M&E support of two WaSH projects in Ethiopia and Kenya.
Knorr-Bremse Global Care e.V. (KBGC) is planning to implement two WASH projects in Ethiopia and Kenya. The common goal of the two projects is to reduce mortality and morbidity rates from water-related diseases. For this purpose, a series of measures adapted to the framework conditions in the respective implementation regions is planned, such as improving access to clean water, increasing the knowledge and skills of the actors involved, rehabilitating sanitary facilities, disseminating more energy-efficient stoves, health education and, finally, changing attitudes and behaviour among the target groups. These activities are intended to contribute to the improvement of the general living conditions of the target groups.
CEval GmbH is responsible for the scientific monitoring and evaluation of the two projects with the aim of assessing their effectiveness. The implementation will be carried out in close cooperation with national evaluators in both countries, while CEval GmbH is responsible for the preparation of the evaluation design and methodological concept, the training of those responsible for monitoring as well as accompaniment of the entire process.
Mid-Term Evaluation of the „Palestinian-German Science Bridge” (PGSB)
The program Palestinian-German Science Bridge is a pilot project financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), which is jointly implemented by Forschungszentrum Jülich and the Palestinian Academy for Science and Technology (PALAST). It aims at establishing a joint education and research cooperation between Forschungszentrum Jülich and the Palestinian partner universities. To this end, the program combines measures focusing on student and researcher mobility, scientific exchange among faculty staff, the support of research collaborations and the reintegration of young Palestinian researchers into the Palestinian academic sector.
Forschungszentrum Jülich mandated CEval GmbH to counsel the Forschungszentrum with regard to the conceptualization of a mid-term evaluation of the program and to assist the Forschungszentrum in implementing it. The purpose of the evaluation was to assess the short- and medium-term results of the program as well as the prospects for long-term goal achievement. The objective, further, was to identify potentials for improvement in relation to the program.
Methodologically, the evaluation was based on a mix of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods. Data collection combines a document and secondary data analysis with guided interviews and semi-standardized online surveys among the project stakeholders. During data analysis, descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis were applied. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the evaluation was planned as a remote evaluation.
Evaluation of a Capacity Development Project on Child Protection Systems in Ethiopia and India
Worldwide across all socio-economic backgrounds, cultures and religions, children are exposed to a wide spectrum of risk factors in their daily lives. Considering the complexity and interconnectedness of underlying causes, functioning child protection systems have proven to be key to address risk factors and prevent violence, exploitation and abuse. Kindernothilfe, jointly with Karl Kübel Stiftung, Child Fund and terre des hommes, initiated the project titled Development and implementation of institutional child safeguarding policies as well as networking with local child protection systems through at least 240 organizations in nine countries in Asia and Africa in 2014.
As the project ended in December 2018, the consortium commissioned the Center for Evaluation in August 2018 to conduct an evaluation to understand the impact of the project as well as retrieve learnings and recommendations for future interventions of similar character. A crucial part of the assignment was to retrospectively develop the Theory of Change (ToC) of the project in a participatory manner, integrating consortium members, national trainers as well as the target group and final beneficiaries in the process. The ToC guided the evaluation while being further validated during the course of the evaluation. Field visits took place in Ethiopia and South India in October 2018. In total, six partner organizations had been visited and interviews and focus group discussions had been hold. Children are included in the evaluation by making use of participatory research tools, such as Picture Talk and Smiley-face scales. Each field visit ended with a one-day workshop to which all participating organizations of the respective region had been invited. During the workshop, preliminary results and the ToC were presented, discussed and validated. Finally, the various data were analyzed, triangulated and the results presented to the consortium partners.
International Program for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET)
The International Program for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET) is an executive training program in development evaluation. From 2018 to 2024, it was managed jointly by the Center for Continuing Education at the University of Bern (Switzerland), the Center for Evaluation at Saarland University (Germany), and the Independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank. Since 2021, IPDET has been a key implementing partner of the Global Evaluation Initiative (GEI).
IPDET aims to provide managers and practitioners in the field of evaluation with the tools required to evaluate policies, programs and projects at local, regional, national, and global levels, as well as to commission, manage, and especially use those evaluations for decision-making. Further information on IPDET can be found on the website: https://ipdet.org/.
Development of an M&E framework, M&E support and facilitation of learning & exchange formats for the initiative “Improved livelihoods perspectives for young people in rural East Africa”
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung, Siemens Stiftung and Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung collectively intend to improve upon the prospects of youths in rural areas of East Africa. Within the joint initiative of Improved livelihoods perspectives for young people in rural East Africa they empower youths to actively shape developmental processes and to have their voices heard in the respective policy processes. Further, they intend to improve youths livelihoods through enhanced income generation and health conditions. Through this, they also aim to contribute to jointly fight root causes of migration. The initiative is implemented by three local implementing partners in Uganda, namely Action for Health Uganda, Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung Africa Ltd. and WHAVE Solutions.
