If you want to talk with others about monitoring and evaluation then join the M&E NEWS email list. (< click this link). It has more than 2200+ members worldwide, and is growing in size every day. You can access monthly summaries of the 2007 and 2008  postings here.

Please Note:

• If you want to add a new M&E email list, please use the Comment facility at the bottom of this page.
• If you want to join any of these email lists, clock on the link for that list (Don’t use the Comment facility)

General purpose lists

• MandENEWS
  2600+ Members, Archives: Membership required. The MandE NEWS mailing list is part of the MandE NEWS website at www.mande.co.uk . Visitors to the website are invited to use the mailing list to exchange information with each other about monitoring and evaluation issues, especially as they relate to international development aid. The Editor of MandE NEWS will also use the mailing list to inform list members about significant updates to the MandE NEWS website. The MandE NEWS mailing list is managed by the Editor, Rick Davies (contact email …(more)

• Eval-Net [link not working] 858 members as of 2006 (please help update this number) Knowledge sharing and learning continue to be a top corporate priority for UNDP. The purpose of the Evaluation Network is to strengthen UNDP’s evaluation knowledge base by disseminating good practices and lessons learned on monitoring and evaluation to a broad constituency and to foster results-based performance at both country and corporate levels. It will also help build UNDP staff capacity in measuring and assessing results. This network specifically aims to: Share and exchange experiences and knowledge and lessons distilled from evaluative work relating to programmes and projects; Mainstream results orientation within the work of UNDP’s six practice areas; Provide a forum for UNDP staff to share and deepen their knowledge of monitoring and evaluation practices and methodologies. This network is open to all UNDP staff members interested in and working on measuring and assessing results and who want to contribute and build their capacity in this area. (posted 16/12/06)

• XCeval
  880+ Members, Archives: Membership required XCeval is a listserv for persons interested in issues associated with international and cross-cultural evaluation. Initially set up for the International and Cross-Cultural Topical Interest Group of the American Evaluation Association. Many of the postings (average 34/month) are announcements of short-term consultancies or full-time positions in international M&E-related jobs. Also exchanges of ideas of current interest to persons involved in the evaluation of international development. (updated 15/12/06)

• American Evaluation Association Electronic Lists
  • EVALTALK Listserv 3100+ members An open, unmoderated list for general discussion of evaluation and associated issues sponsored by the American Evaluation Association. To subscribe, send mail to LISTSERV@BAMA.UA.EDU with the command (paste it!): SUBSCRIBE EVALTALK
  • EVALINFO Sponsored by American Evaluation Association (AEA) as the official electronic network for distribution of information to organization members and interested parties. Anyone can subscribe and receive mailings but non-AEA members cannot post to the list. To subscribe, send an e-mail to LISTSERVE@UA1VM.UA.EDU with the message: SUBSCRIBE EVALINFO <Firstname> <Lastname>

Email lists focusing on specific evaluation themes, issues, or methods

• ALNAP: Active Learning Network on Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Assistance The Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action is an international, interagency forum working to improve learning, accountability and quality across the Humanitarian Sector.

• AIMEnet Listserv 1000+ members, Archives, Membership required In 2004, MEASURE Evaluation teamed with the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, USAID, CDC, UNAIDS, the World Health Organization, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the World Bank Group, and UNICEF to create the HIV/AIDS Monitoring and Evaluation Network (AIMEnet) listserv. AIMEnet was initially created so we could stay in touch with participants from several Expanded HIV/AIDS Response M&E workshops. Today, the AIMEnet listserv has been broadened to include anyone interested in sharing technical experiences, tools and information in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of HIV/AIDS programs around the world.

• “Most Significant Changes” technique. 1100+ members. Archives, Membership required. This is moderated by Rick Davies and Jessica Dart (Melbourne). This egroup was formed to promote discussion about the use of an innovative method of monitoring, called the “Most Significant Changes” approach. This is a non-indicator based approach to monitoring, making use of a diversity of narrative accounts of change which are subject to an iterated, open and accountable selection process. It has already been applied in developed and less developed economies, in partipatory rural development projects, agricultural extension projects, educational settings and mainstream human services delivery. Through discussion we hope to promote the wider use of the method, and further innovation and development in the method itself. Most Significant Changes monitoring is different from common monitoring practice in at least four respects: (a) The focus is on the unexpected, (b) Information about those events is documented using text rather than numbers, (c) Analysis of that information is through the use of explicit value judgements, (d) Aggregation of information and analysis takes place through a structured social process. This egroup will act both as a repository of information about people’s experiences with the MSC method to date, and as a nursery for ideas of how to take the method further- into new environments, where there are new opportunities and constraints.

