Kaye Stevens

This guidance brings together the latest thinking from the Footprint Evaluation Initiative, along with resources, on how to embed environmental sustainability in an evaluation.

This guidance from the Footprint Evaluation Initiative aims to support those doing or overseeing evaluations to include environmental sustainability in feasible and useful ways.

This Footprint Evaluation case study explores the feasibility and value of considering environmental sustainability in the evaluation of personal protective equipment (PPE) provisioning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This blog by Juha Uitto, Director of the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) of the Global Environment Facility, points out that evaluation needs to take a new, holistic perspective to address serious environmental problems.

In part one of this three-part webinar series, Andy Rowe and Patricia Rogers discuss what was learnt during the

In the last part of this three-part webinar series, Andy Rowe and Patricia Rogers introduce a typology being developed that will assist a wide range of evaluations in assessing the effect of interventions on natural systems and sustainabili

This Footprint Evaluation Initiative report describes four 'thought experiments' undertaken as part of this project.

In part two of this three-part webinar series, Jane Davidson and Patricia Rogers discuss several ways to get sustainability on the evaluation agenda, even for projects that have no explicit environmental objectives and where there is no men

The key evaluation questions (KEQs) are designed to support the inclusion of environmental sustainability by embedding consideration of the environment in each evaluation question rather than adding environmental considerations as a standal

This report comprehensively considers human development at a time of a new ‘uncertainty complex’ created by layers of uncertainties interacting.

“Business-as-usual evaluation will not suffice.

This article invites evaluators to engage with the concept of the Rights of Nature: “recognizing ecosystems and natural communities not as property that can be owned but as entities that have an independent right to exist

This is a simple step by step guide to using The World Factbook to find the international environmental agreements a country has signed up to. This resource and the following information was contributed by Kaye Stevens.

This policy brief “outlines how biodiversity loss is a key driver of emerging infectious diseases and poses a variety of other growing risks to businesses, society and the global economy.

Strategy Testing (ST) is a monitoring system developed by The Asia Foundation to track programs that are using a highly iterative, adaptive approach to address complex development problems.

This document contains example questions, many of which are drawn from country, regional, sector or thematic global evaluations undertaken by the Evaluation Unit.

This code of good practice from the ISEAL Alliance is aimed at setting and codifying standards for the design and implementation of environmental and social systems.

This guide provides a non-technical introduction to randomised controlled trials (RCTs).

This is a straightforward budget example that lists costs associated with four basic expenditure categories: staffing, materials and supplies, equipment and travel.  

This World Bank website provides links to a variety of briefs, conference papers, thematic programs and working papers on impact evaluation. 

This checklist from USAID is designed to support staff to produce high quality, evidence based evaluation reports.

Gephi is an open-source software package for visualizing and exploring networks and complex systemsGephi software can be used for: 

This guide from The Urban Institute provides an overview of how instrumental variable methods work along with links to two research examples at the end of the document.

This webpage from Charities Evaluation Services(CES), provides an overview to understanding why and how aims and objectives should be developed for

NodeXL for Microsoft® Excel® 2007 and 2010 is a free open-source template that makes it easy to explore network graphs. 

This publication, "Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Responses", commonly referred to as the Sphere Handbook, was developed by the Sphere Project.

Caring for our Country - MERI Strategy - is a website that breaks down the evaluation processes into four interrelated components: monitoring, evaluation, reporting and improvement.

This document provides readers with “good practice” examples of the various elements of an evaluation Scope Of Work (SOW) according to USAID.

This toolkit explores the use of telephone interviews in qualitative research.

This Realities toolkit on Email Interviews draws on the author's experience of using email interviews in a multi-method study of older music fans.

This chapter provides guidance for USAID Missions, Regional Platforms, and Washington Bureaus and Offices, also known as USAID Mission/Offices, on Agency practices and standards used to determine how well Assistance Objectives (AOs) are ach

This guide examines the benefits and limitations of the rapid appraisal approach.

This template from the UK Department for International Development provides an overview of the minimum content required within Terms of Reference for development of an Evaluation Study.

