Accompanying evaluation of the support program of the AMASE Masters-program
Together with a consortium of three other European universities (Luleå Technical University, Sweden, Barcelona Tech, Spain and Université de Lorraine, France) the European School of Materials (EUSMAT) at Saarland University offers the international Masters programme AMASE (Advanced Materials Science and Engineering). Its students have the opportunity to participate in an Integration Week in Saarbrücken right at the beginning of their studies, which aims at providing an orientation with regards to the course of the AMASE programme as well as strengthening the students? soft skills through a number of trainings. After the first year of study in the two-year AMASE programme, the students furthermore have the opportunity to take part in a Professional Summer School aiming at facilitating their career entry.
Both events are part of the AMASE support programme and were evaluated within the context of an accompanying evaluation. The main goal was to determine the use of those events for their respective target groups. In methodological terms two standardized surveys as well as a number of focus group discussions were conducted with participants of the two events.
Integration of the Programme “Service Agency Communities in One World” (SKEW) in the M&E-System of Engagement Global
Engagement Global gGmbH was established in 2012 as a central institution to promote and coordinate the development policy commitment of civil society, municipal and private sector actors as well as for development policy information and education work. SKEW a program of Engagement Global focuses in particular on the promotion of municipal development cooperation. In order to be able to monitor both the appropriate use of the funds and above all their effectiveness, Engagement Global has created a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system for all departments and programs. Since SKEW was excluded in the development of the monitoring system at that time, CEval and ISPO were commissioned to integrate SKEW into the organization-wide monitoring system.
As with the design of the company-wide M&E system, first the theory of change and indicators were reviewed or developed. Then the objectives and indicators were integrated into the strategical claims of Engagement Global. In order to complete the creation of a monitoring system for the SKEW, a data collection plan were created and the associated data collection instruments had been (further) developed.
Development and Implementation of a M&E-System for the ‘EinTanzHaus’
The ‘EinTanzHaus’ is expected to be a center for contemporary dance in a cultural monument of particular importance in the City of Mannheim. The EinTanzHaus team and its director Daria Holme have jointly created the preconditions to develop a dance center in Southern Germany with the exemplary conversion of a protected historic church building, which can open up new perspectives for the dance scene in Germany due to its infrastructure, its stage size, its central location and the artistic experience.
The task of CEval GmbH was to develop and implement a M&E concept that serves for the management of the project and the regular review of goal attainment and impact assessment. Therefore, a target system and value-added indicators for the ‘EinTanzHaus’ as well as a data collection plan were developed together with the stakeholders in a first step. Further, CEval GmbH was involved in all steps of the data collection, evaluation and interpretation and thus supports the parties involved in the strategic management of the project and the evaluation of the projects goal achievement.
Data collection for the certificate “Fan project in accordance with the National Plan for Safety in Sports”
In Germany, there is a dense network of social work institutions in the field of adolescent soccer fans (fan projects) that work in accordance with the National Plan for Safety in Sports (German: Nationales Konzept Sport und Sicherheit). A certification of those fan projects has been launched in 2010. Offering fan projects an instrument of quality control, the certification is intended to pursue multiple goals: (a) establishing a common standard for fan projects, (b) increasing confidence in the work of fan projects, and (c) improving the working context of fan projects. The certificate has been awarded by the Quality Management Group of the Centre for Fan Project Coordination of the German Sports Youth (German: Koordinationsstelle Fanprojekte bei der Deutschen Sportjugend). Members of the Quality Management Group belong to several stakeholder groups: soccer, federal authorities (for family affairs), science, and fan projects themselves.
During a first subproject (5/2015-6/2016), CEval GmbH (a) revised the certification process, (b) tested the revised certification process on five fan projects, and (c) developed a standardized, feasible concept for collecting information necessary for certification. Thereby the certificate attests fan projects high quality of work.
Within second subproject, CEval GmbH supported the nationwide roll-out of the revised certification by collecting all necessary information on all the remaining German soccer fan projects.
External Evaluation of the Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NFP II) and Netherlands Initiative for Capacity Development in Higher Education (NICHE II)
On behalf of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) the CEval implemented an external Evaluation of the Dutch Fellowship Programme (NFP II) and Netherlands Initiative for Capacity Development in Higher Education (NICHE II). Financed by the MFA and administered by the Netherlands Organisation for International Cooperation in Higher Education ‘EP-Nuffic’, these programs offer capacity development in higher education for developing partner countries.
The overall aim of NFP and NICHE is to help reduce quantitative and qualitative shortage of trained professional staff in developing countries and to build sustainable capacity within the poverty reduction Framework. The NFP provides Fellowships to mid-career professionals to participate in Trainings and postgraduate courses in the Netherlands. NICHE is a capacity building programme to improve the quality, relevance and gender sensitiveness of post-secondary education in NICHE-countries.
The evaluation covered the period of 2002-2015 while a focus was on the latest project phase since 2012 which put an additional emphasis on economic diplomacy and closer alignment with the four priority themes of the Dutch development cooperation strategy (water, sexual reproductive health and rights, security and rule of law and food security). The purpose of the evaluation was to account for the Netherlands funding provided for the two programs under the current project cycle and to gain lessons for future policy development and implementation. Within the scope of the evaluation, both programs were analysed regarding the OECD/DAC criteria of relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability. Recommendations for possible optimization of the program were developed on the basis of the findings. The evaluation was conducted in cooperation with ACE Europe, a Belgian consultancy.
