impact Assessment: An Approach Paper. July 2011. Contents: Introduction and Context, A Brief History, NGO Hesitations, The Shift, Assessing the Impact of Policy Research, Impact Assessment in the context of Advocacy
  Impact Assessment in the context of Capacity Building and Development
  The Donor perspective, Third-Party Perspectives—Building a bridge
  A note on integrating Human Rights Principles into development work
  References, Selected Additional Bibliographic Resources

PS 14 February 2012: It appears the ICHRP website is not working at present. I have uploaded a copy of the No Perfect Measure paper here

Date: 27 October 2011
Venue: Bonn, Germany

Check the Impact Toolbox: http://www.ngo-ideas.net/impact_toolbox/ and
the Field Experience: http://www.ngo-ideas.net/field_experiences/

NGO-IDEAs also has an advisory role to VENRO, the German development NGO’s umbrella body. VENRO recently published a position paper “Quality before Proof” that sets “empowerment” as one of four purposes of impact observation. http://www.venro.de/evaluation.html. The symposium takes place in the wider context of this paper that has generated some discussion in Germany.

Kind regards

Bernward Causemann/NGO-IDEAs

–
Bernward Causemann, www.causemann.org

Venue: University of Copenhagen
Date: May 21-23, 2012
Invitation and Call for Papers to International Workshop
Centre for Social Science Development Research

The Evaluation Department of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Centre for Social Science Development Research at Institute of Food and Resource Economics at the University of Copenhagen are pleased to invite you to submit an abstract (preparatory to a full paper) to an International Workshop, which will focus on methodological and practical considerations when using case studies in evaluations of development. The workshop will be organised in collaboration with the journal Evaluation:the international journal of theory, research and practice.

A large number of development evaluations are broader, learning-oriented evaluations based on cases at country, sector or project level. A key challenge in these evaluations is how to deal with the question of external validity. Within the field of development evaluation the methodological and practical debate on how to address this issue has been relatively limited.

The Organising Committee of the International Workshop is seeking abstracts that address theoretical/methodological challenges as well as more practical experiences when using case studies in learning-oriented development evaluations. Abstracts could e.g. focus on:

• Case sampling, analytical strategies and external validity
• Experience with balancing concerns for relevance and learning with analytical depth
• Meta, synthetic and comparative studies
• Theoretical and methodological frameworks
•  Country versus donor produced case studies
•  Integrating quantitative and qualitative methods

The workshop will be focussed around international development assistance and how it might be best evaluated through case studies. Whilst the Organising Committee is interested in lessons that can be learned from other fields, priority will be given to development assistance oriented contributions that also have something innovative to say about the use of case studies
and to original methodological contributions that can be linked with development cooperation.

Different types of evaluation experience are welcome: From evaluations dealing with different projects, to multi-country thematic evaluations and meta or synthesis studies. Similarly, presentations from participants with different perspectives (evaluation officers, researchers, evaluators, evaluation users) are encouraged, so as to enhance the discussion on the strengths and weaknesses, implications and prerequisites of using case studies.

Abstracts should be 150-200 words (1 page) in length, and should contain the title, purpose of the paper/presentation, methodology, and anticipated results or conclusions. Abstracts must contain enough information for the referees to evaluate your contributions. Please make sure to provide name of author(s), affiliation, senior author’s title, e-mail address, mailing address, and phone and fax numbers. The number of participants will be limited to 60.

The following deadlines apply:

• Abstract submission (in Word or PDF format): December 15, 2011
• Notification of acceptance of Abstract: February 15, 2012
• Registration deadline: May 4, 2012

Submission: Please e-mail your abstract or paper to olewin@um.dk

Note: The workshop will not be able to cover the costs of plane tickets and accommodation for participants.

Contact Information:
Ole Winckler Andersen
E-mail: olewin@um.dk
Telephone: +45 3392 0236 (cell phone: +45 2338 6328)
Postal Address:
Evaluation Department
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Asiatisk Plads 2
DK – 1448 Copenhagen K
Denmark

Organizing Committee

Ole Winckler Andersen, Danida’s Evaluation Department
Henrik Hansen, University of Copenhagen
Elliot Stern, Evaluation: the international journal of theory, reserch and practice

Date:  WEDNESDAY 12 OCTOBER 2011
Venue: BIS Conference Centre, Victor ia, London

Objectives:

• To examine the key contributions of evaluation to international development
• To provide an update on the accountability framework for evaluation in the UK
• To explore the role of professional development in building evaluation capacity

THIS ONE DAY EVENT will raise important issues in the world of development and evaluation. The workshop will offer the chance to hear from senior practitioners and will cover the theory and reality as experienced in many contexts. It will update the accountability framework with particular reference to HM Treasury Guidance for Evaluation (the Magenta Book).