This toolkit deals with transcribing your own, or your team’s, data. If you are considering sending your data to somebody else or an external transcribing agency, see the toolkit on outsourcing transcribing.

This site provides resources for Dotmocracy facilitators and more recent alternatives. 

This report from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark presents the findings of the evaluation conducted into the collaboration between Denmark's Evaluation Department and the Research and Evaluation Division (RED) of the Gross Na

This toolkit focuses on the issue of data integration within mixed methods research.

This technical note from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) provides an overview of using a mixed-methods approach for evaluation.

This guide from USAID has been designed to provide guidance on how to construct evaluation reports.

This toolkit describes the use of music elicitation in group research with Extreme Metal fans as a way of researching the music experiences and memories.

This toolkit draws on experiences of a study in which blog analysis was used alongside interviews to explore young people’s representations of their gap year experiences.

This paper from USAID is aimed at providing guidance on the selection of effective performance indicators.

This guide explains the purpose, standards and what is required for a data quality assessment.

This slide show from Jane Davidson's presentation at the Auckland anzea symposium gives an overview of causation and modus operandi.

Evaluating Development Co-Operation Summary of Key Norms and Standards is a set of core principles for evaluation of development assistance adopted by the OECD DAC in 1991 and are at the heart of the Evaluation Network's approach to ev

This document is a 44-page independent evaluation of AusAID's assistance to the Fiji Education sector over the period of 2003-2009. The success of the program was rated on the following criteria:

This guide defines baselines and targets and why they are both important.

Produced as part of the Realities "toolkit" series, this document highlights some of the issues around ethics within the research team and suggests some helpful approaches to ethical working relationships.

This article from Paul Duignan is aimed at supporting evaluators decide which impact/outcome evaluation design is most appropriate to use.

This article examines the use of the Delphi technique as part of a needs assessment to inform an evaluation capability-building plan within a government department.

This toolkit from Real Life Methods provides tips and advice on seeking informed consent to use digital photographs of participants of a project. 

This guide provides a comprehensive summary of concept maps and how to use them.

This module from the International Program for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET) outlines the process for creating and using different types of evaluation questions for a variety of purposes.

This series of lessons from the International Program for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET) aims to develop an understanding of various methods of collecting data for evaluations

This site provides a step-by-step guide on how to identify appropriate questions for an evaluation.

This volume presents most of what needs to be known to manage or carry out an evaluation, using standardised terminology in three languages (English, Spanish and French) that contribute toward the OECD Development Aid Committee's efforts at

Page 17 of this guide from Imagine Canada provides an example of an evaluation budget for a one-year project evaluation.

This manual provides a step-by-step guide to the process of conducting a social network analysis by using Netdraw, which is a free software tool that allows the visualisation of social networks.

This book from Torres, Preskill and Piontek has been designed to support evaluators to incorporate creative techniques in the design, conduct, communication and reporting of evaluation findings.

In this guide each tool is presented in a user-friendly format to enable the practitioner to easily put it to use.

This website provides detailed information on what a survey is, why and when it is used, and how it can be performed. Unfortunately, a Portuguese version is no longer available.

This tool from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) provides an overview of the most frequent reasons for undertaking programme evaluations.

This publication contains complete and authoritative information on the concepts, definitions, implementation and sources of data for the 48 official Millennium Development Goals (MDG) indicators.

This resource from the University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension provides an overview of the Delhi technique and its uses. Preparation, procedures, tips and letters are also used to explain its purpose and use.

Ucinet 6 for Windows is a software package for analyzing and drawing social networks developed by Lin Freeman, Martin Everett and Steve Borgatti.  This software is available for a free 90 day trial period. 

This guide from Impact Alliance provides a description of the SWOT tool, outlines examples for different uses and applications, offers two different ways to conduct a SWOT analysis, and concludes with a description of how to interpret

This paper provides a detailed overview of the Delphi technique with a description of a group variation that involves face-to-face discussion. 

