How to design and manage equity-focused evaluations

This guide from UNICEF is divided into two parts. It begins by defining equity and its importance and relevance today.

It then unpacks the concept that is Equity-focused evaluation, explaining what its purpose should be and highlights potential challenges in its promotion and implementation.

The second part of the document explains the process involved in how managing Equity-focused evaluations,  and identifies the key issues that need to be considered when preparing for the Equity-focused evaluations and developing the Terms of Reference, including presenting potential equity-focused evaluation questions; how to design the evaluation, including identifying the appropriate evaluation framework, evaluation design and appropriate methods to collect data; and how to ensure the evaluation is used. This resource is available in Spanish, French, Russian and Arabic.

The document also explains how to conduct Equity-focused evaluations under real-world constraints. Eight case studies are included to demonstrate how evaluations supported by UNICEF have addressed equity-focused issues.

Contents

  • Part 1: Equity and Equity-focused evaluations
  • What is equity and why does it matter?
  • Defining Equity-focused evaluations
  • Part 2: Managing Equity-focused evaluations
  • Preparing for the evaluation
  • Selecting the appropriate evaluation framework
  • A. Theory-based Equity-focused evaluation
  • B. The bottleneck analysis framework
  • Selecting the appropriate evaluation design.
  • A. Mixed methods designs
  • B. Attribution, contribution and the importance of the counterfactual
  • C. Equity-focused evaluation at the policy level
  • D. Equity-focused evaluations at the project and programme levels
  • Collecting and analyzing data
  • Utilizing the evaluation
  • Conducting Equity-focused evaluations under real-world constraints
  • Case studies of UNICEF- supported Equity-focused evaluations

Sources

Bamberger M. & Segone M. (2011). How to design and manage Equity-focused evaluations. UNICEF Evaluation Office. Retrieved from http://mymande.org/sites/default/files/EWP5_Equity_focused_evaluations.pdf

'How to design and manage equity-focused evaluations' is referenced in: