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Business opportunities and support services (BOSS) - Final evaluation

eval_number:

2622

eval_url:

https://webapps.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/eval/2622

lessons_learned:

themes:

theme:

Monitoring and evaluation

category:

Organizational issues

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comments:

The primary beneficiary of well documented M&E and evaluation “readiness” is the project and the implementing organization, as they are the primary clients of an external evaluation. Donors, partners, and other constituents are also beneficiaries.

challenges:

Two major challenges make it difficult for a project to implement a well-documented robust M&E system. First, a project needs to budget for the associated personnel, time, and research costs. Second, the project team needs to be staffed with the appropriate technical capacities to implement and document the M&E tools, analysis, and reporting required, which can be difficult with a limited talent pool to recruit from. The alternative is to build the capacity of less experienced staff, but that takes time and requires additional resources.

success:

Well-documented M&E can support program management and cohesion throughout implementation. Ultimately, the benefit of being evaluation ready is the increased ability to articulate relevant and poignant lessons learned from the evaluation itself and use those as a foundation for follow on initiatives.

context:

Documentation needs to be succinct and well organized for an external evaluator to be able to assess the intricacies of how the project unfolded. It is difficult to assess how a project did if it is not clear what it did. In the case of BOSS, datasets, M&E and analysis plans, methodological descriptions, and detailed indicator definitions were not available for review by the evaluator, and the remaining staff were not able to speak meaningfully to M&E protocols and technical approaches. The preparation of a simple timeline of project milestones, which was obtained from BOSS for this evaluation in the course of field work, can go a long way towards being evaluation ready.

description:

M&E documentation is key for a project to be “evaluation ready” to maximize learning from an external evaluation. Above all, this requires a process of documentation throughout the project period with a final evaluation in mind, following a general principle that every project aims to contribute to the body of knowledge in international development. Monitoring and evaluation documentation is particularly important for assessing whether a project was evidence based, learned, and adapted. If a project is able to utilise adaptive management and iterative design – which is ideal – it is important to document the iterations and the rationale for any changes.

administrative_issues:

ILO will need to design programmes that put enough emphasis on M&E staffing and technical inputs. ILO may need to articulate a more detailed and robust set of internal requirements around M&E so that projects are incentivised to implement a higher M&E standard, even if the donor does not explicitly require it. ILO might also consider building regional or global cross-programme expertise around M&E.

url:

https://webapps.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/lessons/222065

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location:

country:

East Timor

region:

Asia and the Pacific

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eval_title:

Business opportunities and support services (BOSS) - Final evaluation