1 of 18 Evaluating an Information Project Getting Ready © FAO 2005 IMARK Investing in Information for Development Evaluating an Information Project Getting Ready

2 of 18 Evaluating an Information Project Getting Ready Learning Objectives At the end of this lesson you should be able to: identify inputs, activities, outputs and expected impacts in the project to be evaluated; describe a key prerequisite for the management of the evaluation.

3 of 18 Evaluating an Information Project Getting Ready Introduction What are the main reasons to do an evaluation? To measure the impact of a project on its intended beneficiaries; and to improve the performance of the organization as it implements future projects. This lesson will focus mainly on impact.

4 of 18 Evaluating an Information Project Getting Ready Introduction The evaluation of an information activity requires good planning and management. In order to examine the issues involved in the planning of an evaluation, we will follow a scenario. The project to be evaluated will be the production of a newsletter.

5 of 18 Evaluating an Information Project Getting Ready Dr. Kumar is the Director of Publications at Mikuni State Agricultural University (MSAU). One of his most widely-circulated publications is RICE NEWS, a quarterly newsletter containing information on new varieties, new production practices, and new market opportunities. Dr. Kumar received a message from the MSAU president asking his department to undertake an evaluation of RICE NEWS. Introduction

6 of 18 Evaluating an Information Project Getting Ready Five years ago, when MSAU started RICE NEWS, no one thought about evaluation. Dr. Kumar did not make any evaluation plans. What are the key decisions that he needs to make now about the evaluation? Where should he start? Introduction

7 of 18 Evaluating an Information Project Getting Ready Basic concepts To get started, Dr. Kumar calls Lara and Jon (his closest colleagues) and proposes to analyze the entire project, in order to decide: what they want to measure; and what it is possible to measure.

8 of 18 Evaluating an Information Project Getting Ready Basic concepts I propose that we break down the project into four stages: Inputs, Activities, Outputs, and Impacts.

9 of 18 Evaluating an Information Project Getting Ready Basic concepts Jon wonders about the difference between outputs and impacts: he suggests to measure only outputs. However, the evaluation should measure both outputs and impacts.

10 of 18 Evaluating an Information Project Getting Ready Basic concepts Lara gives Jon examples of OUTPUTS: number of articles published per year; or number of readers per year. And examples of OUTCOMES: Increased awareness. (Do readers "know" more about rice production after reading the newsletter?) Increased farmer incomes.

11 of 18 Evaluating an Information Project Getting Ready Basic concepts A lot of evaluations focus on outputs simply because theyre easier to measure, but it is important to measure impacts as well. However, measuring impacts is different from measuring performance:

12 of 18 Evaluating an Information Project Getting Ready Basic concepts Suppose that Dr Kumar, Jon and Lara have identified inputs, activities, outputs and expected impacts in the project. What will be the next step in the evaluation? And who will participate? I think that just the three of us should plan the evaluation…we need to move quickly… Well, so many people have been involved in RICE NEWS - the Ministry, the University, Scientists, extension workers, farmers…I think we should try to bring some or all of them in the evaluation process…

13 of 18 Evaluating an Information Project Getting Ready Basic concepts All important stakeholders should be involved in the planning and implementation of the evaluation. If some people are left out, they may question the results later.

14 of 18 Evaluating an Information Project Getting Ready The identification of stakeholders Dr. Kumar agrees with Lara that it is important to involve a wider group of people in planning the evaluation of RICE NEWS. The next step is to develop a list of key stakeholders: Which people or organizations have had an interest in the project? Which ones have supported it? And which ones have opposed it?

15 of 18 Evaluating an Information Project Getting Ready The identification of stakeholders To develop the list of stakeholders, Dr. Kumar will have to find out: who is contributing personnel and facilities? who has been paying for it? who have been the main beneficiaries? are there people or organizations that have been opposed to the project?

16 of 18 Evaluating an Information Project Getting Ready The Evaluation Management Committee Now Dr. Kumar has a list of stakeholders in the project. He will use this list as a basis for creating an Evaluation Management Committee, responsible for: ContentIndicatorsAnalysisLogistics

17 of 18 Evaluating an Information Project Getting Ready The Evaluation Management Committee So far, Dr Kumar and his colleagues have: defined the focus of the evaluation; and developed a list of possible EMC members. The next step will be to call the first Evaluation Management Committee meeting.

18 of 18 Evaluating an Information Project Getting Ready Summary The evaluation of an information project requires good planning and management. To evaluate an information project, it is useful to start by breaking it down into four stages: inputs, activities, outputs, impacts. For an effective evaluation, it is important to measure all these stages, instead of stopping at the outputs level. All important stakeholders should be involved in the planning and implementation of the evaluation. Therefore, it is useful to develop a list of key stakeholders that can be used as a basis for creating an Evaluation Management Committee, that will plan and manage the evaluation process.