The objective of this assignment was threefold: To develop an M&E Framework for the program, to support its monitoring and evaluation through the implementation of three assessments (baseline, mid-term and final assessment), and to facilitate learning and exchange during its pilot phase. For achieving these objectives, a participatory approach was employed, focusing on a strong stakeholder involvement from the planning stage through data collection to results interpretation. During the assessments a multi-method approach was applied, based on a quantitative quasi-experimental and a qualitative case-study design for achieving a comprehensive picture of the programs impact and sustainability, and eventually validating its intervention logic. While the quasi-experimental design comprises the collection of target and comparison group data from approx. 1,000 pax in total, the case-study design included interviews and Focus Group Discussions with key informants from implementing partners, target groups, local authorities and sector experts.
Evaluation Synthesis: Evidences from Central Project Evaluations of Transitional Development Assistance Projects
As a bridge between humanitarian aid and longer-term development cooperation, transition assistance is becoming more and more important, especially against the backdrop of increased conflicts worldwide.
Consequently, the Evaluation Unit of GIZ had commissioned the CEval GmbH to conduct an evaluation synthesis of transitional development assistance (TDA) projects that have been implemented in the period from January 2013 to April 2021.
Subject to this evaluation synthesis had been nine central project evaluations (CPE) of TDA projects and one CPE of a regional EU co-financed project with similar thematic priorities, implemented in four countries. Thereby, the evaluation covered diverse countries and regions: South Sudan, Somalia, Haiti, Ukraine, Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. In addition to the CPEs, the synthesis had been based on interviews with project leaders and, as possible, with the respective evaluators. The aim was to identify TDA related and context-specific factors of success and failure of the projects and to derive recommendations for action. Methodologically, the synthesis was based on a mixed-method approach, consisting of a combination of qualitative content analysis and QCA (fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis).
Preparation of an AMPA overview for 20 multilateral organizations as well as two general overviews
The Annual Multilateral Performance Assessment (AMPA) is an instrument of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) for the annual performance assessment of its priority multilateral organizations. The aim is to assess these organizations as neutrally and independently as possible, with little resource input on the basis of existing and accessible information. AMPA is based on 1) MOPAN reports (external source), 2) the CCM Annual Reports (SDC assessment) and 3) self-assessments of multilateral organizations (e.g. scorecards).
As part of a consulting evaluation assignment, CEval has worked with the client to develop concrete measures to optimize the performance assessment.
Development of a systematic set of social inequality indicators in the context of German development cooperation
In the context of of the Sustainable Development (SDG 2030) goals, the United Nations have placed the reduction of social inequalities at the center of international development politics. Against this backdrop, altering social inequalities has gained importance in the field of German development cooperation. The evaluation of the impact of developmental projects on social inequalities requires a set of specific and valid indicators.
CEval has compiled a set of social inequality indicators and developed a systematic approach to categorize the indicators by vertical and horizontal dimensions of inequality, sectors and operational level. CEval has developed the adaption of relevant indicators to the context of german development cooperation and the projects of GIZ.
Meta Evaluation of CoE Project and Programme Evaluations (2016-2019)
In the framework of its Quality Assurance of CoE Decentralised Evaluation Reports, the Council of Europe had mandated the CEval GmbH to perform an independent quality check of a sample of 32 CoE decentralised evaluation reports prepared by various Major Administrative Entities for the period 2016-2019. The overarching objective of this stocktaking is to support the establishment of an Evaluation Framework and the designing of a Quality Assurance System for the CoE.
Accordingly, the quality check informs about the extent to which the decentralised evaluations fulfil widely accepted international standards in terms of quality and gives recommendations on what aspects to improve; provides an overall assessment of the major strengths and weaknesses of the decentralised evaluation reports; identifies key findings, recommendations and lessons learnt to improve the performance of CoE institutional capacity-building; and finally provides recommendations for the establishment of a framework for quality assurance. The assessment has been conducted based on an analysis grid including all relevant evaluation criteria and indicators, with a detailed guidance, in order to assure inter-rater reliability and thus to provide for maximum objectivity of the results.
Sector evaluation of climate projects within the framework of the BMZ Special Initiative on Climate of the Hanns Seidel Foundation e.V. 2019
The Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSS) has been receiving funds from the BMZ Special Initiative on Climate since 2011 and has carried out project activities in the fields of climate, environment and energy in numerous countries since then. The measures in this area are intended to make a contribution to environmental protection and nature conservation as a whole, to combating and adapting to climate change, to sustainable energy supply and resource efficiency, and to sustainable and environmentally conscious agriculture and forestry. A basic strategy was developed from the context of Hanns Seidel Foundation’s current work abroad in the fields of climate, environment and energy and its attempts to find solutions to these topics at an international level. This strategy was evaluated by CEval GmbH using three projects in India, Bolivia and Namibia as examples.
From a methodological point of view, the evaluation included a theory-based part, which consisted of the reconstruction of the Theories of Change (ToC) of the three projects. In addition, the three selected projects were evaluated at project level, for which field phases in all three countries and interviews with partners and target groups have been conducted. In addition, the evaluation included a synthesis part which referred to the climate strategy of the Hanns Seidel Foundation in general and in which the results of the evaluations of the three projects were bundled and supplemented with information from the headquarters of the HSS in Munich.