Implementation

Oversee or engage in specific evaluation activities to collect and analyse data as set out in the evaluation work plan (including revising it as needed) and keeping the evaluation management group(s) informed and involved.

The evaluation plan should specify the sequence of evaluation activities and clearly spell out the roles and responsibilities of the evaluator or the different members of the evaluation team and all others involved in the evaluation process.

The evaluation manager will oversee the implementation of the evaluation plan and help problem-solve if any issues come up. She/he now plays a key role in communicating with the evaluation team, the evaluation steering committee and technical advisory group (if relevant) but also with the key stakeholders, such as the project / program manager, the community or others.

One of the first tasks is to agree a communication schedule,  covering how often and how (such as verbal, e-mail updates, routine written reports etc.) the evaluation team leader (and/or other team members) check in with the evaluation manager on progress with the assigned tasks. Similarly, she/he is also responsible for keeping stakeholders informed  of implementation progress through regular communications with the existing governance mechanisms for the evaluation and collecting input / feedback such as on the evaluation design, the evaluation work plan etc. (see Step 1).

It is particularly important to agree on how unforeseen issues that affect the implementation of the evaluation and may jeopardize particular milestones and/or deliverables will be raised, escalated and resolved. Ideally, this has already been agreed early on in the evaluation process (see Step 1).

Products

The following items are potential outputs from this step. Where possible, it might be useful to research other deliverables that have also been shown to be effective.

• Progress reports
• Documented implementation challenges and how these were resolved
• Revised evaluation work plan