Difference between revisions of "Network of Networks on Impact Evaluation"

Latest revision as of 19:03, 1 December 2010

APOLOGIES FOR CROSS-POSTING!!!

Dear Colleagues

Here is an evaluation issue with which I hope KM4Dev persons might be able to assist!

Many of you may know that the movement to promote RCTs as “the method” has been shifting their efforts very strongly to developing countries. Debates on this topic have gained prominence with the intense emphasis on impact evaluation following the move to results-based management.

We all welcome the current emphasis on evaluating results and no-one disputes that evaluation in developing countries is in dire need of improvement. But we have to understand and use the rich portfolio of evaluation frameworks and methodologies to suit the nature of what we need to evaluate.

In the South we are at a fragile stage of evaluation capacity building. We have to know what is best under what circumstances. We also have to continue to innovate based on what has been done elsewhere. We cannot waste scarce resources on what does not work for evaluation and for the wellbeing of those we care about - the vulnerable, the marginalised, the impoverished, those with few opportunities.

NONIE – Network of Networks on Impact Evaluation – is a powerful grouping of around 70 development assistance organisations comprising the Evaluation Offices of the UN, the Development Banks / IFIs and OECD DAC bilateral and multilateral agencies, joining forces with developing country partners through regional and global evaluation associations (A website will be available in the near future).

NONIE is thus a very important joint effort to prepare guidance and provide useful resources for impact evaluations. One of its working groups has to map and systematize different approaches to impact evaluation, highlight appropriate methods and recommend to NONIE what approaches and methods should be used to ensure rigour and quality impact evaluation work.

Please assist us in this effort! We depend on the vast evaluation experience and expertise from all over the world. We are seeking from you: how you conceptualise / define impact evaluation; case studies of impact evaluations using sound / innovative methodologies; and/or excellent (preferably synthesis) resources on impact evaluation.

It is unlikely that all on this listserv will be interested in these issues, so please contact me directly as coordinator of this working group.

We count on the rich expertise of KM4D members. Please be in touch. We will appreciate your contributions - small or large - very much.

Zenda

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Zenda Ofir PhD Evaluation Specialist, Evalnet South Africa Past President and current Executive Board Member, AfrEA

And at present: Visiting Professor CICE, University of Hiroshima 1-5-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8529 Japan

Tel: +81-82-424 6912 (office) or 421 6187 (home) Email: zenda@evalnet.co.za

         zenda@hiroshima-u.ac.jp