• Outcome Mapping Learning Community 700+ members globally, as of 2008. Public. Outcome Mapping is an innovative approach to project and programme planning, monitoring and evaluation with a strong focus on participatory learning. The major innovation is the emphasis on the behaviour change of key actors with whom the programme has an influence, rather than focussing on changes in state that may or may not be attributed to the programme. The community was set up to support users of the methodology and those interested in the concepts behind it. Come and discuss the theory, get advice on applying OM in your case and meet others interested in this approach to P,M&E. See the community brochure for more information or contact Simon Hearn.

• Systems in Evaluation Discussion List
  
  290+ members, Archives. EVAL-SYS@LISTS.EVALUATION.WMICH.EDU

• Theory-Based_Evaluation
  390+ Members, Archives: Public Welcome to Theory-Based Evaluation dicsussion list! In the context where evaluation is challenged by attribution, complex systems and the need for evidences based policies, theory-based evaluation is seen as an effective response to these challenges. The purpose of this list, is to provide a forum where practitioners and scholars can exchange and share ideas, lessons and methods associated with theory-based evaluation. Hence, this discussion list is dedicated to the evaluation of Institutional …(more)

• Pelican Initiative: Platform for Evidence-based Learning & Communications for Social Change 700+ Members, Archives. Membership required. This platform seeks to bring together development practitioners from different disciplines, specialists and policy makers to explore this question, share experiences, and to push the agenda further on three themes: * Evidence and learning for policy change; * Learning in organisations and among partners; * Society-wide learning among a multitude of stakeholders.

• LEAP IMPACT 160+ members, Archives. Membership required Leap Impact aims to improve the institutional performance of monitoring and evaluation practice related to information services, information products and information projects. It is a community of practice open to all individuals/organisations interested in the evaluation of information. LEAP IMPACT is a joint initiative of CTA, IICD, Bellanet, and KIT. It is facilitated by Sarah Cummings (KIT ILS), Neil Pakenham-Walsh (HIF-net-at-WHO) and Shaddy Shadrach (Oneworld South Asia).

• NetworkEvaluation
  280+ Members, Archives: Membership required.The Network Evaluation mailing is an extension of the Networks section of Monitoring and Evaluation NEWS at www.mande.co.uk The focus of the Network Evaluation mailing list is on the exchange of information about: Methodologies for, and experiences of, the evaluation of networks. Including Networks of individuals, groups and organisations, Both face to face and electronically mediated networks The use of social network analysis in international development aid projects In planning, …(more)

• PARTICIPATORY MONITORING AND LEARNING
  60+ Members, Archives: Membership required.This group on Participatory Monitoring and Learning (PM&L) has been created to facilitate interaction amongst a group of researchers, practitioners and others interested in the topic of participatory approaches to monitoring, evaluation and learning.

• ODAfrica
  50+ Members, Archives: Public. Support group for OD Practitioners working for and in Africa. Initiative of OD Practitioners from Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe and Zambia who attended a two-year OD Practitioners Formation Programme in 2004/2005.

• Evaluation Feedback 30+ members, Archives. Membership required. This was moderated by Catherine Cameron, author of Evaluation feedback for effective learning and accountability,

• EGAD List: Program evaluation, statistics and methodology list 170+ members. To send a message to all the people currently subscribed to the list, just send mail to EGAD@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU. This is called “sending mail to the list”, because you send mail to a single address and LISTSERV makes copies for all the people who have subscribed. This address (egad@listserv.arizona.edu) is also called the “list address”. You must never try to send any command to that address, as it would be distributed to all the people who have subscribed. All commands must be sent to the “LISTSERV address”, listserv@listserv.arizona.edu.