Process Evaluation of the career support program ‘Securing Talents – Shaping the Future’ (2019/2020)
The program ‘Securing talents – shaping the future’ by the Cusanuswerk aims to support future female leaders. The program focuses on mentoring elements that is tutorial support for scholarship holders by professionally experienced academics. It also focuses on occupationally specific training and support measures as well as on building a peer-network. The CEval has been conducting accompanying external evaluations to ensure quality management since the start of the career support program in 2007. An accompanying evaluation also take place during the seventh program run 2019/2020. The main task of this evaluation was to provide the responsible employees with management-related information. In this context, questions regarding satisfaction with the offered events, quality of tutorial relationships as well as questions regarding professional and personal use of the relationships for both sides are especially relevant. In regards to methods, the evaluation covered standardized questionnaires of mentees and mentors compared at three points in time.
Evaluation of the website www.bne-portal.de
The German Commission for UNESCO is a Quango in the field of multilateral cultural, educational, Research, and media policy. The website www.bne-portal.de is one of their efforts in contributing to the Global Action Programme on Education for Sustainable Development. The website is considered to open the field of education for sustainable development (German: Weltaktionsprogramm Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung) to actual as well as future protagonists in Germany. After a re-launch in 2016 and an uptime of one year, CEval GmbH was entrusted to evaluate the website www.bne-portal.de.
The evaluation of the website was focused on (a) clarity, relevance, and appeal of the provided information, (b) attractiveness of design and structure, (c) information accessibility, (d) practical relevance of information, (e) usefulness of provided contact channels, (f) degree of fulfilling user expectations, (g) intensity of use, (h) popularity/attractiveness of its education materials, and (h) popularity/attractiveness of its protagonist database.
The evaluation was based on an online user survey followed by quantitative data analysis.
Formative Evaluation of the Out-of-School-Children Initiative (OOSCI)
The focus of this evaluation was the Out-of-School-Children Initiative (OOSCI) by UNICEF and UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). The initiative was launched in 2010 to achieve a reduction in the number of children out of school in participating countries. Means to achieve this goal were to create comprehensive profiles of out-of-School children in each Country, identify the barriers that push children out of school and to propose changes in the policies and strategies of the partner country to address these barriers.
The evaluation aimed at testing the validity of the theory of change and its assumptions. It is used to strengthen the program logic and to provide a formative assessment of the progress towards the overall goal of achieving a reduction in out-of-school children. The evaluation also provides an in-depth insight into benefits for the different stakeholders and their involvement in the initiative. Furthermore, the findings of the evaluation are used to meet the accountability requirements by the donors of OOSCI.
Main source of information of this evaluation have been documents like OOSCI country studies, OOSCI regional studies, government plans and documents from other donors (e.g. the World Bank, UNESCO, foreign donors etc.). In a document review we assessed progress made through OOSCI for a sample of 42 countries and assessed the contents within the document using a 4-step coding. These codings were used for a descriptive analysis and additionally for a Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). QCA enabled us to analyze thoroughly which set of conditions leads to which outcome. Further instrument of data collection has been an online survey to all country offices. Additional qualitative data has been collected in the US and during eight country visits. The evaluation has been conducted together with Proman and further Consultants. CEval took over the lead with regard to the evaluation methodology.
Evaluation of the demographic monitoring tool demowanda: Demand-oriented coaching on self-evaluation
“The BAuA explores the conditions and developments in gainful employment with a view to providing workers with the best possible protection and Support both today and in the future.” (s. BAuA-Website). Leading the project Demografischer Wandel in der Arbeitswelt (demowanda) is one of BAuAs Tasks. demowanda is a demographic monitoring tool, which has been ordered by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
BAuA realized a self-evaluate of the demowanda project – their collaboration project with BiB, BIBB, DZA, IAB and RKI. The objective of BAuA’s self-evaluation was the analysis and evaluation of the projects implementation process, its outputs, outcomes and impacts.
In order to successfully realize the self-evaluation, BAuA commissioned CEval GmbH to accompany their self-evaluation and to provide them with demand-oriented coaching/training. Employees of BAuA, who are involved in the self-evaluation of demowanda, were enabled to extend their knowledge on self-evaluation. Moreover, coaching/training ensured the conceptual as well as methodological quality of the self-evaluation project.
The demand-oriented coaching included phone and on-site consulting, inhouse trainings and workshops, and support of development evaluation materials/documents.
Process Evaluation of the career support program ‘Securing Talents – Shaping the Future’ (2017-2018)
Process Evaluation of the career support program ‘Securing Talents – Shaping the Future’ (2017/2018)
The program ‘Securing talents – shaping the future’ by the Cusanuswerk aims to support future female leaders. The program focuses on mentoring elements that is tutorial support for scholarship holders by professionally experienced academics. It also focuses on occupationally specific training and support measures as well as on building a peer-network. The CEval has been conducting accompanying external evaluations to ensure quality management since the start of the career support program in 2007. An accompanying evaluation took also place during the sixth program run 2017/18. The main task of this evaluation was to provide the responsible employees with management-related information. In this context, questions regarding satisfaction with the offered events, quality of tutorial relationships as well as questions regarding professional and personal use of the relationships for both sides were especially relevant. In regards to methods, the evaluation covers standardized questionnaires of mentees and mentors compared at three points in time.