Browse international development Resources
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Evaluation to Support Strategic Learning: Principles and Practices Evaluation that supports strategic learning is an area that the Center for Evaluation Innovation is helping to develop and grow. Working with organizations and groups to integrate evaluative thinking into their strategic decision making and bring timely data to the table for reflection and use has tremendous potential as an approach to evaluation, particularly for complex and dynamic social change strategies.
Author: Julia Coffman & Tanya Beer Type: Research & Reports Date: Jun 1, 2011 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Download (106.64 KB) -
Free Resources for Program Evaluation and Social Research Methods This page lists FREE resources for program evaluation and social research methods. The focus is on "how-to" do evaluation research and the methods used: surveys, focus groups, sampling, interviews, and other methods. Most of these links are to resources that can be read over the web. A few, like the GAO books, are for books that can be sent away for, for free (if you live in the US), as well as read over the web. Author: Gene Shackman Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Nov 22, 2007 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
From Expert to Advocate! Tools for Evidence-Based Advocacy In Your Community You are a powerful force in your community. As a service provider and/or community leader you see clearly where more progress can be made. How can you build the evidence base to change policies and increase resources to save more lives?
To get started, here are a few tools to assess gaps in service delivery and resource allocation, while increasing community and citizen ownership. These tools are just a sample of how to build your evidence base for effective advocacy. The process of developing your evidence base with your community can be as important as the end product.Author: ACTION: Advocacy to Control Tuberculosis Internationally Type: Tipsheets & Paper Tools Date: Jan 1, 2012 Be the first to review this resource! Download (684.46 KB) -
Funder Collaboratives: Why and How Funders Work Together When it comes to funder collaboratives, is the whole truly greater than the sum of its parts? Can foundations make a bigger impact with grant dollars by working together than by going it alone? Yes, grantmakers say, as long as members define their goals, set clear operational guidelines, and work from the start to make the collaborative function well for grantees. In this guide, contributors share strategies for structuring a collaborative to fit its purpose, building strong relationships and resolving conflicts, and figuring out if the collaborative you're in is working. Author: Grantcraft Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 1, 2010 Be the first to review this resource! Download (306.83 KB) -
General Guidelines for Conducting Interviews Carter McNamara's guidelines for conducting interviews, part of his Free Management Library and drawn from his book Field Guide to Consulting and Organizational Development. Author: McNamara, Carter Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: May 1, 2006 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Getting Real About Real-Time Evaluation Evaluators Clare Nolan and Fontane Lo give a short introduction to Real-Time Evaluation (RTE) from a theoretical and practical standpoint. Additional issues covered in this article include:
- How is RTE different from traditional evaluation?
- Is a real-time evaluation right for me?
- What if my funder wants a traditional evaluation?
Author: Clare Nolan and Fontane Lo Type: Tipsheets & Paper Tools Date: Mar 29, 2012 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Getting the Most from Evaluation In the June 6, 2007 issue the e-newsletter "Nonprofit Tools You Can Use" from the Fieldstone Alliance, Vince Hyman introduces an excerpt from the book Information Gold Mine: Innovative Uses of Evaluation by Paul Mattessich, et al. This excerpt discusses how a Colorado nonprofit, YouthZone, used its evaluation findings in a variety of ways. These uses included identifying infrastructure deficiencies, marketing, and informing changes to program design, among others. Author: Vince Hyman (Field Stone Alliance); Paul Mattessich, et al. Type: Newsletters & Periodicals Date: Jun 6, 2007 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Grantcraft: Evaluation Technique Series To help grantmakers understand some newer evaluative approaches and weigh their advantages, GrantCraft has developing a collection of briefing notes. Each note explains the basics of one technique and answers some common questions about its use. A mini-case, based on one grantmaker’s experiences, is featured in each guide. Additional literature about the topic is also provided.
Participatory Action Research - Involving "All The Players" in Evaluation and Change
Author: Grantcraft Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Jan 1, 2011 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
GrantStation.com Online since 1999, GrantStation.com provides information and mentorship about the grantseeking process. Though most of their online resources are available only to paid subscribers, the "Tracks to Success" series offers free articles on a variety of fundraising and nonprofit management topics, including capital campaigns, endownment building, youth engagement, creating a development plan, and more. THey have also recently expanded, with an international edition of their newsletter, the GrantStation Insider. Author: GrantStation.com, Inc. Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Jan 1, 1999 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Guidance for designing, monitoring and evaluating peacebuilding projects using theories of change Achieving peace is a lengthy, complex process that involves many actors and interventions, some of whom work toward peace, while others promote the continuation of conflict. Conventional development models do not typically contemplate working with stakeholders for whom recourse to violence is the norm. Opportunities for peacebuilding evolve with shifting conflict dynamics. In peacebuilding, one step forward is often followed by steps backward. This guide seeks to help practitioners address these challenges.
Author: Heidi Ober, Carlisle Levine, Cheyanne Church Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Jun 2, 2012 Be the first to review this resource! Download (550.2 KB) -
Guidance Note #3: Introduction to Mixed Methods in Impact Evaluation Mixed methods (MM) evaluations seek to integrate social science disciplines with predominantly quantitative (QUANT) and predominantly qualitative (QUAL) approaches to theory, data collection, data analysis and interpretation. The purpose is to strengthen the reliability of data, validity of the findings and recommendations, and to broaden and deepen our understanding of the processes through which program outcomes and impacts are achieved, and how these are affected by the context within which the program is implemented.
Author: Michael Bamberger Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Sep 5, 2012 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Guide to Monitoring and Evaluating policy influence Author: Harry Jones Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Feb 23, 2011 Be the first to review this resource! Download (171.99 KB) -
Hints for Designing Effective Questionnaires This digest offers tips on designing quality questionnaires. Some of the more prevalent problems in questionnaire development are identified and suggestions of ways to avoid them are offered. Author: Frary, Robert B. Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Jan 1, 1996 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
How to Perform Evaluations and Evaluation Reports This Guide was prepared to assist evaluators faced with the task of preparing evaluation reports. A focus is brought to:
1) identifying what CIDA expects from evaluation reports,2) instilling a results–based approach to their preparation, and
3) enhancing the value–added of the final product.
Author: Canadian International Development Agency Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Jan 1, 2002 Be the first to review this resource! Download (234.54 KB) -
Identify an Issue's Life Cycle Stage and the Next Steps for Advocates This one-page tool outlines six stages of an issue's development. For each stage of issue development, the tool offers characteristics of the issue, general next steps to take, and specific actions to support those next steps. Author: Advocacy Institute Type: Tipsheets & Paper Tools Date: Sep 10, 2004 Be the first to review this resource! Download (63.37 KB) -
Identify an Organization’s Life Cycle Stage and the Next Steps for Advocates This one-page tool describes six stages of organizational development and offers suggestions for actions advocates should consider at each stage. Author: Advocacy Institute Type: Tipsheets & Paper Tools Date: Sep 10, 2004 Be the first to review this resource! Download (110.5 KB) -
ILAC Brief 16: "Contribution analysis: An approach to exploring cause and effect" In this brief from Biodiversity International's Institutional Learning and Change Initiative (ILAC), John Mayne discusses the steps involved in contribution analysis (including the development of a theory of change), an evaluation approach that may be useful when others are not practical. More specifically, Mayne provides an example of an evaluation capacity building project for agricultural research organizations. Author: Mayne, John Type: Newsletters & Periodicals Date: May 1, 2008 Be the first to review this resource! Download (129.56 KB) -
Immunization Advocacy Goals Civil society has now rallied around a new Immunization Advocacy Goals framework, presenting a menu of advocacy options to improve access to vaccines around the world.
The framework’s five goals unite civil society – from implementers in Afghanistan, to research and development advocates in Australia – under shared goals that provide an intellectual underpinning for local, regional, and global advocacy on immunizations.Author: GAVI Alliance Civil Society Constituency Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Dec 1, 2012
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Impact Evaluation in Practice This book provides an overview of impact evaluation from the perspective of the Wold Bank.
Author: Paul J. Gertler, Sebastian Martinez, Patrick Premand, Laura B. Rawlings, Christel M. J. Vermeersch Type: Workbooks & Guides Date: Jan 1, 2011 Be the first to review this resource! Download (3.06 MB) -
Indicators for Programming in Human Rights and Democratic Development: A Preliminary Study This paper is the result of a preliminary study on using indicators to track progress in human rights and democratic development efforts. The paper briefly outlines the experience of development organizations in measuring results in political development. It then examines some of the methodological issues relating to performance indicators, generally, and human rights and democratic development programming indicators, in particular. Author: Kapoor, Ilan Type: Research & Reports Date: Jul 1, 1996 Be the first to review this resource! Download (112.62 KB) -
Innovation for Successful Societies "Country Experiences Case Studies" The ISS Country Experiences case series chronicles reformers' efforts to gather support for reform and build institutions in a wide array of contexts. Cases start with a problem and a decision maker, then explore the options considered, implementation challenges, mid-course corrections, and results. The cases rest on interviews with reform leaders, advisers, and critics or monitors.
Case studies include a diverse number of policy focus areas including
Author: Princeton University Type: Research & Reports Date: Jan 1, 2010 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Internal vs. External Evaluation Few resources exist that thoroughly and accurately describe when to choose an internal and/or an external evaluator to conduct an evaluation. This one-page resource provides a helpful, concise comparison between internal and external evaluators
Author: UNICEF Type: Tipsheets & Paper Tools Date: May 3, 2005 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
International Advocacy: Measuring performance and effectiveness This paper examines the assessment of two NGOs working in international advocacy and policy change: Oxfam Community Aid Abroad and the Foundation for Development Cooperation. The study suggests that organizations can use best practices and outcomes assessment to track the effectiveness of their advocacy work. Author: Kelly, Linda Type: Research & Reports Date: Oct 30, 2002 Be the first to review this resource! Download (216.18 KB) -
Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation The Evaluation Center, Western Michigan University, journal for news and thinking of the profession and discipline of evaluation in the world, for the world. Author: Michael Schriven (Ed.), E. Jane Davidson (Ed.), Chris L.S. Coryn (Ed.) Type: Research & Reports Date: May 28, 2008 Be the first to review this resource! Web Link -
Keystone's Feedback App This free and easy web-based tool from Keystone Accountability is a simple way of getting anonymous feedback from your partners on what they really think about your work. The application starts by asking you to choose from a standard list of questions, such as "How strongly would you recommend [your organization] to a colleague or friend?" Answers are on a scale of 1 to 10 or open-ended. You can also add questions. Next, you provide a list of respondents to receive the short survey. Keystone keeps data anonymous and confidential. Author: Keystone Accountability Type: Websites & Online Tools Date: Oct 31, 2009 Point K Pick Be the first to review this resource! Web Link