UNICEF webinar: Overview of impact evaluation

We often talk about the importance of knowing the impact of our work, but how is impact measured in practice? What are the ten basic things about impact evaluation that a UNICEF officer should know?

If these questions caught your eye, then you might be interested in viewing some or all of the eight impact evaluation webinars, organized by the Office of Research – Innocenti, and presented by evaluation experts from RMIT University, BetterEvaluation and the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) throughout 2015.

The first webinar is introductory in nature and provides an overview of impact evaluation and cover topics such as what to include in a ToR, how to select and manage an evaluation team, and the key steps that must be planned for in an impact evaluation. Anyone interested in the basics of impact evaluation is encouraged to view this recording.

 

 

Webinar Q&A

What is impact evaluation? Are we talking just about randomised trials or something more?

How can you manage the politics when there are significantly huge negative impacts and you can attribute them to a program you are involved in, or when the findings are not palatable to management?

How can we strengthen the “impact” part of any evaluation we have? We can’t always have an impact evaluation per se, but at the same time “impact” is one of the OECD DAC evaluation criteria.

When and how can we assess the feasibility of doing an impact evaluation? Is it possible to have a real impact evaluation or are there constraints and should we be realistic and conduct an evaluation assessing OECD/DAC “Impact” criteria?

Do you have any suggested solutions to address an issue where the program will be re-targeted between the mid- and end-line evaluations?

Can impact evaluation designs be used to evaluate upstream policy work (e.g. how UNICEF’s work contributes to changes in government policy and the impact this has on children)? What needs to be the focus when evaluating impact for a particular policy as opposed to programmes?

Tracking policy implementation and system change is challenging for a small team so what should the focus of the evaluation be?

 

The findings, interpretations and opinions expressed in the webinars are those of the presenters and do not necessarily reflect the policies or views of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The presenters are independent impact evaluation experts who were commissioned by UNICEF to prepare the webinars and use their own knowledge and judgement on key issues and to provide advice. The questions and comments reflected in the Q & A materials are based on those submitted by UNICEF staff as part of this capacity-building initiative. They do not necessarily reflect the policies or views of UNICEF.

The webinars were commissioned by UNICEF and UNICEF is entitled to all intellectual property and other proprietary rights which bear a direct relation to the contract under which this work was produced. The materials on this page are subject to a Creative Commons license CC BY-NC (Attribution-NonCommercial) and may be used and reproduced in line with the conditions of this licence.

 

Sources

Rogers, P. (2015, February). Overview of Impact Evaluation. Impact evaluation webinars for UNICEF [Webinar]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51g92hKHQcc

Related pages

Project page

Methodological brief

'UNICEF webinar: Overview of impact evaluation' is referenced in: