Alice Macfarlan's blog

BE FAQ: How do I prepare and distribute Request for Proposal and Terms of Reference documents?

Alice Macfarlan's picture 1st June 2017 by Alice Macfarlan

We often get email enquiries asking for advice in preparing the documents used to invite evaluators to prepare proposals to do an evaluation.  These documents have a variety of labels including Request for Proposal (RFP), Terms of Reference (TOR), and Scope of Work (SOW). The advice below focuses on two important aspects in this: writing a good RFP/TOR, and sharing it in ways that will create the best pool of proposals.

Learning from practice: Inception reports and social learning - do you have examples or advice to share?

Alice Macfarlan's picture 14th February 2017 by Alice Macfarlan

The wonderful thing about BetterEvaluation is that it is, at its core, a platform to co-create and share knowledge about how to better conduct, use and manage evaluations. 

Evaluation practitioners and managers, experts and partner organizations work together to create and learn from improved knowledge and practice in monitoring and evaluation. We support three interconnected areas of activity - capacity strengthening, M&E research and development, and the BetterEvaluation toolbox, which includes the Rainbow Framework and the BetterEvaluation resource library. 

Let's talk about Sustained and Emerging Impacts Evaluation

Alice Macfarlan's picture 10th February 2017 by Alice Macfarlan

Last week we launched our newest theme page Sustained and Emerging Impacts Evaluation, authored by Jindra Cekan (Valuing Voices), Laurie Zivetz (Valuing Voices), and Patricia Rogers (BetterEvaluation/ANZSOG). The page argues for the need to go back and evaluate the impacts of a project or programme some time after the end of an intervention, and gives some advice on how to do this. 

Happy Holidays! 21+ free evaluation resources for you

Alice Macfarlan's picture 15th December 2016 by Alice Macfarlan

Happy Holidays! In celebration of a great year, we've collected a list of favourite resources of 2016 that are freely available online so that we could share them with you as a bit of an end of year gift. The resources aren't necessarily new - but they are things that have been discovered for the first time or rediscovered in 2016. We have a wide range of cool tools, guides, examples and other resources that help us do evaluation better and think about it differently. 

BetterEvaluation at the AEA2016: Evaluation + Design

Alice Macfarlan's picture 25th October 2016 by Alice Macfarlan

This week over 3,000 people from all over the world are expected to meet in Atlanta, Georgia for the 2016 conference of the American Evaluation Association.  The theme this year, Evaluation + Design, explores integration of design and evaluation in three areas:

  • Program design,
  • Evaluation design,
  • Information design

Here's a quick link to the Conference Program

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