Here at The Improve Group, we know that many organizations do not have the resources to hire outside evaluators to carry out their evaluations, nor do they have an in-house evaluator. Helping organizations build their evaluation capacity fits well within our mission and values and is reflected in most of the work we do.
Evaluation Capacity Building (ECB) is the practice of developing an organization’s ability to use and apply evaluation methods. Building evaluation capacity is important because it helps organizations measure, sustain and improve results. The goal of an ECB project is to demystify evaluation for organizations and staff.
How does it work?
We use a few different approaches to build capacity. One of our approaches helps make evaluation accessible to organizations that otherwise may not be able to conduct them. The small project approach uses a model of informal training and collaborative work designed to build the organization’s evaluation capacity.
With the small project approach, we help in all the phases, but are generally more heavily involved in defining the purpose and interpreting findings. Different clients have very different capacities and skill sets, so we try to set the boundaries as a part of the planning and inception process.
At the beginning of the project, we work with clients to identify current practices that are evaluative so we can use what is working to build the evaluation process. This can mean using existing data or finding ways data collection can be naturally rolled into program tasks. We know that our clients don’t have time for another job responsibility, so we work hard to integrate evaluation into existing work.
Small projects are structured to meet the client’s immediate needs and to provide the structure to allow them to do the work on their own. How it looks in practice depends on the client, but a typical ECB project includes working meetings at common junctures where we do the work together. To make sure everyone feels comfortable asking questions, we offer technical assistance in between meetings to help with implementation.
Most important, we don’t want anyone to come away from a capacity building project with a bad evaluation experience. At the end of a project, we want our clients to feel confident they can apply the skills and tools we developed together.
If your organization is interested in learning more about our capacity building services, please contact us at info@theimprovegroup.com.