Impact Monitoring and Evaluation

 The course is facilitated by VBNK for the EED partners in Cambodia. This course aims to improve capacity of the partners in monitor and evaluate impact of their program/project.

The design newly introduced by EED will be incorporated into new proposal for new phase. While VBNK team facilitates the process of training, they will also provide direct support to partners who need help after the course. In fact, the course conducted by VBNK for EED partners is to share general idea and concept of what is 'Impact Monitoring and Evaluation' rather than merely a practicum exercise of EED 'Result Chaim' or 'impact monitoring and evaluation'.

It is expected that the EED representative will provide orientation to all partners in November on how to apply the 'result chain' framework into their new proposal and project report. In November seems to be long as the Analyzing Development Issues Center (ADI C) will develop its proposal with an inclusion of 'impact monitoring and evaluation'  framework in June and to be submitted to EED in June 17.

Below are general feature of Impact Monitoring and Evaluation introduced by VBNK team on May 23, 2011.

Impact Chain (OECD/DAC)-particularly in M&E
- Impact: Positive and negative, primary and secondary long-term effects produced by a development intervention, directly or indirectly intended or unintended.
- Outcome: the likely or achieved short-term and medium-term effects of an intervention's outputs [as a result of their utilization]
-Used of outputs
- Outputs: the products, capital goods and services which result from a development intervention; may also include changes resulting from the intervention which are relevant to the achievement of outcomes.
- Activity: Actions taken or work performed through which inputs, such as funds, technical assistance and other types of resources are mobilized to produce specific outputs.
- Inputs: The financial, human, and material resources used for the development intervention.

Hierarchy of Objectives -in Planning (of a program/project)
- Overall Goal: Higher development objective to which the project is supposed to contribute.
- Project Objective: Description of a desired situation that is supposed to be achieved through a tangible project
- Output/result: Material and immaterial products, goods and services directly produced by a project
- Activities: Steps taken by the project bearer to achieve the planned outputs and objectives
- Inputs: Used resources to carry out the planned activities.

These are just introduction part of the Impact Monitoring and Evaluation course. The more advance skill will depend on sharing of experiences of participants to the course and facilitator. The actual learning will reflect on how participants use this skill and techniques to meaningfully use in their own program/project of their NGOs. The practice is the challenge that facilitators will have to take into serious consideration. Learning is not for the sake of learning or learning for granting; but learning for the benefit of implementing your knowledge from the learning and how you can transform the learning into actual practice.

[to be completed]

Research as Generating New Knowledge or Business

I attended course on Research Project Development and Management organized by CDRI with support from Cambodia Development Research Forum (CDRF).

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