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1. A Conceptual Framework for Monitoring and Evaluation for Learning and Adaptation (MELA) in NGOs

Author:
James Ward Khakshi
Publication Date:
11-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), Brac University
Abstract:
The significance of organizational learning in general and the learning roles of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) in non-government organizations (NGOs) in particular is widely recognized. However, in many instances, the normative frameworks or recommendations tend to be overly theoretical or only partial to their real entirety, which limits their practical applications. This paper aims to contribute with a conceptual framework for monitoring and evaluation for learning and adaptation (MELA) specifically in NGOs. The MELA framework is designed to drive organizational and programmatic improvements by outlining a learning process that encompasses planning, creation, and adaptation based on the learning from M&E activities. The paper introduced the continuum of learning types, the planning process for adaptive management, characteristics of MELA, methodological implications for learning, and programmatic adaptations at operational, tactical, and strategic levels.
Topic:
Development, NGOs, Performance Evaluation, Adaptation, and Monitoring
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2. Managing for Motivation as Public Performance Improvement Strategy in Education & Far Beyond

Author:
Dan Honig
Publication Date:
03-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
People management has an important role to play in improving public agency performance. This paper argues that a ‘Route Y’ managerial approach focused on supporting the empowered exercise of employee judgment will in many circumstances prove superior to conventional reform approaches steeped in ‘Route X’ monitoring and incentives. Returns to Route Y are greater when employees are or can become more “mission motivated” – that is, aligned with the goals of the agency in the absence of monitoring and extrinsic incentives. Returns to Route Y are also greater when monitoring is incomplete or otherwise likely to unproductively distort effort, thus lowering the returns to using performance-linked rewards and penalties. I argue that education systems are one (but far from the only) setting where Route Y is a lever worth focusing on in efforts to improve public performance in the developed and developing world alike.
Topic:
Development, Education, Public Policy, Performance Evaluation, and Project Management
Political Geography:
Global Focus

3. Evaluating our Evaluations: Recognizing and Countering Performance Evaluation Pitfalls

Author:
Lee Evans and G. Lee Robinson
Publication Date:
01-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Department of Social Sciences at West Point, United States Military Academy
Abstract:
Selecting the right person for the right job at the right time is a persistent challenge faced by organizations. Performance evaluations are a fundamental component of selection processes, and their use in the Army is nearly as old as the service itself. Some early evaluation systems consisted of a list of officers in a regiment with observations noted for each ranging from “a good-natured man” to “merely good—nothing promising” to “a man of whom all unite in speaking ill.” While our current evaluation form adds a bit more science to the art of performance evaluation, a constant in the Army’s performance evaluation system is the reliance on raters to render their judgment on the potential of a subordinate for service at higher levels. The purpose of this article is to better equip raters to exercise these judgments. While we recognize the calls for personnel management reform and the initiatives underway to better manage the Army’s talent, our purpose is not to add another voice to these suggestions for structural changes to the Army’s evaluation system.Instead, we focus on the process of discretionary judgment exercised by raters that is and will continue to be an integral part of performance evaluation. Our aim is to recognize the structural and cognitive biases inherent in our evaluation system and provide recommendations to help senior raters more objectively evaluate their subordinates. While we think the importance of this topic is self-evident, educating raters on the potential for bias in their evaluations is especially important in the type of rating system used by the Army. This system places great emphasis on the person serving as the senior rater. Although the evaluation forms include assessments from raters and sometimes intermediate raters, the senior rater comments are widely acknowledged to carry the most weight for promotion and selection decisions due to the small amount of time available to evaluate a soldier’s file. Most positions involve work that is highly interdependent on other members of the organization, which places a considerable demand on raters to assess and articulate how much an individual contributed to the output of the group. While the performance of an officer is undoubtedly important to his or her chances for promotion or selection, the abilities of the officer’s senior rater to convey the level of this performance through an evaluation is also vital to talent management. Previous studies demonstrate that exposure to a high-quality mentor increases an officer’s likelihood of an early promotion to major by 29 percent, perhaps because high-quality mentors are skilled at communicating their protégé’s potential in their performance evaluations. Equipping raters to make their best possible judgments of subordinates and clearly articulating these judgments is vital to fostering a meritocratic Army talent management system.
Topic:
Military Affairs, Leadership, Bureaucracy, and Performance Evaluation
Political Geography:
Global Focus

4. Learning from What We Know: How to improve evaluation synthesis for humanitarian organisations

Author:
Neil Dillon
Publication Date:
01-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
ALNAP: Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance
Abstract:
Although the volume of evaluations published by humanitarian actors has increased tenfold between 2007 and 2017 in this resource library, the evaluation system still struggles to provide evidence about collective performance of the humanitarian sector. Evaluation synthesis provides one option for building information about response-wide performance. They aggregate findings from a defined range of evaluations using a specific analytical framework and typically seek to provide digestible lessons for senior management by drawing on findings from multiple projects and interventions. In short, they help us to learn from what we know. This paper provides guidance on when to do an evaluation synthesis and how to do it well.
Topic:
International Organization, Management, Performance Evaluation, and Humanitarian Response
Political Geography:
Global Focus

