IICD's evaluation system is active in Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ecuador, Ghana, Mali, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The local evaluation partners rapidly took up the coordination in 2005. By mid 2006, the 10,000th questionnaires had been filled out. Among the interviewees there were 1,500 project team members, 1,500 persons trained and 7,000 end users. In combination with regular Focus Group meetings, the online M&E tool provides continuous learning and evaluation of the satisfaction and impact on poverty alleviation for both partners and IICD. Learning reports describe the results of the data analyses in combination with the outcomes of the Focus Group meeting.
After the successful first meeting in August 2005, all M&E partners met for the second time in July 2006 in The Netherlands. They kept up their learning spirit and exchanged a lot of experiences, challenges and successes. Together they further enhanced their M&E capacities and found a lot of solutions to problems related to their work. Special attention was given to report writing and working with the partners in the field.
The launch on November 28 of the Smart Toolkit is the result of a collaboration between IICD, CTA and KIT in order to address the issue of how development organisations respond to the needs of their stakeholders and whether they have adequate capacity to change, should the need arise. This Smart Toolkit is developed for organisations interested in learning how to improve their project management practices as well as develop a culture of evaluation.
IICD is continuously trying to improve its effectiveness and development
impact. Monitoring and Evaluation is important because it helps to find out
what is and is not functioning in a project, thereby enabling us to learn
from past experiences and make improvements. While the tangible results
through projects, networks and training programmes are promising, some key
questions remain: How far have local people been empowered? Are they more
aware of the possibilities of ICT? Did users gain economically? and, Was
there any impact at the level of the organisation or the sector? To answer
these questions, IICD has developed a continuous, participatory, and
self-reflecting, Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) system for its
Country Programmes.
A tailor-made Monitoring & Evaluation system was developed in 2000
and since then it has evolved to fit the current needs. It involves a local
M&E partner in each country to collect and analyse qualitative and
quantitative data. The instruments used are online questionnaires and Focus
Group Meetings. The analyses of the data combined with the outcomes of the
Focus Group Meetings are published in summaries of the evaluation reports.
IICD's Monitoring & Evaluation system focuses on being a learning
instrument which is beneficial for all parties. Trust, openness and honesty
amongst all partners involved are the guiding principles in the field of
M&E.
See below for more information on the monitoring & evaluation
programme:
In each country, the Monitoring & Evaluation system works with one permanent local facilitator as M&E partner. These partners are specialized in evaluating development initiatives in their respective countries. Their role is to collect and analyse data, facilitate Focus Group Meetings and capture the lessons learned in Evaluation Reports.
For country-specific M&E partners and their contact information, see below:
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