Monitoring & Evaluation Training Course for
the Indian Economic Service
Introduction and Overview
Diva Dhar
Assistant Director, J-PAL South Asia at IFMR
Surajkund
March 10th, 2014
Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)
Research affiliate network of over 88 professors in 34 universities; 491 evaluations in 55 countries
across 7 global offices
J-PAL is a Centre at MIT’s Department of Economics,
with Regional Offices Worldwide
J-PAL South Asia: A Brief History
J-PAL South Asia office set up in
2007 at the Institute for Financial
Management and Research,
Chennai
Over 90 completed and ongoing
projects across South Asia:
education, finance & microfinance,
environment & energy, health,
political economy & governance,
labor markets and agriculture
Scientific Directors: Esther Duflo
(MIT), Iqbal Dhaliwal (Ex-IAS –
1996 batch)
Policy: Translating Research into Action
Goal: Improve lives of poor through better policies and programs based on
evidence from J-PAL’s randomised evaluations
Outreach strategy:
• Determine which programs to promote based on magnitude of impact,
cost-effectiveness, context, and generalisability of results
• Summarise evaluation results
• Share evidence with policymakers through high-level meetings and
workshops
• Provide technical assistance to policy partners to replicate and scale-
up evidenced-based programs, often starting with a policy pilot
CLEAR Initiative
Global initiative coordinated by the
World Bank Independent
Evaluation Group
The CLEAR South Asia Regional
Centre has been hosted by J-PAL
South Asia at IFMR since May 2011
Established a partnership with the
Centre for Economic Research
(CERP) in Pakistan and works
closely with Innovations for
Poverty Action (IPA) in Bangladesh
CLEAR: Regional Centers for Learning on Evaluation and Results
CLEAR’s Strategic Vision:
• Building evaluation skills of
practitioners, program
implementers, and donors
• Strengthening M&E systems
and practices for strategic
clients
• Building a culture of evidence
based decision-making and
strengthening demand for
evaluations
ASER Centre
ASER Centre is a not for profit company, registered under s.5 Indian
Companies Act
It was established in 2008 as a specialized, independent unit within the
Pratham network
We work towards providing answers to 2 key questions:
• Are social sector programs leading to desired outcomes?
• Is public expenditure effectively leading towards stated goals?
Our Vision is:
• To implement various assessment activities in
• the social sector
• To build the capacity of individuals and
• organizations across the country to
• undertake similar initiatives
About this Course
This four day course, organized by J-PAL/ CLEAR South Asia and ASER
The course will give an overview of cutting-edge methods used for
outcome based monitoring, impact evaluation and data collection
The course will include a series of presentations, case studies, group
exercises and fieldwork practicum
About this Course
The objectives of this course are to:
• To build knowledge of monitoring and evaluation techniques and
approaches to determine the efficacy of social sector policies.
To understand he conceptual framework for program evaluation and the
role of impact evaluation
• To recognize the strengths, weaknesses, assumptions and limitations of
various impact evaluation methods
• To gain exposure to outcome based monitoring methods and evidence
• To expand knowledge of effective, innovative measurement techniques,
instrument design and data collection
• To understand how to effectively integrate credible evidence into decision
making
Course Structure
4 days
13 presentations
1 case study
Half day fieldwork
Group Presentation
Lecture Overview
Introduction and Training Overview (Diva Dhar)
Welcome Remarks: The Importance of Data and Evidence for Policymaking (Varad
Pande)
Evaluation Frameworks and Theory of Change (John Floretta)
Impact Evaluation Methods (Marc Shotland)
Experimental Research Method (Dr. Anant Sudarshan)
Sampling Methodologies and Techniques (Dr. Wilima Wadhwa)
Instrument Design (Dr. Sharon Barnhardt)
Outcome Based Participatory Approach (Dr. Smriti Pahwa and Ranajit Bhattacharyya)
Designing Indicators (Dr. Smriti Pahwa and Ranajit Bhattacharyya)
Using Evidence for Public Service Delivery and Accountability (Yamini Aiyar)
Technology Innovations in M&E (Aparna Krishnan)
Managing and Commissioning Evaluations (Dr. Shreyasi Jha)
From Research to Policy (Pavan Mamidi)
Course Cast
Lecturers Teaching Assistants
Maya Escueta
Dr. Urmy Shukla
Ritambhara Mehta
Sree Sen
Yamini Aiyar
Dr. Sharon Barnhardt
Ranajit Bhattacharya
Diva Dhar
John Floretta
Dr Shreyasi Jha
Aparna Krishnan
Pavan Mamidi
Dr. Smriti Pahwa
Varad Pande
Marc Shotland
Dr. Anant Sudarshan
Dr. Wilima Wadhwa
Course Packet
Registration Forms
Agenda
Speaker Profiles
Participant Groups
Case Study: Expanding credit access: Assessing different impact evaluation
methods
Survey Instruments
Feedback Form
Course “Clickers”
Everyone gets one
Course “Clickers”: Have you used these before?
A. Yes
B. No
C. Something similar
YesNo
Someth
ing s
imila
r
0% 0%0%