5. Action Learning and Tacit Knowledge: A mapping of approaches for humanitarian action

Author:
Christine Abbott, Cheryl Brook, Grace Evans, Alice Obrecht, and Amelie Sundberg
Publication Date:
01-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
ALNAP: Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance
Abstract:
Learning is critical to good humanitarian action – particularly for those who are directly involved in delivering a humanitarian response. Yet many efforts to strengthen learning in the humanitarian sector fail to support the specific learning needs of frontline staff. This mapping paper identifies a range of approaches that support practitioners to engage in ‘on the job’ reflection and learning. It also informed the development of an ALNAP resource pack to support learning processes at field level in humanitarian responses. This paper outlines potential approaches that can be applied to support national and international humanitarian field staff to strengthen their learning processes without placing additional burdens on their time. It also includes a review of approaches to sharing the less explicit and more experience-based knowledge that field staff often develop through their work.
Topic:
Management, Performance Evaluation, Humanitarian Response, and Personnel
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6. Shifting Mindsets | Section 4: Culture and people

Author:
Alice Obrecht
Publication Date:
09-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
ALNAP: Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance
Abstract:
This standalone section of the ALNAP Study Shifting Mindsets: Creating a more flexible humanitarian response focuses on culture and people for greater flexibility. This is one of the three pillars that flexibility relies upon according to this research and also one of the starting points to make humanitarian responses more flexible. It covers flexible approaches in organisational culture and staff, as well as anticipatory and adaptive strategies to this extent.
Topic:
International Organization, Culture, Performance Evaluation, Humanitarian Response, Flexibility, and Organizational Learning
Political Geography:
Global Focus

7. Making it Count: a feasibility study on collective indicators to monitor progress in the Agenda for Humanity - Summary

Author:
Alice Obrecht, Tim Harcourt-Powell, and Amelie Sundberg
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
ALNAP: Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance
Abstract:
This feasibility study undertaken by ALNAP seeks to identify a set of potential indicators for monitoring the Agenda for Humanity and assess how practicable it is to use these indicators, given current consensus on method and the availability of data. To assess the feasibility of using shared indicators to track progress in the Agenda for Humanity, ALNAP developed 71 indicators for 10 Transformations (two for each Core Responsibility). Each indicator was ranked using the ranking system in table 1 below, adapted from the ranking system used for the SDG indicators. The study concludes that better collective monitoring of progress in the Agenda for Humanity is possible – if the sector considers it to be a priority.
Topic:
Sustainable Development Goals, Accountability, Performance Evaluation, and Feasibility
Political Geography:
Global Focus

8. ALNAP Guide: Evaluation of Protection in Humanitarian Action

Author:
Ian Christoplos, Neil Dillon, and Francesca Bonino
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
ALNAP: Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance
Abstract:
This companion to the ALNAP EHA Guide offers protection-specific insights for evaluators and evaluation commissioners across the humanitarian sector. It covers the planning, data management and analysis phases of evaluation and addresses a range of challenges that – whilst not all unique to protection – are often exacerbated by the contexts in which protection activities typically take place. Challenges addressed include those arising from the multi-faceted nature of protection activities, the difficulty understanding cause-effect relationships underlying protection risks, and the challenges of accessing and managing very sensitive data, sometimes drawn from communities in conflict.
Topic:
Performance Evaluation, Guidelines, Humanitarian Response, and Protection
Political Geography:
Global Focus

9. The State of the Humanitarian System 2018: Inception report

Author:
ALNAP
Publication Date:
03-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
ALNAP: Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance
Abstract:
Following the publication of the 2015 SOHS report this inception report sets out the goals and scope of research for the 2018 edition and details its methodological approach. It incorporates the findings from a conference set up to review the methodologies used in the 2015 edition, as well as other lessons learned from previous after-action reviews. The 2018 edition will assess performance over the period January 2015–December 2017. It will also compare its findings with the three previous editions, in order to capture key trends covering a 10- year period. The 2018 SOHS report will therefore provide an up-to-date assessment of the size and shape of the humanitarian system and its current performance; and also a retrospective picture of key trends and changes that have taken place over the last decade. To ensure that the report is as readable and useful as possible, a few small but important modifications have been made. First, in order to make clear the parameters and scope of the report, the study team has developed a precise definition of the unit of analysis – the international humanitarian system. In addition, it has made changes and improvements to the OECD DAC criteria used to assess performance; and, in response to requests from readers of previous editions, the methods used to gather data from aid recipients have been strengthened. The study team will also seek to liaise with local groups and organisations in the collection and analysis of this data. In view of the commitments made at the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS), the study team will introduce and pilot a new methodology aimed at capturing outcomes that may be emerging as a result of the reform processes underway. The aim will be to report on whether and how these outcomes are having any impact on overall performance. As with previous editions, the report will be primarily descriptive and analytical rather than prescriptive. It will be based on a robust and tested method combined with the best available evidence and, although the analysis will reflect insights into the factors bringing about changes and trends, the main aim is not to provide concrete recommendations for change and improvement. The SOHS report is intended as a resource for all people and organisations that work in, or with, the international humanitarian community.
Topic:
Finance, Performance Evaluation, Aid Effectiveness, and Humanitarian Organizations
Political Geography:
Global Focus

10. Using Evidence to Allocate Humanitarian Resources: Challenges and Opportunities

Author:
Alice Obrecht
Publication Date:
09-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
ALNAP: Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance
Abstract:
A significant World Humanitarian Summit outcome, the Grand Bargain reforms aim to make the humanitarian system more financially efficient and fit for purpose. But, Alice Obrecht suggests, these reforms cannot be successfully achieved without paying attention to how donors gather, use and share evidence and information. Drawing on ideas from the public health sector and charity evaluation, Using Evidence to Allocate Humanitarian Resources suggests ways forward which can be incorporated into ongoing reform efforts: clarifying priorities, investing in evidence, coordinating and consolidating current data sets, and adapting.
Topic:
Public Sector, Performance Evaluation, and Humanitarian Response
Political Geography:
Global Focus