Toolbox Evaluation & Impact Assessment

Evaluation & Impact Assessment

TOOLBOX

Evaluation & Impact Assessment

This toolbox offers you training materials and good practice experiences on evaluation and impact assessment. We focus in particular on

We strive to include a wide variety of sources. Are your favourite materials not yet included? We would be delighted if you would share them with us.

Filter

566

Sort by:

Direction:

Download (73)

Evaluating the impact of information campaigns in the field of migration: A systematic review of the evidence, and practical guidance

Jasper Tjaden, Sandra Morgenstern, Frank Laczko

Geneva: International Organization for Migration (IOM); Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC) (2018), 50 pp.

"Information campaigns designed to raise awareness of the potential risks of (irregular) migration have attracted much attention and investment across the world in recent years. Studies have repeatedly shown that many migrants start their journeys with limited or biased information and end up in vul ... nerable situations. In response, information campaigns have increased in number and the type, format, messages and strategy of such campaigns have diversified. This report presents the results from a systematic literature review of evaluations of such information campaigns in the field of migration. The study reveals that the evidence base available for programming and policymaking in this area is strikingly limited. We find that the uptake in the use of information campaigns has far outpaced any rigorous assessment of the effects that different campaigns may have on their respective target groups. In the absence of reliable evidence, the debate on the potential of this policy tool often relies on largely anecdotal evidence. Better evidence can show how information campaigns can be designed to best achieve their intended effects given the particular circumstances. The current lack of evidence limits the impact of future campaigns. While rigorous assessment of campaign impact can be difficult and costly, better evidence is clearly needed – wherever feasible and appropriate. Based on an extensive, systematic literature review, 60 relevant evaluations of information campaigns that targeted potential migrants and traffickers, as well as communities at large, were identified from a pool of 3,600 records. Only 30 of the selected campaign evaluations had publicly available results; the rest were collected through expert referrals. Two studies were published in peer-reviewed journals. Among the campaigns featured in the 60 studies, the most popular communication tools were workshop-type activities and cable TV programmes/advertisements. Most campaigns focused on trafficking, followed by irregular migration and, more generally, smuggling. A common issue is the lack of a clearly defined campaign objective and/or target group. This hampers any rigorous evaluation of programme effects. Whenever an objective is defined, it is most often aimed at “awareness-raising” and “knowledge generation.” The majority of the campaign evaluations claimed that the campaign under study was “successful” in inducing a change in knowledge, perceptions, attitudes and – to a lesser degree – (intended) behaviour. However, most of the evaluations reviewed provided relatively little evidence of the full impact of information campaigns. While many of the evaluations reported the number and profiles of campaign recipients or beneficiaries, impact was not directly measured. (In the evaluation literature, impact is defined as a change in outcome that is directly attributable to the programme and not any other factor.) Most of the evaluations identified did not meet minimum standards for robust evidence on programme effects. The large majority of evaluations were based on based on cross-sectional surveys of small numbers of participants (N) sampled at convenience, limiting the generalizability of the results. Only a few large-N studies employed a control-group design or involved pre- and post-measurements. None employed a (quasi-)experimental method for causal inference (e.g. randomized controlled trial, which is considered the “gold standard” for measuring impact)." (Executive summary) more

Download (68)

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning for Resilience: A Companion Guide

Elsa Febles Carmona

Sebastian Thomas; Helen Jeans; Gina Castillo; Alexia Pretari; Claudia Geraets (contrib.)

Oxford: Oxfam (2018), 32 pp.

"This companion guide accompanies The Future is a Choice: The Oxfam Framework and Guidance for Resilient Development, providing practical guidance on how to design and implement resilience-sensitive monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) systems within our interventions that aim ... more

Download (62)

Journalism Impact Primer & Journalism Impact Toolkit
Key Guides

Walton Family Foundation (2018), 25 pp., 21 pp.

"This report puts forth a Walton Family Foundation (WFF) Media Impact Framework and identifies key indicators and research methods that can be used to assess journalism investments across program areas, based on best practices in the field of media strategy and research. The companion WFF Media Impa ... more

Google Scholar (188)

WorldCat (221)

Evaluation Practice for Collaborative Growth: A Guide to Program Evaluation with Stakeholders and Communities

Lori L. Bakken

New York: Oxford University Press (2018), xvi, 236 pp.

