Okiko in pursuit of a snail: Child-Led Evaluation of the Building Skills for Life programme in Kenya

This resource and the following information was contributed to BetterEvaluation by Laura Hughston.

Authors and their affiliation

Laura Hughston, Learning and Impact Assessment Officer at Plan UK.

Year of publication

2015

Type of resource

Example

Key features

The report describes the process by which children beneficiaries of the programme selected evaluation questions, collected and analysed data in order to deliver an assessment of the programme’s results, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, relevance and equity.

Two previous reports released in 2015 detailed a child-led evaluation of a multi-sectoral programme in Cambodia and in Zimbabwe. This final experience in the series made use of a slightly modified methodology to incorporate learning from the previous studies and differences in the programme. These changes include the assessment of an assessment of the programme’s role in influencing rules and regulations through advocacy. Neither the younger age of the evaluators in this experience, nor the additional level of analysis pushed the process beyond children’s ability, hence demonstrating that the meaningful involvement of children in M&E no longer needs to remain an aspiration but can be a practical and even easy way to enrich our understanding of change and enhance programme quality.  

Who is this resource useful for?

• Advocates for evaluation;
• Evaluators;
• Those involved in evaluation capacity strengthening;
• Other – those interested in child-led evaluation and participatory evaluation

How have you used or intend on using this resource?

The report showcases the value of children’s contribution to monitoring and evaluation and the benefits of including their perspectives in our analysis. Increasing layers of analysis and broadening the scope of the assessment at every experience in the series, this final report conclusively demonstrates that meaningfully engaging children monitoring and evaluation in it is not only possible and desirable, but also can be achieved with minimal resources.

Why would you recommend it to other people?

This report is recommended to anyone interested in involving children in programme monitoring and evaluation. Making use of specifically designed rubrics, and visual exercises children were able to deliver nuanced assessments capable of enhancing our understanding of the programme and contribute to enhancing the quality of our work. Describing in detail all the tools and methodologies used, the report also highlights how more participative and visual tools can render the evaluation process more dynamic and engaging for those with lower levels of literacy.