• Arlist: Action research mailing list.Arlist-L is a medium-volume, multidisciplinary electronic mailing list. It is a moderated forum for the discussion of the theory and practice of action research and related methods. Bibliography of over 50 references on meta-evaluation. References include discussions of technical competence of individual evaluations, critical analyses of evaluations of the impact of evaluations on the less powerful groups, managerial meta-evaluations on the perceived credibility and utility of the evaluation. To subscribe, send an e-mail (no subject) to request@psy.uq.oz.au with the message: SUBSCRIBE ARLIST <Firstname> <Lastname> Or, To subscribe to arlist-L point your browser at http://lists.scu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/arlist-l

• EDIAIS Forum (Enterprise Development Impact Assessment Information Service) 160+ members Joining the list: email info@enterprise-impact.org.uk You will then receive an e-mail asking you to confirm your subscription. Once you are a member: You will receive all messages sent to the list. To send a message to the list mail it to: ENT-IMP@enterprise-impact.org.uk – use either Reply to respond to the last contributor only or Reply All and your message will automatically be mailed to all list members.

• Collaborative, Participatory, and Empowerment Evaluation topical interest group. “Our group is dedicated to the exploration and refinement of collaborative, participatory, and empowerment approaches to evaluation. The summary of the web page below is organized according to the following topics: internet, software, guides, associations, and collaborative, participatory, and empowerment evaluation TIG resources. It allows you to easily select the topic of interest and instantly access it by clicking on the underlined text.” See http://www.stanford.edu/~davidf/empowermentevaluation.html#Listserv for details of how to get on to their mailing list.

• Govteval list (Government Evaluation)

• Evaluation of DFID Policies and Practices on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Evaluation of DFID Gender Mainstreaming. This is a closed space with 52 members.

Country specific M&E email lists

• PREVAL - The Programme for Strengthening the Regional Capacity for Monitoring and Evaluation of IFAD’s Rural Poverty-Alleviation Projects in Latin America and the Caribbean owner-preval@mail.rimisp.org 1,400+ members

• AfrEA
  180+ Members, Archives: Public Information and networking tool of the African Evaluation Association (AfrEA) In conjunction with the national associations and committed donors, AfrEA has helped develop the concept of an African evaluation community. This listserv aims to build on this concept, to broaden this community, by further promoting the sharing of information, resources and opportunities. The AfrEA Community listserv serves as a moderated forum for a wide range of stakeholders, from evaluators who are actively …(more)
  • LateNote: This is a new list recently started at Yahoo! Groups to replace the old list at Topica. Moving the members from the old to the new list is a slow process. However, the old list is still active and has 460 subscribers. (message from Lise Kriel, 30/06/6)
• indo-monev 440+ Members, Archives: Membership required. This is a mailing list to build a network of Indonesian. People anywhere in the world who are interested, dedicated, and professionalised to the work on monitoring and evaluation and other related development issues as well as development aid works, particularly in Indonesia. This network aims to more exchanging of information, more knowledge building and more awareness on the development monitoring and evaluation issue. Please join.

• IAEVAL:  340+ members, Archives: Membership required The purpose of this listserv is to enhance communication among members of the US-based International NGO (INGO) community about program design, monitoring, evaluation and effectiveness. The target participants of IAEVAL are those of us who are directly or indirectly responsible for INGO M&E. We hope that this will serve to enhance the communication, shared learning and collaboration among us as persons responsible for evaluation in the US-based INGO community.

• Relac: 480+ Miembros, Archivos: Se requiere suscripción Este es el grupo de discución de la red de evaluacion de America Latina y el Caribe.

• REMAPP 150+ members, Archives: Membership required. REMAPP is a [UK-based] group of networking professionals concerned with planning, appraisal, monitoring, evaluation, research and policy issues in aid agencies.

• MandENigeria
  90+ Members, Archives: Moderators only This listserve is for interested individuals and institutions to share knowledge, opportunities, experience and other resources in M & E. It is also an opportunity to access proffessional consultants in Monitoring and Evaluation in Nigeria and Africa. It is an informal medium to support capacity building, strengthening and dessemination of Monitoring and evaluation information in Nigeria under a Network of Monitoring and Evaluation.Evaluators are advised and encouraged to join and participate …(more)

• IndiaEvalGroup
  30+ Members, Archives: Membership required. This discussion group consists of evaluators from India or evaluators working on Indian projects. The potential benefits of forming and participating with such a group are: 1. Fellowship with others working in a similar area 3. Encouraging sharing of learning across content and context areas

• MONEV_NGO
  20+ Members, Archives: Membership required. Establish in Jakarta, Indonesia by 2004. It was started from a group of activists that concern about Monitoring and Evaluation skills that need to be developed by NGOs in Indonesia in general. This is an open forum, so please participate in sharing and discussing lessons learnt and experiences in Monitoring and Evaluation.