A major challenge for organisations is to develop their own staff as evaluation professionals. UKES will offer international insights as well as an update on its own guidance. DFID will report on how it is going about building its own community of evaluators. These will be presented alongside those from the NGO and voluntary sector. The day is relevant to all individuals and organisations with an interest and experience of development and evaluation, including: Donors, Consultants, Public and private sector representatives, Academics, A wide range of professionals

Programme
The workshop will commence at 09.00 and close at 17.30.
Highlights will include:

• Updates on the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI),  HM Treasury’s Magenta Book and the Cross Government Evaluation Group (CGEG)
• How to evaluate in fragile states, conlict environments and other challenging situations
•  Case studies of evaluation at different levels: national and local,  sector specific
• How to build professional capacity: use of accreditation and adapting to it a range of organisations at government and civil society level

Registration
The workshop will be held at the BIS Conference Centre, 1 Victoria, Street, London SW1H OET.
The registration fees are as follows:
UKES members  £75.00 + VAT
Non-members  £100.00 + VAT
Registration and the full programme for the workshop are available from the website  www.profbriefings.co.uk/depwf
For any further information, contact the workshop administrators:
Professional Brieings
37 Star Street
Ware
Hertfordshire SG12 7AA
Telephone:
01920 487672
Email:  london@profbrieings.co.uk

Date: 17-21 October 2011
Venue: John Knox Centre, Geneva, Switzerland

Dear Colleagues:

A proposal prepared by the Evaluation Capacity Development Group (ECDG) and the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation (JCSEE), in partnership with the International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation (IOCE), to create an International Workshop Agreement (IWA) on evaluation capacity development (ECD) was recently approved by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Everyone agrees that there is an acute need to develop evaluation capacity. However, resolution of the problem has not been possible because there is no agreement on HOW to develop evaluation capacity. Some think that individual evaluators should be better trained through workshops and seminars.  Others think that organizations should be redesigned to enable the achievement of a shared vision for evaluation. And, yet others think that evaluation should be institutionalized in national governments to promote accountability to their citizens.

We are now organizing a workshop that will be held 17-21 October 2011 at the John Knox Centre, Geneva, Switzerland.  The workshop will use a systems approach to develop an IWA that integrates ECD at the individual, organizational and national levels.  I am particularly pleased to inform you that a leading expert in systems-based evaluation, Bob Williams, has consented to facilitate the event.

As per the procedures explained in Annex SI of the Supplement to the ISO/IEC Directives, ANY organization with an interest in evaluation capacity development can register to send a representative to the workshop to participate in the preparation of this important document. Limited support may be available.  To learn more about the workshop and to register please go to http://www.ecdg.net/

Best Regards,

Karen Russon
President
Evaluation Capacity Development Group

Date: 29th March 2011
Venue: in the Netherlands

NOW CANCELLED. Further information will be provided when available

With pleasure we would like to announce an expert seminar with Dr. Michael Quinn Patton on ‘Developmental evaluation – new kid on the evaluation block’.

Developmental evaluation is based on insights from complex dynamic systems, uncertainty, nonlinearity, and emergence. World renowned, award-winning evaluation expert Dr. Michael Quinn Patton will discuss the developmental evaluation framework as detailed in his book `Developmental Evaluation: Applying Complexity Concepts to Enhance Innovation and Use’. Patton will illustrate how developmental evaluation can be used for a range of purposes: ongoing program development; adapting effective principles of practice to local contexts; generating innovations and taking them to scale; and facilitating rapid response in crisis situations.

Participant discussions will focus on development evaluation’s value for the development sector. How is developmental evaluation different from existing practice, ongoing reflective monitoring – in development? What new insights can help strengthen the utility of evaluation for development?

During the morning, Dr. Patton will explain developmental evaluation and illustrate it with many examples from his own experience. In the afternoon, participants will debate the practical application of developmental evaluation in development, based on participants’ existing evaluation questions.

For those interested and not to far away around that time, please do come and join this interesting event!

For more info and registration: http://www.cdi.wur.nl/UK/newsagenda/agenda/DevelopmentalEvaluation_MichaelPatton
We suggest to make an early hotel booking (http://www.hofvanwageningen.nl/?language=en) as the hotel is already quite full. Also indicate to the hotel that you are booking a room for the ‘expert seminar with Patton’.

Looking forward to meeting you here!

