Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Developing a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework: A list

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

[Aplogies: This page is still at the draft stage, there are some formating and other problems] A suggested definition of a M&E Framework: A document that tells you who is expected to know what, as well as when and how they are expected to know. The list (under development, suggestions welcomed): Clear Horizon: Developing ...

Evaluating the Complex: Attribution, Contribution and Beyond.

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

Kim Forss, Mita Marra and Robert Schwartz, editors. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick. May 2011. Available via Amazon "Problem-solving by policy initiative has come to stay. Overarching policy intiatives are now standard modus operandi for governmental and non-governmental organisations. But complex policy initiatives are not only reserved for the big challenges of ...

Can we obtain the required rigour without randomisation? Oxfam GB’s non-experimental Global Performance Framework

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

Karl Hughes, Claire Hutchings, August 2011. 3ie Working Paper 13. Available as pdf. [found courtesy of @3ieNews] Abstract "Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in the international development sector need credible, reliable feedback on whether their interventions are making a meaningful difference but they struggle with how they can practically access it. Impact evaluation is research ...

Evaluation and Assessment of Poverty and Conflict Interventions (EAPC)

Monday, August 22nd, 2011

[from the MercyCorps website] "A significant body of knowledge exists on the relationship between poverty and conflict. Research has shown that low per capita income and slow economic growth drastically increase the chances that a country will experience violence. Driven in part by these findings, donors and their partners are implementing ...

Systematic review: What is the evidence of the impact of microfinance on the well-being of poor people?

Sunday, August 21st, 2011

  by Maren Duvendack, Richard Palmer-Jones, James G Copestake, Lee Hooper, Yoon Loke,  Nitya Rao, August 2011. Available as pdf [found via@poverty _action] Executive summary Background "The concept of microcredit was first introduced in Bangladesh by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. Professor Yunus started Grameen Bank (GB) more than 30 years ago with the ...

The evaluation of peacebuilding: Four new reports

Monday, August 15th, 2011

[found  courtesy of Find What Works and @poverty_action] Dave Algoso comments: "The first two reports below resulted from a series of meetings held by the United States Institute of Peace and the Alliance for Peacebuilding; meeting participants came from a range of NGOs, government funders, private foundations, and other agencies. The ...

Comic: The problem with averaging star ratings

Saturday, August 13th, 2011

Courtesy of http://xkcd.com/937/ RD Comment: This problem is not unique to websites and smart phones. More than one donor agency uses "traffic lights" (red, amber, green ratings) to summarise complex performance information into a simple-enough-to-digest form for their hard pressed senior managers

Assessing the impact of blogs: Some evidence and analysis

Thursday, August 11th, 2011

See The Impact of Economic Blogs - Part I: Dissemination by David McKenzie, Berk Özler, 2011-08-05. Question 1: “Do blogs lead to increased dissemination of research papers?”" Answer:  "Blogging about a paper causes a large increase in the number of abstract views and downloads in the same month. These increases are massive compared ...

Measuring Impact: Lessons from the MCC for the Broader Impact Evaluation Community

Thursday, August 11th, 2011

William Savedoff and Christina Droggitis, Centre for Global Development, Aug 2011. Available as pdf (2 pages) Excerpt: "One organization that has taken the need for impact evaluation seriously is the Millennium Challenge Corporation. The first of the MCC programs came to a close this fiscal year, and in the next year the ...

The Canadian M&E System: Lessons Learned from 30 Years of Development

Wednesday, August 10th, 2011

by Robert Lahey, November 2010, ECD Working Paper Series, Independent Evaluation Group, World Bank. Available as pdf Foreword As part of its activities, the World Bank Group’s Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) provides technical assistance to member developing countries for designing and implementing effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems and for strengthening government ...