This guide produced by the Global Affairs Canada (formerly Canadian International Development Agency, CIDA)  was developed to support staff to write cl

This paper from the University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension provides a guide using different types of sampling and outlines a range of strategies that can be used when drawing a sample.

This tool makes use of qualitative information that is in the form of important distinctions or differences that people see in the world around them.

Direct observation techniques allow for a more systematic, structured process, using well-designed observation record forms.

This USAID document advises how to conduct and apply the rapid appraisal technique known as key informant interviews.

The Tool Kit was developed to be a practical and useful guide to program evaluation for CHWs and CHW programs. 

This toolkit from Real Life Methods provides a guide to using participant-produced video to allow participants to record their everyday lives and reflect on those things that matter to them.

This guide provides a series of tips on preparing an evaluation statement of work (SOW).

This book is intended to expand images of what can be accomplished through the Focused Conversation Method. This is done by demonstrating how many workplace tasks can be accomplished through the medium of focused conversation.

This option uses a series of still photographs or videos taken over a period of time to discern changes taking place in the environment or activities of a community.

Evaluation management often involves a steering group, which makes the decisions about the evaluation.

Evaluation reports can be read by many different audiences, ranging from individuals in government departments, donor and partner staff, development professionals working with similar projects or programmes, students and community groups.&n

News media communications can include communication channels such as newspapers, magazines, and radio, as well as digital formats such as online news sites, podcasts, social media, and blogs.

Memos and emails can be used to help maintain ongoing communication among evaluation stakeholders through brief and specific messages about a particular issue.

“A picture is worth a thousand words.” Pictures or images provide another way of presenting information, and increasing understanding of your results.

When using Matched Comparisons, participants (individuals, organizations or communities) are each matched with a non-participant on variables that are thought to be relevant which can be difficult to adequately match on all relevant cr

Dotmocracy is an established facilitation method for collecting and recognizing levels of agreement on written statements among a large number of people.

The resources available for evaluation include people’s time and expertise, equipment and funding. 

Personal stories provide qualitative data about how people experience their lives and can be used to make sense of the past and to understand possible futures.

Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD) is a quasi-experimental evaluation option that measures the impact of an intervention, or treatment, by applying a treatment assignment mechanism based on a continuous eligibility index which is a varia

The executive summary of an evaluation report is a shortened version of the full report  – usually one to four pages – that highlights findings and recommendations and is placed at the front of the report.

Interim (or progress) reports present the interim, preliminary, or initial evaluation findings.

Short communication formats—such as bulletins, briefs, newsletters, blogs and brochures—can be used to highlight particular findings or angles on the evaluation.

These days, having a website is common practice for development organizations working beyond the community level. This has opened the possibilities of disseminating information such as that coming from evaluations.

When produced well, videos provide an excellent means to convey messages coming out of an evaluation.

A rich picture is a way to explore, acknowledge and define a situation and express it through diagrams to create a preliminary mental model and can help to open discussion and come to a broad, shared understanding of a situation.

An evaluation budget matrix specifies various items that need to be costed as individual line items. 

Causal link monitoring (CLM) is an approach to designing and implementing monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) systems that prioritise information for managing adaptively in complexity.

The Qualitative Impact Assessment Protocol (QuIP) is an impact evaluation approach that collects and documents narrative causal statements directly from those affected by an intervention.

The Most Significant Change (MSC) approach involves generating and analysing personal accounts of change and deciding which is the most significant – and why.

Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) is an evaluation approach that supports causal reasoning by examining how different conditions contribute to an outcome.

Outcome Harvesting collects (“harvests”) evidence of what has changed (“outcomes”) and, working backwards, determines whether and how an intervention has contributed to these changes.

Realist evaluation aims to identify the underlying generative causal mechanisms that explain how outcomes were caused and how context influences these.

Outcome Mapping is an approach that helps unpack an initiative’s theory of change and provides a framework to collect data on the immediate, basic changes that lead to longer, more transformative change. This allows for the plausible assessment of the initiative’s contribution to results.

Footprint evaluation aims to embed consideration of environmental sustainability in all evaluations and monitoring systems, not only those with explicit environmental objectives.