WHAT is Evaluationand WHY is it important?

Presented by,Dede Bedu-Addo,

GMEF Coordinator.

NOW

LATER

(Challenges)

(Better!)

Policy / Programme

SITUATION

DESIRED RESULT

Monitoring

Ex-ante Evaluation

Formative Evaluation

Impact Evaluation

Evaluation is …

Doing the Right Thing?

Doing it Right?

Better Ways of Doing it?

Relevance

Rational / justification

Beneficiary satisfaction

Effectiveness / coherence

Efficiency: optimizing resources

Alternatives

Good practices

Lessons learned

“An evaluation is an assessment, as systematic and impartial as possible, of

an activity, project, programme, strategy, policy, topic, theme, sector,

operational area, institutional performance, etc. It focuses on expected

and achieved accomplishments examining the results chain, processes,

contextual factors and causality, in order to understand achievements or

the lack thereof.

It aims at determining the relevance, impact, effectiveness, efficiency and

sustainability of the interventions and contributions an institution or actor.

An evaluation should provide evidence-based information that is credible,

reliable, and useful, enabling the timely incorporation of findings,

recommendations and lessons into decision-making processes.”

Source: Norms for Evaluation in the UN System and UNICEF Evaluation Policy

Why evaluation?

Accountability for results

Capacity development

Evidence-based decision making /

advocacy

KNOWLEDGE to influence change

SPEAKING THE TRUTH TO THOSE IN POWER

6

Evaluation criteria

Standard Evaluation Criteria

• Relevance• Effectiveness• Efficiency• Impact• Sustainability

Relevance: The extent to which the intervention is suited to the needs of the primary target group / national priorities and policies.

Effectiveness: Is the intervention achieving satisfactory results in relation to stated objectives?

Efficiency: measures the outputs in relation to the inputs. Does the intervention use the least costly resources possible to achieve the desired results?

Impact: The positive and negative changes produced by an intervention, directly or indirectly, intended or unintended.

Sustainability: measures whether the benefits of an intervention are likely to continue after support / funding has been withdrawn.

The complementarity between M and E

Monitoring Evaluation

b. Systematic, ongoing b. Systematic, periodic or ongoing

c. During programme implementationc. During and after programme

implementation (and before)

d. According to implementation pland. Compared to criteria

(relevance, effectiveness, impact, etc.)

e. For decision-making, especially

short term corrective action

e. For decision-making about future

programming

f. For accountability for implementation f. For accountability for results

g. Contributes to evaluation g. For organizational learning

a. Tracking of programme/project/

activity progress

a. Appraisal of merit, value or worth

of programme/project/activity progress

M&E

MONITORING

• Situation monitoring

• Performance Monitoring

EVALUATION

• Doing the right thing?

• Doing it right?

• Better ways of doing it?

Different evaluation approaches

Baseline

Reconsider,Redesign, Expand,

Reduce, or End

Formative/Process

Evaluation

Summative/Outcome/

Impact Evaluation

On-going Monitoring

Evaluation Framework

Ex-ante Evaluation

Evaluation Types in the Implementation Process

Identifya need

Design anIntervention

Initial Situation

OUTPUTS OUTCOMES IMPACT

Programme/Project Start-Up Desired

Result

The evaluation planning process

4. Evaluation Methodology

Methodology answers questions

3. Evaluation Questions

Related to each criterion/issue

2. Evaluation Objectives/Criteria

Relevance, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Impact, Sustainability

1. Evaluation Purposes

Why now? For what? Who?

Defines the evaluation approach

Engage Stakeholders

Only when these 6 elements are clear, start the process

1

Prepare TOR, based on

evaluation approach,

incl. utilisation & dissemination

strategy!

2

Recruit evaluation

team

3

Collect evidence

4

Analysis & recommen-

dations

5

Share & use results

6

Different Sources of Data

• Information from individuals

• Information from groups

• Observation

• Physical measurements

• Reviewing existing records and data

For more information

• A free and very informative online resource on evaluation:

http://betterevaluation.org