There is no doubt that capacity development in evaluation is crucial to guarantee an effective evaluative practice at all levels. In the Focelac project (Promotion of capacities and articulation of actors of the evaluation of Latin America), implemented by DEval (German Institute for evaluation of development cooperation), together with the Mideplan (Ministry of national planning and economic policy of Costa Rica), we work with a systemic approach to capacity development.
The approach proposes the development of capacities in evaluation in three levels of incidence:
Creation of a favorable environment for evaluation (evaluation standards for the region, national evaluation agenda, availability of data, allocation of budget for evaluations, among others)
Development of institutional capacities (parliaments that use evaluation, institutionalization in the public sector, training programs in quality assessment, strengthened evaluation networks, informed civil society that uses evaluation, etc)
Individual capacities (trained actors, evaluation managers, sensitized political and civil society actors, etc.)
The application of this approach in Costa Rica has contributed to institutionalization of evaluation and provided elements of sustainability to progress, such as the preparation of a National Evaluation Policy (PNE) and the establishment of a National Evaluation Platform, where the different actors articulate efforts in this domain and follow up on the Policy.
In Latin America, the application of the systemic approach includes actions in the following areas:
1) Inclusion of participation in the evaluation processes
A variety of actions have promoted the participation of actors in the evaluation processes:
Training: design of a five-day course for participatory evaluation programming. Taught in Guatemala and Chile. Taught in shorter formats in Mexico, Costa Rica and Ecuador.
Institutionalization: support for the preparation of a participatory evaluation guide for MIDEPLAN (Ministry of Planning and Economic Policy of Costa Rica).
Practical experiences of participatory evaluation where the participants are the same actors that form the evaluation teams: support for the participatory evaluation in Valle de la Estrella (Costa Rica) and the participatory evaluation program in Deutsche Welle Akademie (DWA) ( in Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Colombia), TECHO and Country Service (in Chile) (You can find the final report of the participatory evaluation in Costa Rica at this link: http://foceval.org/wp-content/uploads/2016 /12/20170228_Informe-final-EP.pdf )
Research: articles on the evaluation experience in Costa Rica and on the application of the principles of collaborative evaluation approaches.
ii) Capacity building in Young and Emerging Evaluators
The project is carrying out actions to strengthen the capacities of young and / or emerging evaluators that favor their integration in the labor market. The actions executed are grouped into four strategies:
Learning assessments: teams made up of Young and Emerging Evaluators.
Practical training (training, scholarships, mentoring programs).
Inclusion of a Young and Emerging Evaluator in evaluation teams.
Sensitization of organizations / institutions on the inclusion of Young and Emerging Evaluators.
iii) Collaborative construction of an Evaluation Capacity Development Index
The project is coordinating, together with the World Food Program, the construction of an Index of Capacities in Evaluation (ICE), which allows to measure the capacities and evaluation practices in the context of policies, programs and social services of Latin American countries.
The main function of the index is the improvement of the evaluation agenda of and with the national authorities as the main recipients, facilitating the exchange between countries and organizations based on the identification of critical areas and good practices to share.
Representatives of the governments of the region, the Latin American Evaluation Network (RELAC), national VOPEs, UN agencies, as well as foundations, institutes and research centers, and institutions that provide training and development of national capacities in evaluation, such as CLEAR and FIIAPP, participate in the development of the index.
This systemic approach in development of capacities in evaluation has allowed us to address different key areas for the establishment of a culture of evaluation in the countries in which we have worked.
RE: What can evaluations do in terms of capacity development?
Dear colleagues,
There is no doubt that capacity development in evaluation is crucial to guarantee an effective evaluative practice at all levels. In the Focelac project (Promotion of capacities and articulation of actors of the evaluation of Latin America), implemented by DEval (German Institute for evaluation of development cooperation), together with the Mideplan (Ministry of national planning and economic policy of Costa Rica), we work with a systemic approach to capacity development.
The approach proposes the development of capacities in evaluation in three levels of incidence:
The application of this approach in Costa Rica has contributed to institutionalization of evaluation and provided elements of sustainability to progress, such as the preparation of a National Evaluation Policy (PNE) and the establishment of a National Evaluation Platform, where the different actors articulate efforts in this domain and follow up on the Policy.
In Latin America, the application of the systemic approach includes actions in the following areas:
1) Inclusion of participation in the evaluation processes
A variety of actions have promoted the participation of actors in the evaluation processes:
ii) Capacity building in Young and Emerging Evaluators
The project is carrying out actions to strengthen the capacities of young and / or emerging evaluators that favor their integration in the labor market. The actions executed are grouped into four strategies:
iii) Collaborative construction of an Evaluation Capacity Development Index
The project is coordinating, together with the World Food Program, the construction of an Index of Capacities in Evaluation (ICE), which allows to measure the capacities and evaluation practices in the context of policies, programs and social services of Latin American countries.
The main function of the index is the improvement of the evaluation agenda of and with the national authorities as the main recipients, facilitating the exchange between countries and organizations based on the identification of critical areas and good practices to share.
Representatives of the governments of the region, the Latin American Evaluation Network (RELAC), national VOPEs, UN agencies, as well as foundations, institutes and research centers, and institutions that provide training and development of national capacities in evaluation, such as CLEAR and FIIAPP, participate in the development of the index.
This systemic approach in development of capacities in evaluation has allowed us to address different key areas for the establishment of a culture of evaluation in the countries in which we have worked.
Andrea Meneses and Nataly Salas
Proyecto Focelac