2. 2
A time-bound assessment that systematically and objectively
assesses the relevance, performance, success and effectiveness
of ongoing and completed programmes and projects.
It is a value judgement of the set objectives in the project.
Definition of Evaluation?
3. Definition of Evaluation?
• It can be done during the implementation of the project
keeping in view the improvement of performance and
strategy. It can also be done after the completion of the
project in order to derive the outcome;
• Thus evaluation can be formative and summative;
• When the cook tastes the soup, that’s formative; when the
guests taste the soup, that is summative evaluation.
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4. Evaluation
Purpose
• The purpose of an evaluation is the reason why you are
doing it. It goes beyond what you want to know to why
you want to know it.
5. Evaluation
Examples of an evaluation purpose could be:
• To provide the organization with information needed to
make decisions about the future of the project.
• To assess whether the organization/project is having
the planned impact in order to decide whether or not to
replicate the model elsewhere.
• To assess the programme in terms of effectiveness,
impact on the target group, efficiency and sustainability
in order to improve its functioning.
6. 6
Programme Evaluation
Ex Ante (Before)
• Can the programme achieve the results set out in the plan?
Mid Term (Mid way)
• How are we doing and what changes are needed?
Ex Post (After)
• What did we achieve vs plan?
7. 7
Project Evaluation
• Project evaluation is a structured process
comprising:
Collection of relevant information
Assessment of this information against agreed criteria
Reporting of the evaluation results
Incorporation of these results into future planning
13. A Case for discussion
• A Rural water supply project was initiated in 1990 on
community participatory basis. Project was to be completed
in 1994 with cost Rs. 100 million but it actually completed in
1993 with cost Rs. 80 million.
• Was project a success story? OR
• Do you need some additional information to make judgment?
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14. A Case for discussion
• Project in question, was to provide safe drinking water to
1 Lac families living in 25 villages by 2008 but it was
revealed it was accessible to only 25,000 families by that
year;
• Was the project a success story?
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15. A Case for discussion
• Project in question, was claimed to reduce incidence of
water borne diseases by 40% (1990=70%) by 2004;
• But in actual incidences increased to 90% by 2004
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16. A Case for discussion
• A survey was carried out in 2005 to see how many water
supply schemes were still in operation and how many had
ceased to exist;
• Only 10% were found operational;
• Is project a success story?
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18. The Power of Measuring Results
• If you do not measure results, you cannot tell success or
failure
• If you can not see success, you cannot reward it
• If you cannot reward success, you are probably rewarding
failure
• If you cannot see success, you cannot learn from it
• If you cannot recognize failure, you cannot correct it
• If you can demonstrate results, you can win public
support
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19. 19
Monitoring vs Evaluation
Monitoring Evaluation
Who? Internal management
responsibility – all levels
Usually incorporates external inputs
When? Ongoing Periodic – mid-term, completion, ex-
post
Why? Check progress, take remedial
action, update plans
Learn broad lessons applicable to
other programs/projects, policy
review, etc
Focus on Inputs, activities, outputs Results, purpose, overall objective
20. Monitoring vs Evaluation
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Monitoring
• Routine collection of
information
• Tracking implementation
progress
• Measuring efficiency
“Is the project doing things
right ?”
Evaluation
• Analyzing information
• Ex-post assessment of
effectiveness and impact
• Confirming project expectations
• Measuring impacts
“Has the project done the right
things?”
21. 21
Reporting of results to:
• Sponsors
• Decision Makers
• Stakeholders
• Partner Organisations
• Beneficiaries
Why Evaluate?
23. Relevance
• Relevance is concerned with assessing whether the project was
the right development intervention chosen to address a specific
need of the people;
• For example, a project for constructing a road can be judged for its
relevance by asking whether its objectives were rightly framed in
accordance to the state's development plans
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24. Efficiency
• Efficiency deals with the relationship between project inputs and
outputs;
• a project may be called an efficient intervention, if it uses minimum
inputs at least available cost to obtain the desired result;
• Often there is a trade-off involved with quality of the inputs versus
the costs involved;
• least-cost methods often compromise on quality. It involves careful
decision making on part of the project executioners
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25. Effectiveness
• Measuring the effectiveness of the project refers to how well it fulfilled
its objectives, by taking into account the effect of the project on the
beneficiaries. When assessing project effectiveness, the following
questions need to be asked:
• How have the conditions of the intended beneficiaries group changed
since the beginning of the development intervention?
• To what extent was the change in the conditions caused by factors
external to the project.
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26. Impact
• Impact is a measure of all significant effects of the development
intervention, positive or negative, expected or unforeseen, on its
beneficiaries and other affected parties;
• For most projects, it gets increasingly difficult to attribute broad
effects to specific causes. This is primarily due to the fact that
various number of factors that can lead to that particular effect;
• Hence in order to conduct an impact evaluation, which aims at
measuring the effect of an intervention, an estimation of a
counterfactual situation is required. This can be achieved by
comparing the two identical situations - one which has been
subjected to the intervention and one which has not
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27. Sustainability
• A project may fulfill all the above criteria, but if its positive impacts are
not long-lasting, the project loses its worthiness;
• Sustainability deals with asking questions such as the availability of
sufficient resources to maintain project results. It is often the most
rigorous evaluation measure as it is concerned with how well a project
is environmentally and financially sustainable;
• For example, sustainability of a road project could be measured by the
likelihood of the road being maintained and its perceived usefulness in
the future, keeping in mind forthcoming developments surrounding the
constructed road.
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29. 29
One for the road!
It is not necessarily a crime to be running late…………
……..It is always a crime not to know!
You can only manage the work that remains to be done!
Getting people to think ahead
is 50% of the benefit of project planning
A successful project is one that where outputs are delivered on time,
within budget, of the required quality…….
…….and no one died of a heart attack
Editor's Notes
The primary purpose of evaluation is to provide lessons that are incorporated into the decision-making processes of new projects and programs.
Emphasise the ‘Time’ related nature of evaluation, I.e. the time continuum of
Inputs activities outputs results impact
An evaluation is a systematic review of project performance by monitoring the progress of the project towards meeting its purpose through analyzing its
Relevance
Efficiency
Effectiveness
Impact and
Sustainability
Who is the evaluation for?
Different audiences will have different expectations. An evaluation designed to meet the needs of the promoting organisation’s own management and staff (perhaps to find out what went wrong!) will be very different to one designed to serve as a promotional tool.
On the other hand, a good evaluation, carried out and written with integrity, should be multi functional and is likely to be of value both internally and externally – although it will probably need to be adapted to different audiences. For example:
Funders: Focus on value for money. Evaluation of costs against measurable contribution to policy objectives or programme objectives
Promoter: Identification of new market opportunities or unmet needs.
Identification of operational or administrative problems as well as recording and validating the project's achievements.
Local partners: Interested in the benefits to the local economy and to their own strategic objectives
Peer organisations: Interested in the possibility of duplicating or adapting to their needs. Looking for relevance to the needs of their clients and an honest account of its costs and difficulties
Transnational audiences (donor funds?): looking at impact and benefit to transnational activities (INTERREG?). Suitability of promoting organisation as a future partner?
Beneficiary group: Interested in the project’s impact on individual people or organisations in order to assess potential benefits to themselves
Relevance to objectives and to in-country/beneficiary needs. Does the project make sense in relation these needs?
Particularly important in relation to ex-ante evaluation in the context of judging the appropriateness of the policies or projects.