Meaningful and Manageable Evaluation

Meaningful and manageable evaluation Susie Rabin Campaigning Effectiveness, NCVO Hugh Mouser , Global Witness

Why monitor and evaluate?
Strengthen the impact your campaign can make
Empower people and communities
Learn from what you have done

M&E can be a valuable part of your campaign
In development and planning stages
During campaign delivery /implementation
At the end of the campaign

Some principles of M&E
Build evidence, not proof
“ if it quacks and has feathers, it’s probably a duck”
Outcomes are more important that outputs
Measure the important things, not the easy things
Keep it simple and user-friendly

Some principles of M&E
Some information is better than none
“ It’s not the purity of the process that’s important, it’s the quality of the thinking”
Establish the link to action
Create a learning culture

Creating an impact Activities: Consumer research to identify clearest labelling, Lobby government departments, email actions directed at companies Outputs: Outcomes: Government issues clear guidelines on food labelling, major companies adopt clear food labelling Impact: People’s health improved by having access to clear information about food

Summary of key steps
Identify the purpose of m&e
Decide who should be involved
Deciding your focus
Deciding what information you want to monitor
Deciding how you will collect the information you need

Developing an M&E framework
Set clear change objectives
What steps should you take to achieve your overall aim?
Identify capacity and resources
Be realistic about what you can achieve
Identify indicators
What information will show whether or not objectives are being met?
Verification
What sources will you explore and what techniques will you use to gather the evidence?

The simplest approach
Creating space for reflection
At key stages throughout the campaign not, just at the end
Discuss key questions
Identify clear and achievable recommendations for future working

Evaluation Framework How to create the data Target Indicator (if any) Impacts How to create the data Target Indicator (if any) Outputs

Don’t just focus on outputs..
It can be easier to count outputs, but you need to consider your outcomes as well

Outputs vs Outcomes
Output Impact
Visits to sexual health clinic Better sexual health 15 people attend health workshop Improvement in family wellbeing 30% reduction in STIs STI tests completed Increased confidence 100 people access helpline

Creating a credible mass of evidence
Surveys commissioned by the organisation
One-off detailed analysis
Qualitative research
Secondary data
Tracking analysis
Anecdotal evidence
External evaluation

Building a learning culture in your organisation
Monitor and test ‘theories of change’ for your campaign
Facilitate learning, inform ongoing decision making, underpin accountability
Embed as part of planning and reporting, not an add on
Feedback to stakeholders appropriately

Aim to…
Carry monitoring and evaluation out as well as you can in the circumstances and then learn from your experiences

Communicating impact
Keep your audience in mind
Tailor to your audience
Summarise and focus
Think about different media
Use pictures and words
Quotes and case studies

S u dan Campaign: Evaluation case study Hugh Mouser Global Witness 25 th January 2011

Aim: To ensure that Sudan’s oil revenues are used to help maintain peace and prevent further conflict between North and South
Tactics: Research, policy & advocacy
The campaign at a glance

What was required for the campaign aim to be met:
Clear and fair figures on the who, where, when and how much of oil extraction and trade
Equitable revenue sharing
Peace to be maintained

4. Public backing from donors for audit recommendations to be adopted and new wealth sharing agreement to include transparency requirements
Activities :
Research & publish a briefing outlining continued discrepancies in oil figures
Extensive advocacy targeting US, Norway and UK decision makers, as well as International Finance Institutions
Campaign objectives & activities
Objectives:
Backing from key donor governments and institutions
Strong Terms of Reference for an audit drafted by a donor-backed team, and accepted by the Sudanese govt
The audit to be carried out , to include strong recommendations, and its results to be made public

E valuation challenges and solutions
Challenges :
Assessing and communicating contribution;
Making the process light touch;
Solutions:
Campaigner self-assessment to be scrutinised by management;
How long it took - 1-2 hours for campaigner, 1 hour for management;
What happened next - Campaigns Director reviewed alongside other campaign evaluations; overall summary assessment sent to senior management for review

So what did we learn?

