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Evaluation refers to a systematic periodic collection and analysis of data about the progress of a project or program (UMI M&E Principles and Perspective Handbook, 2016). At project monitoring we move from the lowest level of activities up to the purpose level where we are able to trace the outcomes but during project evaluation, we will go beyond the purpose level to unveil the kind of results at a goal level. Having this in mind, while monitoring we use outputs for coming up with corrective actions on a project or program under implementation whereas at the evaluation level, we use these outputs to generate lessons that can depict positive or best practices that can be replicated in future interventions.
Below are some of the evaluation parameters that I will use to monitor and evaluate my intervention that aims at strengthening livelihoods and resilience of the communities in Pageri County of South Sudan;
Relevance: This is concerned with assessing the extent to which the objectives of the intervention are consistent with recipients’ requirements, the needs of the target population and the organisational policies as well as policies of the donor (Austrian Development Agency, 2009). This parameter will help us answer questions like; is this project intervention relevant in improving food and livelihood security? Are the project activities relevant for the people of Pageir to better adapt, cope and recover from recurrent shocks and stresses? and it will help us assess whether there’s some important underlying factors which can contribute to household food insecurity that has been overlooked in the project design?
Effectiveness: In this parameter, we measure the extent to which our activity will achieves its purpose, taking into account the relative importance on the basis of the outputs. How well we convert outputs into outcomes and have impact. At this level, we should be able to assess how effective our plans are and if things are happening as planned, he should be able to access the skills and capacity of our management in coordinating the various project components. For example; to maximise effectiveness and donor’s return on investment, our project should target geographically and economically marginalised communities and we should also be able to answer the question; to what extent will our project activities adequately strengthen the resilience of the people of Pageri County?
Efficiency: Deals with how well we convert inputs into outputs. At efficiency level, we also measure how economically resources or inputs such as funds, expertise, time and equipment are converted into results. It requires comparing alternative approaches to achieving an output, to see whether the most efficient approach has been used, we should therefore be able to assess how efficiently we shall manage the use of core staff, partners contribution, how we manage costs. For example in out resilience project, we’ll be scaling-up evidence-based and low-cost interventions such as the farmer field school approach, we may end up using train the trainer approaches to reduce the costs associated with training and make use of modern technology to enhance efficiency of M&E including using mobile data platforms such as Open Data Kit for data collection, and remote telephone interviews with beneficiaries and key informants to remotely monitor project progress. At the end of all these, we must be accountable for; whether the most vulnerable community members such as the women, disabled, etc are covered in our project implementation?
Sustainability: Sustainability looks at the continuation of the project deliverables after the major assistance has ceased or after termination date. Potentially at this level, we’ll assessing how stakeholders will be benefiting from our project during the implementation and after the it phases out
In relation to our project identifies above, we should be able to answer the following questions at this parameter; will this provision of free aid hinder more sustainable development initiatives such as local seed or self-seeds production and commercial crop or vegetable production; to what extent will the project contribute to improved food and livelihood security among project beneficiaries? What will be the major factors which will influence the achievement or non-achievement of the sustainability of the resilience?
Coherence: This parameter looks at the consistency and /or the complementarity and freedom of contradiction in various policies such as security, promoting gender equality, participation or environmental protection, development and humanitarian where the project will be implemented. (OECD-DAC (2008)) It addresses how and whether an intervention is in-line with the socio-cultural attributes of the benefiting communities
Evaluating coherence in this project is of paramount importance because there are various policies and disparities that must be considered as the projects rolls out, such as, military policies from the various military grouping in Pageri County, political factors, Cultural differences and believes such as men must provide food for the family and gender equality
Interconnectedness. This parameter points at the need to ensure that our project activities in the short-term intervention are carried out in a context that takes longer-term and interconnected problems into account.
Using this evaluation parameter in our project will help us examine the degree to which livelihoods of the communities of Pageri County are supported by the intervention, as this will have a significant impact on the longer-term results of the project. We will equally be in position to analyse the degree to which the capacity of stakeholders and other partners at various levels is built during this project implementation. ALNAP’s research (2004) has shown that local capacity and the quality of local staffing is one of the key factors in success or failure of interventions.
Impact: Here just like in the Qn (i) above, we shall look at the wider effects of the project on social, economic, technical, and environmental. For example we’ll focus on how the intended resilience of the communities in Pageri County will be achieved? What positive intended changes will occur in Pageri County.