• MandE Ghana 30+ Members, Archives: Membership required This email list has been established for people who have an interest in monitoring and evaluation as applied in Ghana. It is open to people living in Ghana and those elsewhere who have a connection with Ghana. Its aim is to: (a) encourage mutual learning between members, through exchange of questions and answers; (b) make opportunities quickly available to members, concerning M&E related training events, conferences, workshops and employment vacancies; (c) enable members to make contacts with other members with related M&E interests.

• MandEPilipinas 9 Members, Archives: Membership required. This discussion group is meant for Monitoring and Evaluation professionals in the Philippines. It is a venue to network, exchange ideas and discuss new developments about the field with M&E practitioners in the country to promote mutual learning and intellectual growth.

• EgDEvalNet < 5 Members, Archives: Membership required This discussion-group was established to discuss the evaluation of development activities in Egypt. This includes: Improving development evaluation activities Exchange of experience between evaluation practitioners Providing feedback for improving development planning Discuss the establishment of an Egyptian Development & Evaluation Association Define standards and guidelines for evaluation practice applicable for the Egyptian environment Develop development evaluation criteria and tools …(more)

How to set up an email list

• Use Yahoo Groups, as used by many of the email lists shown above.
  • Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/
  • Sign up to get a Yahoo ID (you need to give yourself a username and password, once only).
  • Look for Create Your Own Group
    • Click on Start a Group Now, then follow the instructions
• Or, use Dgroups
  • Go to http://www.dgroups.org/
    • Dgroups currently supports 1818 groups, containing 60690 members.
  • See if you can work out how to join, and set up a group. It is not easy

From: XCeval@yahoogroups.com On Behalf Of Jim Rugh
Sent: April 28, 2008 5:47 PM
To: XCEval listserv; MandE NEWS
Subject: [XCeval] Invitation to join a dedicated discussion forum on reconstructing baseline data

We realize that any evaluation that purports to be an “impact evaluation” needs to compare “before-and-after” (pre-test + post-test data) and “with-and-without” (the counterfactual – what would have happened without the intervention being evaluated). Yet in our experience the majority of evaluations conducted of development projects and programs do not have comparable baseline data, nor appropriate comparison (much less “control”) groups. Although the discussion of counterfactuals and pre-test + post-test comparisons frequently focuses on quantitative evaluations designs, the need to understand baseline conditions is equally important for qualitative evaluations. What can be done to strengthen evaluations in such cases? In other words, what can be done to reconstruct baseline and counterfactual data?

We (Jim Rugh and Michael Bamberger) are planning a follow-up volume to “RealWorld Evaluation: Working under budget, time, data and political constraints” (Sage Publications 2006). (More information can be found at www.RealWorldEvaluation.org.)

The provisional title of the follow-up workbook is “Capacity Development for RealWorld Evaluation” and this will provide practical tools, guidelines and learning exercises (both for self-instruction and trainers). The hard-copy book will be accompanied by a website with case studies, more complete examples of the techniques discussed in the book, and additional material for trainers.

For this purpose a new discussion forum is being launched within the framework of the proposed book and training materials. We are sending this invitation to persons who would like to be contributors to this discussion and collection of examples, to suggest/ provide material that could be used on the website and/or cited in the book. The source of all material would of course be fully acknowledged. We would also hope that the material would be helpful to trainers (including ourselves) who organize courses and workshops on evaluation.

If you would like to participate in this discussion and have experiences you are willing to share, you are invited to join this new forum by sending a blank e-message to RealWorldEval-subscribe@yahoogroups.com (RealWorldEval-subscribe@yahoogroups.com).

Below we provide more details about this initiative:

The discussion topic: Reconstructing Baseline and Counterfactual Data to Strengthen Impact Evaluations. What are the solutions? Are there practical examples from evaluations that have dealt with these constraints?

The very extensive and lively debates on the merits (and drawbacks) of randomized control trials and “rigorous” quasi-experimental designs diverts attention from the fact that few evaluators are ever in a position to use any of these “state-of-the-art” designs.

