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Extending Agricultural Research Impacts in Africa through
Evaluation Capacity Building
Dr. Kay Kelsey, Professor and Director of the Impact Evaluation Unit, University of Georgia
Revalorizing Extension: Evidence and Practice
April 2-3, 2018Symposium at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
How do we tell our stories?
Are we learning from our stories?
How can we get better at learning from our work?
O
Why is EBC important?
O Evaluation Capacity Building = “intentional action system of guided processes and practices for bringing about and sustaining a state of affairs in which quality program evaluation and its appropriate uses are ordinary and ongoing practices within the organization”
O ECB = investing in employees’ evaluation organizational learning and improvement.
O You know you are there when staff say this is ‘the way we do things around here’ and is a necessary component of projects and contributes to organizational learning
What did we do?
What was involved?
O Reviewed existing M&E plans
O Reviewed funding proposals
O Reviewed submitted evaluation reports
O Interviewed 21 employees in Ghana, Togo,
Kenya, Bangladesh, Washington DC
O Interviewed representatives from USAID,
Gates Foundation, DGIS, and other donors
Where did this take place?
What did we find?
O M&E was not planned for in 54% of funding proposals.
O Those that planned for M&E did not offer details, only promises to conduct M&E after funding.
O Funding for M&E was not included in project budgets.
O 96 staff conducting M&E work around the world.
O Project level M&E, staff reported to division directors.
O No community of practice for building evaluation capacity.
O No leadership for M&E
How is the organization learning?
How do we get better?O Hire an evaluation specialist to lead ECB.
O Implement M&E activity at every stage of the project
cycle, from ideation stage to impact reporting.
O Conduct impact evaluation to learn over time.
O Amalgamate data across projects and over time.
O Create a community of practice to learn from each
other.
Learn Across Projects
O Knowledge
management
system
O DevResults
O https://www.devr
esults.com/tour#
Monitor
Summary
O Organizational leadership
O Commitment to learning
O Investment in skilled technical support and
tools
O Results in getting smarter
O Serving stakeholders more effectively
ReferencesO Carman, J. G. & Fredericks, K. A. (2010). Evaluation capacity and nonprofit organizations: Is the
glass half-empty or half-full? American Journal of Evaluation, 31(1), 84-104. Doi: 10.1177/1098214009352361.
O Fitzpatrick, J. L., Sanders, J. R. & Worthen, B. R. (2011). Program evaluation: Alternative approaches and practical guidelines. 4th ed. New York: Pearson.
O Helms, M. M., and Nixon, J. (2010). Exploring SWOT analysis - where are we now? A review of academic research from the last decade. Journal of Strategy and Management, 3(3), 215-251. doi.org/10.1108/17554251011064837
O Osita, I. C., Onyebuchi, I., & Justina, N. (2014). Organization's stability and productivity: the role of SWOT analysis. International Journal of Innovative and Applied Research, 2(9), 23–32. Retrieved http://journalijiar.com/uploads/2014-10-02_231409_710.pdf
O Stevahn, L., King, J. A., Ghere, G., Minnema, J. (2005). Establishing essential competencies for program evaluators. American Journal of Evaluation, 26(1), 43-59. doi: 10.1177/1098214004273180
O Stockdill, S. H., Baizerman, M., & Compton, D. W. (2002). Toward a definition of the EBC process: A Conversation with the ECB literature. In. D. W. Compton, M. Baizerman, and S. H. Stockdill (Eds.), The art, craft, and science of evaluation capacity building. New Directions for Evaluation,93, 7-26.
O Stufflebeam, D. (2001). Evaluation models. New Directions for Evaluation, 89, 7-98. Doi: 10.1002/ev.3.
O Yarbrough, D. B., Shulha, L. M., Hopson, R. K., and Caruthers, F. A. (2011). The program evaluation standards: A guide for evaluators and evaluation users (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
