Evaluation is seen as a major part of the foundation of Agency of International Cooperation for Development. It is referenced in our guiding principles. It is an explicit element of our outcome-focused project-activities. And evaluation is practiced with increasing frequency, intensity, and skill across all programs and several administrative departments in the NGO. Our Process helps to advance the Organization’s existing work so that our evaluation practices become more consistent across the organization. We hope to create more common understanding of our philosophy, mission, purpose, and expectations regarding evaluation as well as clarify staff roles and available support. With more consistency and shared understanding, we expect less wheel re-creation across program areas, greater learning from each other’s efforts, and faster progress in designing meaningful evaluations and applying the results.
These are the several types of evaluations that we conducted.
• Formative evaluation ensures that our program or program activity is feasible, appropriate, and acceptable before it is fully implemented. It is usually conducted when a new program or activity is being developed or when an existing one is being adapted or modified.
• Process implementation evaluation determines whether program activities have been implemented as intended.
• Outcome/effectiveness evaluation measures program effects in the target population by assessing the progress in the outcomes or outcome objectives that the program is to achieve.
• Impact evaluation assesses program effectiveness in achieving its ultimate goals. Process Evaluation determines whether program activities have been implemented as intended and resulted in certain outputs.
We conduct process evaluation periodically throughout the life of our program and start by reviewing the activities and output components of the logic model (i.e., the left side).
Results of the process evaluation will strengthen our ability to report on our program and use information to improve future activities. It allows us to track program information related to
Who, What, When and Where questions:
- To whom did we direct program efforts?
- What has our program done?
- When did our program activities take place?
- Where did our program activities take place?
- What are the barriers/facilitators to implementation of program activities?
Outcome Evaluation measures program effects in the target population by assessing the progress in the outcomes that our program is to address. To design an outcome evaluation, we begin with a review of the outcome components of our logic model (i.e., the right side).
Some questions we address with an outcome evaluation include:
- Were staff who received intensive training more likely to effectively counsel, perform and deliver results than those who did not?
- Did the implementation counseling in community-based organizations result in changes in knowledge, attitudes, and skills among the members of the target population?
- Did the program have any unintended (beneficial or adverse) effects on the target population(s)?
- Do the benefits of the activity justify a continued allocation of resources?
To plan our evaluation in accord with the most appropriate evaluation method, we understand the difference between evaluation types. There are a variety of evaluation designs, and the type of evaluation should match the development level of the program or program activity appropriately. The program stage and scope will determine the level of effort and the methods to be used.