Although to the best of our knowledge no statistics are available, we would estimate that at least 75 percent of “impact evaluations” of development projects are conducted without access to any systematic information on the conditions of the project population before the start of the project or other intervention, and even fewer evaluations have access to baseline data on relevant comparison groups. In fact many bilateral and multi-lateral development agencies, UN organizations and NGOs have accepted, explicitly or implicitly, that their impact evaluations are not commissioned until late in the project cycle and do not have access to baseline data. When more rigorous evaluations are conducted this is often a special initiative, often in cooperation with other agencies, and largely in isolation from the large number of standard impact evaluations that continue to rely exclusively on end-of-project data without any way to directly measure change in outcome conditions within the target population, nor any comparative data on “normal” conditions, i.e. where this project was not operating.

The purpose of this discussion is to invite interested persons, especially those who have conducted evaluations in developing countries, to share the many different strategies, tools and techniques that you and your agencies have developed to “reconstruct” baseline data and to estimate the conditions of the project and comparison groups prior to the start of the project or program being evaluated. The questions that we would like to discuss include:
a. What are the consequences of assessing impacts without access to baseline data? Are more rigorous impact evaluations a luxury that only a few well-funded agencies can afford, or are there serious consequences when future operational and policy decisions are based exclusively on ex-post data?
b. What tools and techniques are available for reconstructing information on baseline conditions? We are especially interested in case studies where these techniques have been applied.
c. Are there cost-effective and operationally feasible ways for agencies to reconstruct baseline data, either as a standard operating procedure or for selected priority evaluations?

Some of the many approaches that participants in this discussion forum might like to discuss include (but are not limited to):
1. the creative identification and use of secondary data (including qualitative document analysis);
2. using monitoring data and the many types of administrative information that implementing agencies generate (this includes the important question of designing “evaluation-ready” programs);
3. recall by key informants, focus groups and other community and group interview techniques;
4. PRA and other participatory evaluation methods;
5. a wide range of other techniques used by qualitative researchers to reconstruct respondent’s memories and perceptions of the past.

Again, if you are interested in participating in this discussion, you are invited to join this new forum by sending a blank e-message to RealWorldEval-subscribe@yahoogroups.com . Alternatively, you could write directly to JimRugh@mindspring.com .

Jim Rugh (and Michael Bamberger)

Independent International Program Evaluator
JimRugh@MindSpring.com
Home/Office phone: +1-865-908-3133
Mobile phone: +1-865-696-0401
451 Rugh Ridge Way #1
Sevierville, TN 37876-1393 USA
Skype ID= JimRugh
www.RealWorldEvaluation.org
AEA (American Evaluation Association) representative to the
IOCE (www.InternationalEvaluation.com)
Remember: Think evaluatively!

Date: 07 May 2008 – 09 May 2008
Venue: London, UK

Training event organised by INTRAC

Course fee: £475.00
Number of days: 3
Description:
With increased pressures on delivery and accountability, the need has never been greater for Civil Society and other development organisations to assess the long-term impact of their work. In three fruitful days you will explore the current state of the debate about impact assessment as well as reviewing current practice and methodologies. Learn to assess the effectiveness of your work.Course objectives
• Understand what is meant by impact assessment and how the concept has emerged
• Explore the relationship between impact assessment and other forms of evaluative activity
• Explore different approaches and alternative methodologies in conducting impact assessment
• Identify ways of getting a representative picture e.g. case studies, sampling methods, and triangulation between quantitative and qualitative data
• Consider impact assessment in different contexts e.g. in programmes and projects, organisationally, and in advocacy work

Link to application form

Date: 6-10 October
Venue: College of Europe, Bruges Campus, Belgium

Maren Thompson, Course Coordinator at IMA International produces monthly summaries of the postings on the MandE NEWS email list, including links that were mentioned in the postings. This work has previously been done by Nicky David and Ros MacDonald, also of IMA International. The monthly summaries are MS Word documents. They are listed by month below:

————————————-

May 2007 | June 2007 | July 2007 | August 2007 | September 2007 | October 2007 | November 2007 | December 2007 |

January 2008 | February 2008 | April 2008 | May 2008 | June 2008 | July 2008 | August 2008 | September 2008 | October 2008 | November-December 2008 |

January-2009| February-2009| March 2009 | April 2009 | May 2009 | June 2009 |