Manage Evaluation

Tasks

The following tasks are involved in managing an evaluation, an evaluation system or ongoing evaluative activity:

1. Understand and engage stakeholders

Begin by clarifying who has an interest in the evaluation in addition to the primary intended users. An analysis of the interests of different stakeholders helps in thinking about how you will keep stakeholders engaged during the evaluation.

2. Establish decision making processes

Specify how decisions will be made about the evaluation. Who will provide advice, who will make recommendations, and who will make the actual decisions? 

3. Decide who will conduct the evaluation

Who will actually undertake the evaluation? Will it be a group internal to the organization that is implementing a program, an external evaluator, or some combination of the two? Will the community and/or intended beneficiaries be involved in conducting the evaluation?

4. Determine and secure resources

Identify what resources (time, money, expertise) will be needed and available for the evaluation. Consider both internal resources  (e.g. staff time) and external resources (e.g. participants' time to attend meetings to provide feedback).

5. Define ethical and quality evaluation standards

What will be considered appropriate quality and ethical standards for the evaluation and what will need to be done to ensure these standards are achieved? These decisions will be influenced by the purpose and timing of the evaluation, the level of resourcing available and the characteristics of the intervention being evaluated. 

6. Document management processes and agreements

It is usually necessary to develop formal documents about an evaluation, including a brief, a plan, and a Terms of Reference. Additional documents will be needed if an evaluation is externally contracted, such as an Expression Of Interest, a Request For Proposal, a Request For Tender, and a contract.

7. Develop an evaluation plan, framework or policy

An evaluation plan sets out how an individual evaluation will be undertaken.  An evaluation framework guides a series of evaluations. 

8. Review evaluation (do meta-evaluation)

Review the evaluation process, findings and conclusions drawn, when appropriate it is valuable to engage stakeholders in this task.

9. Develop evaluation capacity

How can your organization or group build on, or develop, human capital (knowledge and skills), organizational capital (technical infrastructure and processes) and social capital (supportive networks) for effectively managing, undertaking and using evaluations?