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ILO Technical Assistance Component – Skills for Employment Program (FCDO-SEP Project) - Final evaluation

eval_number:

3359

eval_url:

https://webapps.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/eval/3359

lessons_learned:

themes:

theme:

Monitoring and evaluation

category:

Organizational issues

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comments:

ILO Country Office and technical experts responsible for future programme design and staffing.

challenges:

In an effort to be “responsive” to changing government priorities (and changes in government), the project set outcome indicators aside after the first year. Logframes included lists of activities (inputs) clustered under broad operational headings--outputs. Reliance on output indicators offers only insight into what was done, not what resulted or why. Further, reliance on output indicators can contribute to an implementation mind set which is reactive to immediate requests, but potentially not responsive to strategic goals.

success:

An activity-focused output approach enabled a great deal of short term flexibility.

context:

Many of the tools and model bylaws introduced by this project were mandated by law. There are 7 Provinces and 753 municipalities in the country that have to comply. The project worked in 2 provinces and two municipalities. There was no M&E expert on the team. Logframe indicators changed frequently, and were almost always output indictors. Some indicators included verifiable targets, but many were not measurable, and even some that were, lacked a baseline or system for tracking.

description:

In a project which is innovating, an M&E learning framework and expertise is essential. For a project that is introducing locally untested tools and strategies to advance policy change and social dialogue, adaptive learning is essential. This is particularly critical when the established administrative architecture and locus of decisionmaking is shifting at the same time, as in Nepal’s new federalized system. In the absence of a robust M&E framework with articulated outcomes, and no M&E expertise on the team, evidence about the effectiveness of the variety of interventions and knowledge products remains anecdotal at best. This poses challenges for the ILO to confidently advance models, tools and strategies for scale and replication, and for understanding project contributions to impact and sustainability.

administrative_issues:

A monitoring and learning framework needs to be built into design efforts, with measurable output and outcome indicators. M&E expertise is essential in a policy project that is introducing new approaches and tools.

url:

https://webapps.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/lessons/232314

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location:

country:

Nepal

region:

Asia and the Pacific

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eval_title:

ILO Technical Assistance Component – Skills for Employment Program (FCDO-SEP Project) - Final evaluation