"Evaluation Practice for Collaborative Growth highlights the approaches, tools, and techniques that are most useful for evaluating educational and social service programs. This book walks the reader through a process of creating answerable evaluations questions, designing evaluation studies to answe ... more

External Link (190)

Spuren hinterlassen: Evaluierungen, die einen Unterschied machen

Pablo Rodríguez Bilella, Esteban Tapella

San Juan: Editorial Universidad Nacional de San Juan (UNSJ) (2018), 186 pp.

Download (45)

NGO-IDEAs Toolbox for Participatory Monitoring of Outcomes and Impacts

Eberhard Gohl, Rosa Mendoza, Dagny Skarwan

Lima: Proyecto ONG-IDEAs Latinoamérica (2018), 104 pp.

External Link (188)

Leaving a Footprint: Stories of Evaluation That Made a Difference

Pablo Rodríguez Bilella, Esteban Tapella

San Juan (AR): Editorial de la Universidad Nacional de San Juan (UNSJ) (2018), 186 pp.

"The evaluation stories revealed in the project illustrate the value of a positive approach. They emphasize the evidence of what works and/or might work and is worthy of being continued, enlarged or modified. This can be contrasted with evaluations that are focused mainly on the technical problems a ... nd deficiencies present in most interventions. This type of approach has been shown to be highly relevant in getting beyond defensive and suspicious attitudes, and instead promoting a constructive focus on possible solutions. For example, the evaluation of the initiative Strengthening the Abilities of Indigenous Women to Set up and Have a Bearing on the Implementation of Public Policies (Colombia) validated many of the approaches adopted, and indicated the potential that could be developed by having an additional training to the objectives outlined originally in the project. In addition to that, in evaluations with a positive approach, evaluators usually develop a close relationship with the actors of the intervention, understanding them and supporting them. The evaluators' task in these cases is not limited to indicating what to be modified. Many times local actors regard this as evaluators demonstrating ‘commitment’ to the project and its future. Participation of the actors in the collection and use of the evaluation data is a powerful way of including users and beneficiaries. This allows participants to get involved and understand the data better. An evaluation characterised by a collaborative approach leads participants to take responsibility for the evaluation and then for the change and transformation that follows. In this way, active participation in the evaluation process helps to develop better understanding of evaluation and contributes to commitment and use. This is illustrated by the participatory evaluation in Costa Rica, in which regional technical teams were involved and deeply interested in getting to know how the evaluated program worked in their area. In contrast, the higher authorities limited their participation to approving the evaluation. In this way, recommendations at regional and local levels were applied soon after the evaluation finished, whereas general recommendations —dependent upon the higher authorities— have not yet been applied." (Introduction, page 21-22) more

External Link (187)

Google Scholar (198)

WorldCat (194)

„Mehr Wert für eine bessere Welt?“ Evaluation und Controlling der Kommunikation von Nichtregierungsorganisationen (NGO)

Michael Bürker

In: Handbuch NGO-Kommunikation

Nadine Remus, Lars Rademacher (eds.)

Wiesbaden: Springer VS (2018), pp. 461-487

"Zunächst werden theoretische Konzepte und Modelle sowie die empirische Forschung zum Einsatz von Evaluation und Controlling für die NGO-Kommunikation gesichtet. Dabei werden auch Konzepte für die Evaluation von Organisationen sowie für die Kommunikation von Nonprofit-Organisationen (NPO) als al ... more

Google Scholar (191)

WorldCat (191)

Monitoring Media Sustainability: Economic and Business Revisions to Development Indicators

Robert G. Picard

In: What is Sustainable Journalism? Integrating the Environmental, Social, and Economic Challenges of Journalism

Peter Berglez, Ulrika Olausson, Mart Ots (eds.)

New York et al.: Peter Lang (2018), pp. 243-256

"Robert G. Picard describes the evolvement of UNESCO's media development indicators. The chapter describes a growing focus on economic, financial and managerial dimensions, since, it argues, they pave the fundament to any sustainable, commercial or non-commercial journalistic venture. What Picard cr ... more

External Link (252)

Dejar huella: Historias de evaluaciones que marcaron la diferencia

Esteban Tapella

San Juan (AR): Editorial Universidad Nacional de San Juan (UNSJ) (2018), 188 pp.