Cecile Kusters (CDI), Irene Guijt (Learning by Design), Jan Brouwers (Context, international cooperation) and Karel Chambille (Hivos)
Kind regards / Hartelijke groeten,

Cecile Kusters
Participatory Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation – Managing for Impact
Multi-Stakeholder Processes and Social Learning
Centre for Development Innovation
Wageningen UR
P.O. Box 88, 6700 AB Wageningen, The Netherlands
Tel. +31 (0)317 481407 (direct), +31 (0)317 486800 (reception)
Fax +31 (0)317 486801
e-mail cecile.kusters@wur.nl
www.cdi.wur.nl
PPME resource portal: http://portals.wi.wur.nl/ppme/
MSP resource portal: http://portals.wi.wur.nl/msp/
www.disclaimer-uk.wur.nl

Date: June 7, 2010 to July 2, 2010
Venue: Ottawa, Canada

“Information on the 2010 International Program for Development Evaluation Training is now available at www.ipdet.org and on-line registration is open.

This year marks IPDET’s tenth-year anniversary and we are very excited by the way this year’s program is taking shape. Once again this year, the Core program will offer eighty hours of instruction and learning in the fundamentals of development evaluation. Participants will also have more than 25 workshops to choose from in the two weeks that follow the Core, including several dynamic new workshops that will be of interest to you and your organization:

• Building Evaluation within Ministries: Lessons Learned and Best Practices in Industrialized and Developing Countries– taught by Frederic Martin, co-president of the Institute for Development in Economics and Administration
• Assessing Program Impacts When a Statistical Evaluation Design Is Not Possible- taught by Michael Bamberger, consultant and author; and Frans Leeuw, professor,  University of Maastricht and director, National Justice Research Center at the Hague
• Evaluating Humanitarian Assistance, taught by John Cosgrave and Margie Buchanan-Smith, both experienced consultants and evaluators of international humanitarian aid
• Improving Performance Assessment, Evaluation, and Learning in Foundations and Not-for-Profit Grant-Making Organizations, taught by Nancy McPherson, director of evaluation, Rockefeller Foundation and Phil Buchanan,  president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy
• Governance, Corruption and Development Evaluation: Role of Indicators and Empirical Tools by Dani Kaufman, Senior Fellow, Global Economy and Development program, Brookings Institution

Applicants can attend from one to four weeks. Participants have told us that they want the workshops to be longer and more in-depth, so this year we have increased the duration of many of the workshops. In addition to intensive learning in large and small groups, the program will be packed with special guest speakers, networking events, simulations with guest evaluation specialists, participant roundtables, poster board sessions and more.

Visit the website for more information about the program and our outstanding group of world-class instructors drawn from four different continents. Stay tuned as we will be posting more information about IPDET’s 10^th year anniversary events as it becomes available.

Applicants: Note that you must register on the IPDET website www.ipdet.org before you can log in and access the on-line application form. If you experience difficulties with the application process, contact Mary Dixon, the IPDET Registrar, at mary_dixon@carleton.ca.

Deadlines:

For scholarships: March 19, 2010
All applications: May 10, 2010

IPDET is a collaboration of the Independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank and Carleton University. A limited number of scholarships is available, thanks to the generous support of several donor organizations.”

A three-day workshop jointly organised by Maastricht University and the University of Antwerp.

Date: April 28-30, 2010
Venue: Institute of Development Policy and Management, Lange Sint Annastraat 7, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium

Focus

Training Methods

Target Group

Program

Day 2
Morning session
• A methodological framework for impact evaluation -
David Todd
Afternoon session
• A methodological framework for impact evaluation -
David Todd
• Introduction to exercise: developing an institutional
strategy for learning about what works and why -
David Todd and Jos Vaessen

Day 3
Morning session
• Group work on exercise
Afternoon session
• Group presentations and debate – all staff
Closing dinner

Organizers and Teaching Staff

Prof. Dr. Frans Leeuw
Frans Leeuw is professor of Law, Public Policy and Social Science Research at Maastricht University. In addition, he is director of the Research, Statistics and Information Center affi liated with the Dutch Ministry of Justice. Previous positions include senior posts in government and academia. He is a former president of the European Evaluation Society. Since 2003 he has been president of the Dutch Evaluation Society. He has authored and edited several books and numerous journal articles on policy evaluation, including the recent NONIE Guidance on impact evaluation. He is a member of several editorial review committees of applied social science and evaluation journals. He has been involved in advisory work for numerous (non-)governmental organizations and he participates in several steering committees on evaluation.

