Extending Agricultural Research Impacts in Africa … · Evaluation Capacity Building ... affairs...
Transcript of Extending Agricultural Research Impacts in Africa … · Evaluation Capacity Building ... affairs...
Extending Agricultural Research Impacts in Africa through
Evaluation Capacity Building
Dr. Kay Kelsey, Professor and Director of the Impact Evaluation Unit, University of Georgia
Revalorizing Extension: Evidence and Practice
April 2-3, 2018Symposium at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
How do we tell our stories?
Are we learning from our stories?
How can we get better at learning from our work?
O
Why is EBC important?
O Evaluation Capacity Building = “intentional action system of guided processes and practices for bringing about and sustaining a state of affairs in which quality program evaluation and its appropriate uses are ordinary and ongoing practices within the organization”
O ECB = investing in employees’ evaluation organizational learning and improvement.
O You know you are there when staff say this is ‘the way we do things around here’ and is a necessary component of projects and contributes to organizational learning
What did we do?
What was involved?
O Reviewed existing M&E plans
O Reviewed funding proposals
O Reviewed submitted evaluation reports
O Interviewed 21 employees in Ghana, Togo,
Kenya, Bangladesh, Washington DC
O Interviewed representatives from USAID,
Gates Foundation, DGIS, and other donors
Where did this take place?
What did we find?
O M&E was not planned for in 54% of funding proposals.
O Those that planned for M&E did not offer details, only promises to conduct M&E after funding.
O Funding for M&E was not included in project budgets.
O 96 staff conducting M&E work around the world.
O Project level M&E, staff reported to division directors.
O No community of practice for building evaluation capacity.
O No leadership for M&E
How is the organization learning?
How do we get better?O Hire an evaluation specialist to lead ECB.
O Implement M&E activity at every stage of the project
cycle, from ideation stage to impact reporting.
O Conduct impact evaluation to learn over time.
O Amalgamate data across projects and over time.
O Create a community of practice to learn from each
other.
Learn Across Projects
O Knowledge
management
system
O DevResults
O https://www.devr
esults.com/tour#
Monitor
Summary
O Organizational leadership
O Commitment to learning
O Investment in skilled technical support and
tools
O Results in getting smarter
O Serving stakeholders more effectively
ReferencesO Carman, J. G. & Fredericks, K. A. (2010). Evaluation capacity and nonprofit organizations: Is the
glass half-empty or half-full? American Journal of Evaluation, 31(1), 84-104. Doi: 10.1177/1098214009352361.
O Fitzpatrick, J. L., Sanders, J. R. & Worthen, B. R. (2011). Program evaluation: Alternative approaches and practical guidelines. 4th ed. New York: Pearson.
O Helms, M. M., and Nixon, J. (2010). Exploring SWOT analysis - where are we now? A review of academic research from the last decade. Journal of Strategy and Management, 3(3), 215-251. doi.org/10.1108/17554251011064837
O Osita, I. C., Onyebuchi, I., & Justina, N. (2014). Organization's stability and productivity: the role of SWOT analysis. International Journal of Innovative and Applied Research, 2(9), 23–32. Retrieved http://journalijiar.com/uploads/2014-10-02_231409_710.pdf
O Stevahn, L., King, J. A., Ghere, G., Minnema, J. (2005). Establishing essential competencies for program evaluators. American Journal of Evaluation, 26(1), 43-59. doi: 10.1177/1098214004273180
O Stockdill, S. H., Baizerman, M., & Compton, D. W. (2002). Toward a definition of the EBC process: A Conversation with the ECB literature. In. D. W. Compton, M. Baizerman, and S. H. Stockdill (Eds.), The art, craft, and science of evaluation capacity building. New Directions for Evaluation,93, 7-26.
O Stufflebeam, D. (2001). Evaluation models. New Directions for Evaluation, 89, 7-98. Doi: 10.1002/ev.3.
O Yarbrough, D. B., Shulha, L. M., Hopson, R. K., and Caruthers, F. A. (2011). The program evaluation standards: A guide for evaluators and evaluation users (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage