Resources

Participation has become a critical concept in development, increasingly employed in the planning and implementation of development programmes. This book takes participation one step further by exploring its use in the monitoring and evaluation of these programmes. Bringing together a broad range of case studies (12 in total) and discussions between practitioners, academics, donors and policy makers, the book explores conceptual, methodological, institutional and policy issues in participatory monitoring and evaluation. It distils the common themes and experiences in participatory monitoring and evaluation to show the challenges - and far-reaching benefits - of the approach. The book starts with a general overview of participatory monitoring and evaluation, followed by a synthesis of case studies and regional reviews of practice and methodological innovations around the globe in Part 1. Part 2 then presents case studies of learning with communities; these illustrate the diverse range of settings and contexts in which participatory monitoring and evaluation is being applied. Part 3 raises the key issues and challenges for participatory monitoring and evaluation, including the need for changing institutions. The book concludes by way of proposing areas for future research and action.

Like other agencies involved in international development cooperation, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is committed to enhancing its results orientation, learning and effectiveness through more responsive and accountable programming. Encouraging a culture in which citizens participate in the planning, monitoring and evaluation of programmes and country strategies is essential for achieving these aims. This note is about SDC’s experience with beneficiary assessment (BA), an evaluation approach used to increase its responsiveness and accountability to the citizens who are the intended direct and indirect beneficiaries of its work.  It aims to both raise awareness of the potential advantages of using Beneficiary Assessment to enhance learning, responsiveness, accountability and effectiveness, and to contribute to enhancing capacity and confidence to use BA in the evaluation of projects, programmes and country strategies by providing practical orientation and support.

This report came out of the learning and inspiration event held in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania from 26th - 28th May 2014, which was part of the Making All Voices Count programme.  It is for participants and others with an interest in technology for transparency and accountability

This article draws on literature from both monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and organisational learning to explore synergies between these two fields in support of organisational performance. Two insights from the organisational learning literature are that organisations learn through ‘double-loop’ learning: reflecting on experience and using this to question critically underlying assumptions; and that power relations within an organisation will influence what and whose learning is valued and shared. This article identifies four incentives that can help link M&E with organisational learning: the incentive to learn why; the incentive to learn from below; the incentive to learn collaboratively; and the incentive to take risks. Two key elements are required to support these incentives: (1) establishing and promoting an ‘evaluative culture’ within an organisation; and (2) having accountability relationships where value is placed on learning ‘why’, as well as on learning from mistakes, which requires trust.

Over the past few years, the Sanitation Learning Hub, in collaboration with the Government of India, Praxis, WSSCC and WaterAid India, have been developing Rapid Action Learning approaches. Multiple approaches have been trialled, with flexible formats, but the essential criteria is that learning is timely, relevant and actionable.

These learning approaches are the focus of the latest edition of the Frontiers of Sanitation series. This Frontiers explains the advantages and disadvantages of the approaches trialled and sets out a challenge to those working in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector to:

1. Reflect on what, for you, constitutes rigour.
2. Adopt and adapt approaches to fit your context and needs.
3. Develop your own approaches.
4. Record your experiences and lessons learnt.
5. Take the time to share your experiences with us. (Email the Hub on SLH@ids.ac.uk)

To commemorate and reflect on the publication, the Hub sat down with colleagues and partners WaterAid India and WSSCC to discuss lessons learned and the future of Rapid Action Learning. You can watch these five short videos in the playlist below.

Failure happens. This is a community and a resource to encourage new levels of transparency, collaboration and innovation across the for-purpose sector.

It is painful for civil society organisations to acknowledge when we don’t meet our goals and objectives; it is just as painful to worry about how funders will react to such failure. The paradox is that we do everything we can to avoid these pains even though we all know failure is the best teacher and we have to be open and talk about our failures in order to learn. More than that, openly acknowledging failure is often a catalyst for innovation that takes our work from good to great.

To address this conundrum we need a paradigm shift in how civil society views failure.  We think this starts with open and honest dialogue about what is working and what isn’t, so Admitting Failure exists to support and encourage organisations to (not surprisingly) admit failure.

ad·mit   /ədˈmit/
verb: 
1. To concede as true or valid <admit responsibility for a failure>
2. To allow entry <admit failure into the organization, allowing a safe space for dialogue>