Dr. David Todd
David Todd has 30 years experience of applied social science and development work with UK Government Departments, multilateral, bilateral, NGO, private sector and academic institutions in more than 20 countries in Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, South and South-East Asia. Currently an independent consultant, he previously was Senior Evaluation Offi cer at the Global Environment Facility Evaluation Offi ce. David has published on evaluation and development topics in academic journals as well as in numerous policy reports. In recent years, he has served on the Steering Committee of the Network of Networks on Impact Evaluation (NONIE), on the Coordinating Committee of the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG), as Co-Chair of the UNEG Impact Evaluation Task Force and as Panelist on theWorld Bank Quality Assurance Group (QAG).

Ir. Jos Vaessen
Jos Vaessen is lecturer at Maastricht University and researcher at the Institute of Development Policy and Management of the University of Antwerp. He has been involved in research and evaluation activities in the fields of poverty alleviation and rural development, mostly in Central America. In addition, he has a marked interest in evaluation methodology. Working on these same topics, he has been a consultant to several international organizations in the fi eld of development cooperation. Jos Vaessen has published on evaluation in the context of (rural) development, including the recent NONIE Guidance on impact evaluation.

Practical Information

Venue
Institute of Development Policy and Management
Lange Sint Annastraat 7
2000 Antwerp
Belgium
See: http://www.ua.ac.be/dev for further information on how to get there.

Certificate
Participants will receive a certificate of attendance upon successful completion of the workshop.

Fees
The overall fee is 950 Euros. It covers the tuition fees, course materials, lunches, coffee/tea breaks and a closing dinner. Cost of accommodation is not included.

Admission requirements
Participants must hold a university degree (Bachelor minimum) and have relevant professional experience (see target group).
Proficiency in English is required.

Registration
Interested candidates are requested to fill out the application form and send it to Ms. Joelle Dhondt (joelle.dhondt@ua.ac.be).
Deadline for registration is March 31, 2010.

Further information
On the content of the workshop: jos.vaessen@maastrichtuniversity.nl
On registration, logistics and accommodation: joelle.dhondt@ua.ac.be

Date: Sunday   23-May-10   09:00 AM   till: Thursday   27-May-10   05:00 PM
Venue: Amman, Jordan

Join us in Amman, Jordan for a 5-days training workshop in designing and building a results-based M&E system.  The course is organized by the Jordan Education Initiative (JEI) and will heavily depend on the material developed in conjunction with International Program for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET) and the Independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank.

Combining both attention to M&E theory and practical applications of the theory, the 40-45 participants completing the course will gain knowledge and experience on how to design a results-based M&E system, understand the M&E tools, techniques, and resources needed for planning, organizing, and/or managing programs and projects.  The course provides an overview of the theoretical foundations of M&E methods, as well as ample opportunities for practical application of these methods through case studies, course exercises, and group projects.  The discussions will be practical and hands on. Participants will work in teams, discuss problem scenarios, share experiences, and develop M&E tools that they can apply in their own jobs following the course.

FOR MORE DETAILS

Visit http://www.jei.org.jo/#/18

CONTACT DETAILS:

Email: JEI@JEI.ORG.JO

Tel: +962 6 5502360 Fax: +962 6 5502370

Date: 8 October, Time: 13.30 to 17.00
Venue: VSO International, Carlton House, 27A Carlton Drive, Putney SW15 2BS, London, UK

Topic: Managing Partnerships: what does it mean for quality and effectiveness?

Many INGOs operate in partnership with national and local NGOs. The tools we use to manage these relationships have a major effect on everyone involved, and the effectiveness, quality and relevance of our work. This session will offer an opportunity to engage with two initiatives which focus on making these relationships work better.

• Tracey Martin will present the Barefoot Collective’s approach to supporting organisations to develop their potential to bring about change.
• Natalia Kiryttopoulou will share Keystone Accountability’s feedback surveys which help organisations understand how partners perceive their work.

These approaches present exciting challenges to the way that we manage performance and measure results with partners. Come along to join the discussion!

This is an open event, for BOND members and others. Please pass this invitation on to others who may be interested.

BOND members can reserve their place online at http://groups.bond.org.uk Click on the ‘Quality Group’ then ‘Meetings’.

Non- members should send an email Ivan Kent at ikent@cafod.org.uk .

Follow the links below to find out more about these presentations:

• The Barefoot Guide at www.barefootguide.org
• KeystoneAccountability at http://www.keystoneaccountability.org/services/feedbacksystems
• you can also try the Keystone Feedback at: http://feedback.keystoneaccountability.org/