These slides contain frameworks and concepts to build the capacity of NGO staff to monitor and evaluate their work. They contain some ideas that are relevant and useful for the M&E of complex systems. Many thanks to Carlene Baugh and Scott Yetter from CHF International for sharing this material with MaFI.

1. M&E Tool for NGO Capacity Building
NGO Capacity Building Workshop
September 2010
Presented
by
Carlene Baugh
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2. At the end of the session
participants will
• Gain awareness of:
– Framework for achieving program effects
– A tool for tracking capacity building
• Identify:
– How the tool can be applied in your NGO
capacity building program (s)
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3. Let’s look at some
FRAMEWORKS!
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4. Causal Chain
Inputs Activities Outputs Outcomes Impacts
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5. Capacity
Development
Organization System Eco-System
Individual •
•
Community Based Organizations
Non-Governmental Organizations
•
•
Communities
National Health systems
• Societies
• The full gamut of
• Government departments • National level civil society individuals, organizations, networks and
•Development •
•
Social enterprises
Businesses
• Governmental Coordination Systems systems
• Cross-functional
• Cross sectoral
Professionals • Cross-hierarchical
•Civil Society
Leaders
•Youth
•Change Agents
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6. Enabling
MARKET PLAYERS SUPPORTING
FUNCTIONS
Environment
Information
Private sector
Informing &
Government communicating
Demand CORE Supply
Setting & Business
Informal membership
enforcing rules
networks organisations
Standards Laws
RULES
Springfield Centre |
Making markets work Not-for-profit sector www.chfinternational.org

7. Traditional Program DevelopmentalSystemic
characteristics: approach
 Judge success or failure  Provide feedback for improvement
 Measure against fixed goals  New measures as goals evolve
 External for objectivity  Internal, integrated, interpretive
 Linear cause/effect models  Seek to capture system dynamics
 Accountability to external  Accountability to values, commitments
 Accountability for control, blame  Understand & respond strategically
 Engender fear of failure  Feed hunger for learning
Adapted from: Patton, Michael Q., 2006, “Evaluation for the Way We Work”,
The Nonprofit Quarterly, Spring.
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8. Key messages
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9. Key Messages or
themes
Look at the bigger picture
• See yourself as a
part of a
interconnected
web of
relationships and
systems
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10. Key Messages or
themes
Recognizing that change is…
• Continuous
• Complex
• Non-linear
• Multi-directional
• Not controllable
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11. Key Messages or
themes
Keeping your eyes wide open
• Being attentive
along the journey
is as important as
the destination
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12. Key Messages or
themes
Contribution not attribution
• your influence on a
better world
• you can influence
but not control
change in your
partners
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13. What is Outcome Mapping
• An M&E tool developed by IDRC
• Shift from assessing the products of a
program TO:
Behavior change: relationships, or
actions of the people, groups, and
organizations with whom a program works
directly and those within its sphere of
influence.
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14. What is Outcome Mapping
• Assesses the contributions of
development programs make to the
achievement of outcomes
• Learning-based and use-driven guided by
principles of participation and iterative
learning throughout the program life-cycle
• Program, project or organizational levels
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15. What is Outcome Mapping
• Focuses on monitoring and evaluating its
results in terms of the influence of the
program on the roles these partners play
in development
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16. Outcome Mapping
Defines the program’s Focuses on how
outcomes as changes in programs facilitate
behaviors of direct change rather that how
partners they caused change
Recognizes the Boundary Partners
complexity of
development processes Individuals, groups or
together with the organizations with whom
contexts in which they the program interacts
occur directly to effect change
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17. 3 Stages
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18. Focus on direct partners
• Key concept is
« boundary partners »
• The individuals, groups,
and organizations you
work with directly and
anticipate opportunities
for influence
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19. Examples
• Local communities (NGOs, indigenous
groups, churches, community leaders)
• Government officials and policymakers
(department, regional administration)
• Private sector (tourism, fisheries, non-
timber forest products, logging and wood
processing companies)
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20. Example
• Outcome Challenge: The program
intends to see local communities that
recognize the importance of, and are
engaged in, the planning of resource
management activities in partnership with
other resource users in their region
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21. progress markers =
ladder of change
Love to see
Like to see
Expect to see
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22. Progress markers
✓ A graduated set of statements describing a
progression of changed behaviors in the
boundary partner
✓ Describe changes in actions, activities and
relationships leading to the ideal outcome
✓ Shows story of change by articulating the
complexity of the change process
✓ Can be monitored & observed
✓ Permit on-going assessment of partner’s
progress (including unintended results)
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23. Performance M&E
• Monitoring 3 elements
– Changes in behaviors, actions, relationships,
groups (outcome journal)
– Strategies to encourage change in its
partners (strategy journal)
– Functioning of a program as an
organizational unit (performance journal)
Each of these monitoring tools builds on elements from the Intentional
Design stage, so the group should feel relatively comfortable with them.
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24. Performance Journal mtg
– What are we doing well and what should we
continue doing?
– What are we doing “okay” and what can we
improve?
– What do we need to add to better address the
organizational practices?
– What activities do we need to modify
– Who is responsible? What are the time lines?
– Has any issue come up that we need to
evaluate in greater depth? What? When?
Why? How?
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25. Outcome journal
To understand the change process in boundary
partners. Collects information about:
• Story of change and reasons for change
• Unexpected changes
• The actors and factors that contributed to that
change
• How we know the change occurred
• Learnings (what? how? why?)
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26. References
• Building learning and reflection into
development programs (Sarah Earle, Fred
Carden & Terry Smutylo, 2001)
• Outcome Mapping Learning Community
http://www.outcomemapping.ca/
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27. Feedback & Questions
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