What is evaluation

What is Evaluation?

The first thing to point out is…..

Evaluation is the subjective interpretation of data collected

during the monitoring of a project.

That means that different audiences may assign different value to the same information.

So what is monitoring

Monitoring refers to collecting data during the life of a project. This

data is subsequently used to make a value judgement, or

evaluation of the project’s worth.

Evaluation is also about learning….

What works and what doesn’t!

…. And accountability

Could the funds have been

better spent?

Wading through evaluation jargon……

Efficiency

Effectiveness

Relates to how economically activities were undertaken

The extent to which a project meets its intended outputs

Outputs

Activities

Products or services delivered as part of the project’s activities (eg. workshops, audits, brochures)

The tasks that are required to be done in order to achieve the outputs (eg. run a workshop, conduct and audit)

OutcomesMeasures the change in behaviour or resource use in relation to goal of the project. Outcomes are usually considered in terms of their expected timeframe:Short–term (or immediate)IntermediateLong-term

Impact Refers to the measures of change that result from the outputs being completed, such as responses to surveys, requests for further information, or number of products taken up (eg. lights installed)

Impact is sometimes used in place of short-term outcomes

Evaluation can happen at any time

Evaluation is not just something that happens at the end of a project

It can also happen before it starts, and during the project’s life

That would be

SUMMATIVE evaluation

That would be

FORMATIVE evaluation

Participatory Evaluation

Refers to getting all project stakeholders, particularly the target group, involved in a project evaluation

For more information, a ‘SHORT GUIDE TO MONITORING AND

EVALUATION’ can be downloaded from the toolbox.

It is now time to explore the evaluation toolbox