Objective 1 – Met
“ Backing from key donor governments and institutions for a transparent audit with strong ToR. ”
Activities
Research new evidence of oil discrepancies.
Lobby for language in US Appropriations legislation to force the US to act.
Outputs
Short briefing using research published.
Story covered by at least three high impact international, and three well known Sudanese media outlets.
Progress towards objective
Backing secured

Objective 2: Partially met
“ Strong ToR drafted by donor-backed team, and accepted by the Sudanese govt ”
Activities
Lobby IFIs, US government, Norway.
Lobby Sudan govt, South Sudan govt, Chinese / Malay authorities.
Outputs:
US private commitment to push Sudan govt to accept audit ToR.
Norway govt confirms that audit has been drafted.
Commitments from Sudan govt, South Sudan govt, Chinese / Malay authorities.
Progress towards objective
Text drafted, but decision now rests with Sudanese president’s office. Now behind on ambitious schedule.

Objectives 3 & 4 – Not met
“ The audit to be carried out. ”
“ Public backing from donors for audit recommendations to be adopted and new wealth sharing agreement to include transparency requirements ”
Activities
Lobby US govt, IFIs, Sudan govt.
Outputs
Commitment from donors secured to press Sudanese govt, commitment from Sudanese govt secured to carry out audit / adopt recommendations.
Progress towards both objectives
None.

Any contingency actions or course corrections?
South Sudan’s first ever petroleum policy; satellite photography research; unable to get visas for Sudan
How was our overall progress?
Some good progress & reputation improving – helped get the audit drafted and public calls for action. Still disappointing slow rate of change however
What kind of a difference were we making?
Positive – in terms of positioning:
Raising awareness of transparency issues in Sudan
Working towards getting an audit carried out
Being poised to influence South Sudan’s first ever petroleum policy
Securing language in US appropriations act to get the govt to act on corruption issues in South Sudan
Negative:
Delays in getting visas!
What else did we find out?

What evidence did we have for our effectiveness?
Private congratulations on our work:
Off record: Donor government
A major Sudan expert said: “Congratulations on your report! It was an amazing piece of work, and has had a larger impact than any other public report that I can think of on Sudan, and that's no small feat!”
Donor government: our Sudan campaigner was referred to as “a force of nature” on the issue of transparency in Sudan.
Public calls following GW lobbying: Senior political figures in South Sudan International Assessment and Evaluation Commission reports UK’s Africa Minister, Glenys Kinnock Several UK Lords
Policy tracking:
UK Associate Parliamentary Group on Sudan report namechecks our work and mirrors many of our policy calls.
Media presence and response:
Sudanese United government energy minister invites GW to Khartoum to inspect the oil books, in a live TV debate with our Sudan campaigner on BBC Arabic TV

So what did we know after 6 months?
Positive impact?
Not yet. Continual monitoring necessary.
Positive outcomes?
Yes - incremental improvements, but not as much as we had hoped
No – delays in getting hold of visas!
Contribution to outcomes?
Yes. Disappointed with progress but knew we had done a good job – of course our work had raised the heckles of North Sudan and prevented us from getting visas.
On schedule?
To the greatest extent, yes, and all activities carried out
How did this help us?
Informed tactics: US & Norway were now more responsive to our work
Helped us show our effectiveness and secure new funding for 3 years
When would we be able to evaluate impact?
When improvements are secured in people's lives.

How did this contribute towards building a learning culture?
Review of findings and process with individual Campaign Managers individually and together
Encouraging staff to gather attributions as they go along
Organisation-wide presentation to follow each round of assessments summarising where the organisation is at
End of year internal report and external annual review to explain better the timeline of activities leading to outputs, outcomes and chances of impact

What should I take away from this?
Gather attributions as you campaign
Keep evaluation light-touch
Try to ensure someone neutral checks your evaluation
Build a picture of the consequences of your work

Questions and discussion Questions to think about:
What information do you have which could help with M & E?
What information does your team or organisation possess?
What information is available from other sources that you can you tap into to help with your M & E?

What can you do next?
If you have 30 minutes:
Download and read Part 1 of Is your campaign making a difference? from our website
Apply the basic evaluation framework to your campaign
If you have longer:
Purchase the complete publication for how to conduct more in depth m&e
Read The Good Guide to Campaigning and Influencing
Carry on the discussion at www.forumforchange.org.uk

Contact us:
Contact NCVO’s Campaigning Effectiveness Programme for bespoke advice and support
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/campaigningeffectiveness
[email_address]

Meaningful and Manageable Evaluation

by NCVO - The National Council for Voluntary Organisations on Jan 28, 2011

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Meaningful and Manageable Evaluation — Presentation Transcript