We are experienced (that word again!) in Evaluation & Learning, having completed projects all over the world and at all levels of groups and organisations. We can help you learn the vital lesson needed to deliver better projects and to help you become a stronger and more effective organisation. Funders like it too!
We specialise in particpatory evaluation and in case study reviews. Give us a call to find out more - it is a big area! In the meantime, we are happy to offer the following as a guide to monitoring and evaluating.
What do all the words mean?
How do you know if you have achieved your goals? How do you know if you are on track to achieve your goals? How do you know if your work has actually made a difference?
Evaluation can be thought of as an in-depth examination of a project or organisation's process, outputs and outcomes. Typically, a project is evaluated either part-way through its life, or towards its end. At R4C we tend to link evaluation with learning, as we believe that the value in evaluation (looking back) lies in enabling you to look forward and improve.
Monitoring is the on-going collection of information that makes it possible to do the examination.
Outcomes we know we've done lots of different activities (i.e. the outputs), but what happened as a result of the activities? e.g. 10 committee members have attended a training course; the outcome is the fact they are now confident enough to get more active and for example, one person has reperesented the organisation on a local radio interview.
Impact where there is a demonstrable causal relationship between the project/organisation and an outcome
Why is evaluation important?
Of the many possible answers to this question, most fundamentally evaluation is about learning - what went well, what didn't go so well, how things could be improved in your organisation or project, how other organisations or projects can learn from your experiences. This is why evaluation is so often required by funders.
However, it is also a very strong management tool - if you can find out how to do more of the good things and less of the not-so-good things, your project or organisation will become stronger and more effective.
How do you do evaluation?
There are many different possible approaches to an evaluation and to the techniques used to gather and analyse the information. Our experience demonstrates the value of a 'whole team' approach, where the independence of an external evaluator is combined with the knowledge and experience of the organisation or project team.
We are also very positive about encouraging participation in the design, information-gathering and analysis phases; this could include funders, staff and beneficiaries, but that depends on you. The benefit is a real sense of ownership of the findings and recommendations, which increases the chances that evaluation will lead to positive change.
For more information, please contact Irene Evison