M&E Campaign Resource

7/29/2019 M&E Campaign Resource

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Practical Action, The Schumacher Centre for Technology and Development, Bourton on Dunsmore, Rugby,Warwickshire, CV23 9QZ, UKT +44 (0)1926 634400 | F +44 (0)1926 634401 | E [email protected] | Wwww.practicalaction.org______________________________________________________________________________________________Practical Action is a registered charity and company limited by guarantee.Company Reg. No. 871954, England | Reg. Charity No.247257 | VAT No. 880 9924 76 |Patron HRH The Prince of Wales, KG, KT, GCB

Learning from campaignsUnderstanding how monitoring our progress and evaluating impact makes stronger

campaigners

Monitoring and evaluation gets a bad rap and is often seen as the boring, end-of-projectformality that has to done. But it doesnt,and shouldnt, have to be that way.

Forget the technical words and think about what this process really means. This is aboutlearning from what you are doing and making the changes needed to be more successful incampaigning.

Monitoring how well youre doing

Monitoring or reviewing your work is an on-going process while your campaign is stillhappening. It gives you the chance to reflect on what you are doing and how youre doing it, besure youre on track to meet your campaign goals and make any necessary changes. This is acontinual process and needs honesty to be useful and bravery to be bold in dealing withproblems when things arent going to plan.

Evaluating your impactEvaluation comes at the end the project and should focus on what has changed as a result ofyour campaign. This can be in terms of policy or political change, impact on individuals involvedand the organisation as well as the wider public. It also thinks about how you have run thecampaign, what you did well and where you could have done things differently.

Here is a diagram from the Advocacy Toolkitcreated by Peace Child International that will help

make the differences between monitoring and evaluation clearer.

Figure 1: Monitoring & Evaluation' activity, Advocacy Training Toolkit, Peace Child International2012


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Why bother?

Celebrating impactCampaigns can have a huge impact on the individuals involved(such as new skills, knowledge, friendships, networks) and the organisation as a whole.This needs to be recognised and celebrated!

Knowing what changed Campaigners often give little time to pause and reflect.Knowing what has changed means you can see where your campaigning strengthens lieand where you are making a difference. This is often is places you hadnt expected!

Taking action to be effective Even if you have strong, well thought through plans,circumstances change and often campaigns need to change course or review theirstrategy. This is a healthy process and stops you marching down the wrong street justbecause its the one you agreed to before.

Learning from mistakes Even if you achieved your goals, campaigns always makemistakes and understanding what went wrong is crucial to preventing you and othersfrom making similar mistakes again.

An honest approach to campaigningIf were spending money, asking volunteers togive up their time and mobilising supporters, you have a responsibility to be open andhonest with what youre doing and how youre doing it and sharing your learning with thewider movement.

What to think aboutThere will be many things that need to be considered and some will be specific to yourcampaign, style of working, organisational structure and campaign aim. While the questions

may change (be as creative as you like!), these four areas should be thought about in bothmonitoring and evaluation:

What changed?

What impact has your campaign had?

What has changed as a result?

Did you achieve your aims & objectives?

If not, why not? If yes, what is yourproof?

Impact on individuals & organisations

What skills have you learnt anddeveloped?

How have you changed?

What do you want to develop further?

What have you gained from thecampaign?

How has the organisation benefited?

Planning & strategy

Did you share a unified vision for whatyou were trying to change?

Did you have a clear plan for achievingyour goals? If so, did it work? If not, whynot?

Was it clear who was responsible fordifferent aspects of the campaign?

Did you have all the needed resources?

Did you stay in budget & was it value formoney?

Team

How well did the team work together?Did everyone have the right skills &knowledge to run the campaign?

Did you have enough capacity to achieveyou goals?

Was it clear and positive how the groupworked, made decisions and the culture itcreated? Was this the right way ofworking?

Was the leadership supportive andenabling?


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Be clear from the start what you are going to evaluate, why that is important to you, what

questions you need answers for to best understand what happened and how you are going toget them.

Doing it in a fun wayWhat stops people doing such an important and needed process is the idea that it had to beabout filling in forms and writing reports which takes away from the needed campaign work. Butremember, your future campaigns will be better because you invest the time now.

It also doesnt have to be boring! How about using:

Blogs

Pictures

Video Interviews

Art

Online surveysInterviews with people

Write an article or diary entry

Storify

Twitter/Facebook/Youtube

Statistics

Newspaper articles

Most of all, make it fun for the team and include them in agreeing how the evaluation ormonitoring will work.

This can be one of the most exciting times looking back at what you have achieved and thechange you have made. Its a chance to help future campaigns (including your own) be moreeffective.

This brief was authored by Alex Farrow on behalf of Practical Action.

This brief forms part of a climate change and development advocate

training programme developed and delivered by Practical Action in

2012. The training is funded as part of an awareness project by the

EC.

The Schumacher Centre for Technology and Development

Bourton-on-DunsmoreRugby, Warwickshire, CV23 9QZ

United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)1926 634400

Fax: +44 (0)1926 634401

E-mail:[email protected]

Website:http://www.practicalaction.org/

Practical Action is a development charity with a difference. We know the simplest ideas can have the

most profound, life-changing effect on poor people across the world. For over 40 years, we have been

working closely with some of the worlds poorest people - using simple technology to fight poverty and

transform their lives for the better. We currently work in 15 countries in Africa, South Asia and Latin

America.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.practicalaction.org/http://www.practicalaction.org/http://www.practicalaction.org/mailto:[email protected]

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