“It’s easy to see that water is an issue the world over. Either too much, too little or unsafe” How can we effectively measure sustainable water? How can we understand the impact and effectiveness of our work in relation to water insecurity? For World Water Day 2020, The Real Geek Series discusses how research, measurement and evaluation are essential tools …
What does it mean to be a responsible evaluator? Five key reflections from the 13th EES Biennial Conference
In this blog, Marta Arranz, Andrea Azevedo and Alexia Pretari share their reflections from the 13th European Evaluation Society (EES) Biennial Conference, commenting on some of the emerging debates, and inviting other evaluators to join in and share their views. It was our first EES conference and we were approaching it with curiosity and excitement. Three intense days ahead. A …
Accommodating uncertainty in advocacy and campaign evaluation
Jim Coe and Rhonda Schlangen, experienced advocacy evaluators, discuss the evolving challenge of monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning in the context of influencing work. Over the last couple of decades, there has been a seismic shift in thinking about evaluating influencing work. As we argue here, we need to think critically about where we’ve got to and how to manage …
Matching by Coarsened Exact Matching?
Marcella Vigneri introduces a new technique for matching data as part of the programme impact evaluation process. REAL GEEK This blog series is aimed at anyone with an interest in research, evaluation and adaptive learning. Global Impact Evaluation Advisers routinely face the challenge of how to re-create samples of units (be it individuals, families, farmers, or group members) with the …
How humanitarian effectiveness reviews impact our WASH programming
How Oxfam is using monitoring and evaluation to improve programming on water, sanitation and hygiene in Zimbabwe and beyond. By Katie Whitehouse (Global Urban WASH & Markets Advisor, Oxfam) and Parvin Ngala (WASH & Markets Project Manager, Oxfam Zimbabwe). A key challenge for the sector is translating monitoring and evaluation activities into programme change in the future. The recent publication of WASH …
Walking the talk with Participatory Impact Assessment Learning Approach (PIALA) in Myanmar
Adinda Van Hemelrijck reflects on how we adapted PIALA for an impact evaluation in Myanmar. n 2015, Oxfam commissioned an impact evaluation of its resilient livelihoods project in the Dry Zone in Myanmar (part of the Effectiveness Review series). This project worked to develop a village-level mechanism – called Membership Organisation (MO) – that could facilitate broad citizen participation in local …
Building trust through accountability
Oxfam’s Humanitarian Informal Feedback project funded by the Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF) has recently come to a close. Here Project Manager Emily Tomkys shares the evaluation report and delves deeper into one specific finding: the link between trust and accountability. eceiving feedback from communities that organisations like Oxfam work with is an essential pillar of ensuring our work is responsive …
Evaluation for strategic learning and adaptive management in practice
Kimberly Bowman summarises some of the discussion and insight from a session on evaluation for adaptive management at the recent European Evaluation Society conference. ‘Adaptive programming’ (a.k.a. adaptive management, adaptive aid) is a hot topic, explored in a number of insightful reports, blog posts, learning initiatives and even manifestos. Many of us sitting in internal monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) …
Measuring indirect beneficiaries: Attempting to square the circle?
Marta Arranz introduces the challenging topic of measuring indirect beneficiaries as part of Oxfam’s efforts to better measure influencing work. s someone who works on M&E of influencing, I am interested in how programmes and campaigns can estimate who and how many people they actually benefit, particularly those who benefit indirectly, without being directly engaged with project activities. Don’t miss …
Out in the open: Oxfam’s impact evaluation survey data now available for download
Through the effectiveness reviews, Oxfam collects a large amount of individual and household survey data. In this blog, we explain why we are making these data available, and where to find them. e talked about this in previous blogs and presentations, and I am happy to finally be able to announce that the individual and household survey data we collected …