Monitoring and Evaluation: Good Practices, Common Challenges, and New Strategies

Maureen Jaffe & Misty Heggeness

Monitoring and Evaluation Team

May 31, 2011

Outline of Presentation

• Good Practices and Challenges from Past Evaluations

• New Monitoring and Evaluation Tools

• Impact Evaluation Case Study (Bolivia)

The Role of Monitoring and Evaluation in OCFT-funded Projects

Learning function: Reveal strengths and weaknesses of different strategies Identify good practices and lessons learned for future projects

Process improvements: Provide feedback on what is working, what is not Identify challenges, inform adjustments

Accountability: Has project been implemented as planned? Were expected outputs produced/delivered?

3U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking

Overview of Lessons Learned: Education StrategiesGood Practices

• Focus on Educational Quality and Relevance Keep children engaged and interested Teacher training, innovative learning strategies Safe, “child-friendly” schools

• Provision of School Meals

• After-School/Enrichment Programs

Common Challenges• Increased Class Size due to influx of students

• Transitioning older children into school

Overview of Lessons Learned: Vocational TrainingGood Practices

• Context and gender-sensitive

• Determine market needs with good market study

• Facilitate transition to adequate, gainful employment

• Coordinate with government for official recognition and certification

Common Challenges

• Inadequate funding leads less comprehensive interventions

• Apprenticeships must be monitored

Overview of Lessons Learned: Income-Generating Activities“When I eat sand, my children eat sand.”

– parent of beneficiary, Benin

Good Practices

• Consider linkages and partnerships

• Conduct quality market studies

• Incorporate business, marketing, literacy and numeracy, as needed

Common Challenges

• Ensuring adequate funding

• Finding experienced organizations and personnel with business and marketing skills

Overview of Lessons Learned: Sustainability

Good Practices

• Focusing on sustainability from beginning

• Active involvement of key stakeholders from inception

• Build on/integrate into existing efforts

• Build local capacity to take on issue

Common Challenge

• Lack of Resources

• Staff turnover in government institutions

• Relatively short implementation period

New Strategies in Evaluation

Success should be judged by results, and data is a powerful tool to determine results. We can't ignore facts. We can't ignore data.

President Barack Obama, July 24, 2009

Comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation (CM&E) PlansIdentify evaluation opportunities based on project strategies

Plan for evaluations based on project design and strategies

Thoughtful and intentional design of evaluation at project design stage Project management and evaluation staff work closely together CM&E plans are living documents used as a management tool to

improve service delivery and project outcomes

Evaluation activities to be carried out during the life of the project

implementation evaluations

short- and long-term assessments

Monitoring mechanisms and processes

Roles and responsibilities in M&E

Monitoring indicators (common and project specific)

PMP

Impact evaluation methodology

Data collection Baseline Follow-up Other data collection

What is in the CM&E plans?

Rigorous Impact EvaluationUndertake a more substantial investment of resources in monitoring and evaluation, including with a focus on rigorous and high-quality impact evaluations.-President Obama’s Global Development Policy (2010)

What works? Was there a difference? What are the benefits? Can it be attributed to the program?

Why does it work?

Accountability

Replicate and scale-up interventions that work

Impact Evaluation Panel Discussion: Case Study of Desarrollo y Autogestión (DyA) - BoliviaDiscussants:

Matthew Holtman, Senior Manager, ICF Macro Maró Guerrero, Project Director, DyA – Bolivia María Gloria Barreiro, Executive Director, DyA

Moderator: Misty Heggeness, International Economist, OCFT

12U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking

THANK YOU!Questions? Contact us at:

Jaffe.maureen@dol.gov

Heggeness.misty@dol.gov