Monitoring and Evaluation for Development Projects and Programmes

IntroductionThis 2 weeks training is design to impact job oriented skills for monitoring and evaluation that are highly demanded in the development industry. After following this course you will be capable of designing and managing Monitoring and Evaluation Systems which meet the standards of donor agencies.It is aimed at providing an overview of monitoring and evaluation methods for development results with practical applications of tools and methods. This course will provide participants with M&E tools, techniques and resources needed for planning, organizing, and/or managing programs and projects. Through exercises and group work, participants will learn the links between results-based measurement, monitoring and program evaluation. Time will be allocated for practical exercises and informal question and answer sessions around common M&E problem areas. Participants will also be provided with additional Resources for further study and research in the M&E field. Duration 5 Days Course Objective Learn how to select data collection strategies and get acquainted with key issues about measures such as credibility, reliability, validity and precision Benefit from a hands-on-approach based on real life cases enabling you to immediately apply the knowledge shared throughout course Work in groups together with professionals from around the world, in a multicultural and diverse environment Gain insights on how multilateral agencies manage their operations Get access to all the resources necessary to start your own training program on Monitoring & Evaluation Build a Monitoring & Evaluation system throughout the course for a real project Use data analysis software package (Stata). Use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and GPS to gather data, collaborate and share information. Communicate findings to stimulate learning and reflection. Who Should Attend? This course targets Project Management Officials from NGO’s, National Statistics Offices, Education Researchers, Government ministries, National Institutes and Planning Ministries, Central banks, and University Researchers among others. Topics to Be Covered M&E fundamentals Introduction to M&E? Key components of M&E Relating Monitoring and evaluation to your project cycle Identifying the challenges facing Monitoring and evaluation professionals Steps to implementing M&E in a project/programme Type of evaluations Methods and tools for M&E Challenges in M&E Trends towards result based M&E Managing for Development Results (MfDR) MfDR core principles MfDR and Result based management (RBM) Defining RBM Emergence of RBM and its development Seven phases of RBM Performance measurement, performance indicators and performance monitoring Logical framework and results framework Introduction to result based M&E What is RBM? Results based M&E outline Result based M&E cycle Performance measurement, performance indicators and performance monitoring Essential actions to build result based M&E The power of measuring results Situation analyses/Needs assessment Formative research Situation analysis Needs assessment Tools to conduct a needs assessment Illustrative examples of situation analysis and mappings Baseline assessment What is baseline data and how is it collected? Needs assessment versus baseline study Questions to ask about a baseline plan What kind of baseline data is necessary, useful and practical to collect? Examples of baseline surveys Designing the M&E system The result chain Impact path ways Logical framework vs Theory of change Developing a theory of change Components of a theory of change M&E frameworks The importance of M&E frameworks Considerations when developing an M&E framework Steps in developing and M&E framework Results frameworks Logical frameworks M&E plans What does an M&E plan include? Important considerations for an M&E plan When should M&E be undertaken? When monitoring activities should be carried out? When should evaluations be conducted? Can M&E plans be amended? Designing indicators and evidence Defining indicators Characteristics of good indicators Challenges and considerations when selecting indicators Knowing how many indicators are enough Process versus result/impact indicators Process indicators Result indicators Output indicators Outcome indicators Impact indicators Developing internationally comparable indicators Performance monitoring Definition and process Tools used Evaluation techniques Evaluation questions Steps to developing evaluation questions Illustrative examples Designing evaluations for stakeholder benefit and use Choice and use of qualitative and quantitative collection instruments Participatory data analysis Communicating findings meaningfully for comprehensive stakeholder learning Gender M&E Introduction to M&E in Gender and development Prioritizing gender in M&E plans Exploring gender in M&E plans Selecting indicators to measure gender related outputs and outcomes Gender considerations for data collection, interpretation and use Communicating M&E results Developing a communications strategy based on evaluation findings. Communicating findings to bring about change. Presenting M&E results using different media Use of M&E results Different uses of M&E results To whom to give feedback When to give feedback How to give feed back Embedding learning for personal and organizational benefit Becoming change agents for M&E. Becoming an M&E champion Assessing programme impact Introduction to Impact Assessment Programme Design Implications Impact Assessment in Programme Design Economic evaluations Introduction to Economic evaluation Main methods of economic evaluation Case study: cost effectiveness Data collection, management and data quality Data collection methods: How to undertake data collection (quantitative and qualitative) Increasing questionnaires response rates Data collection versus data analysis Data quality and data management Data quality dimensions Functional areas of data management systems ICT tools for data collection, monitoring and evaluation in development programmes ICT innovations: Mobile data collection Using Mobile phones for data collection Application How can we use ICTs for qualitative M&E Introduction to data analysis and interpretation Introduction Data analysis key concepts Types of variables Basic analysis Summarizing data Numerical summaries for discrete variables Tables for dichotomous variables Tables for categorical variables Tables for ordinal variables Graphs and charts for dichotomous and categorical variables Graphs and charts for ordinal variables Tabulations for summary statistics for continuous variables Graphs and charts for continuous variables Introduction to qualitative data analysis Planning for qualitative data analysis Reviewing the data Organizing your data Coding the data Introduction to using a qualitative data analysis software (NVivo) Quantitative data analysis using STATA/SPSS/EXCEL/R/PHYTHON Planning for quantitative data analysis Comparison of Data analysis packages Basics for statistical analysis Testing for normality of data Choosing the correct statistical test Tests Hypothesis testing Confidence intervals Hypothesis testing versus confidence intervals Interpreting the data GIS techniques for M&E of development programmes What is GIS? Geographic approaches to development GIS advantages for M&E Using GIS software and data Data sources for development issues GIS analysis and mapping techniques Economic techniques Introduction to Economic evaluation Main methods of economic evaluation Case study: cost effectiveness