Google Scholar (173)

WorldCat (173)

A Short Primer on Innovative Evaluation Reporting

Kylie Hutchinson

Gibsons: Community Solutions Planning & Evaluation (2017), 113 pp.

"This book presents a number of innovative ways of reporting, including different options for presentations, narrative summaries, presenting findings visually and making use of digital outputs. Kylie also discusses how to make sure your messages get through to your audience - including using a layer ... more

External Link (153)

Surveys and Questionnaires

Nigel Simister, Letisha Lunin

INTRAC (2017), 5 pp.

"Surveys and questionnaires are designed to collect and record information from multiple people, groups or organisations in a consistent way. Surveys and questionnaires can be used on their own as data collection tools. They are also an essential part of some more complex data collection and analysi ... more

Download (74)

Evaluation Flash Cards: Embedding Evaluative Thinking in Organizational Culture
Key Guides

Michael Quinn Patton

St. Paul, Minnesota: Otto Bremer Trust (2017), 28 pp.

"As part of our ongoing work to strengthen our support for communities, the trustees and staff of the Otto Bremer Trust engaged in a series of learning seminars on evaluation. In order to make the core concepts easily accessible and retrievable, we asked Michael Quinn Patton, who led the seminars, t ... more

Download (85)

The Step-by-Step Guide to Evaluation: How to Become Savvy Evaluation Consumers

Kellogg Foundation (2017), ix, 251 pp.

"At the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, we believe that evaluation is an effective management tool to both inform strategy development and track the progress and impact of strategy implementation. We have long been committed to supporting our grantees’ ability to derive and share lessons learned from the ... more

External Link (165)

Randomised Control Trials

Nigel Simister, Dan James

INTRAC (2017), 6 pp.

"In a Randomised Control Trial (RCT) different units are randomly assigned to separate groups. One group receives a development intervention and the other does not. Changes in the two groups over time are then compared to accurately measure the effect of the intervention. RCTs have been much debated ... more

Download (91)

Evaluating the Use of Communication for Development in Conflict Interventions: Measuring Peace in Participatory Communication

Valentina Baú

Commons: Revista de Comunicación y Ciudadanía Digital, volume 6, issue 1 (2017), pp. 96-112

"The application of Communication for Development (C4D) in conflict prevention, conflict reduction and post-conflict reconstruction interventions is a relatively new field. International organisations that have begun to adopt new communication & media designs in their peace work are progressively of ... more

External Link (188)

Google Scholar (178)

WorldCat (183)

Demystifying Evaluation: Practical Approaches for Researchers and Users

David Parsons

Bristol: Policy Press; Social Research Association (2017), xv, 194 pp.

"Demystifying Evaluation is an accessible introductory guide explaining the options open to evaluators and how to make appropriate choices of research methods, covering issues such as managing expectations of evaluation, quantitative and qualitative methods, engaging stakeholders and providing actio ... more

Download (68)

Inclusive Rural Communication Services: Building Evidence, Informing Policy
Deep Insights

Rome: FAO; University of Queensland (2017), viii, 90 pp.

"This publication is the first scoping study aimed at compiling existing evaluation cases in the field of Communication for Development as applied to agricultural and rural development initiatives. It draws on a literature review and 19 cases across Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribb ... more

External Link (196)

Indicators

Nigel Simister

INTRAC (2017), 4 pp.

"Indicators are commonly used in social development to provide evidence of change. They form an important part of most monitoring and evaluation systems and approaches. There are many different types of indicator, including quantitative and qualitative indicators. They can be developed in different ... more

External Link (183)

Most Significant Change

INTRAC (2017), 4 pp.

"The Most Significant Change (MSC) technique is a form of participatory monitoring and evaluation. It involves the collection and selection of stories of change, produced by programme or project stakeholders. MSC can be used in projects and programmes where it is not possible to precisely predict de ... more

Journalism Impact Primer & Journalism Impact Toolkit Key Guides

Evaluation Flash Cards: Embedding Evaluative Thinking in Organizational Culture Key Guides

Inclusive Rural Communication Services: Building Evidence, Informing Policy Deep Insights

Journalism Impact Primer & Journalism Impact Toolkit
Key Guides

Evaluation Flash Cards: Embedding Evaluative Thinking in Organizational Culture
Key Guides

Inclusive Rural Communication Services: Building Evidence, Informing Policy
Deep Insights