I’m not quite sure that I see reporting and communicating as two distinct processes. Reporting, in my view, is related to monitoring. When we issue an evaluation report, we are in fact communicating about the evaluation, albeit in a longer and more technical format. I do agree that fewer people are likely to read such a report. However, I would include the donor amongst those in that first group, as it is highly likely that the donor would be interested in reading about the technical details. I also encourage the publication of full evaluation reports, so that any stakeholder interested in reading all the details is given the opportunity to do so.
Regarding the funding of the communicating campaign, I believe that this should come directly out of the evaluation budget. This means that the funder is the same as the donor of the intervention that is being evaluated. However, it is the evaluation office and/or the entity that is commissioning the evaluation that should have control of the evaluation budget and thereby it is that same entity that should be responsible for developing a communication strategy for the evaluation and its related funding.
Regarding the involvement of evaluators in communicating findings to stakeholders, I believe that they should be the primary communicators indeed. The evaluators are the ones that are external and independent to the intervention under evaluation; thereby, they benefit from a neutral image/reputation and stakeholders expect to hear about the evaluation’s findings from a trustworthy and neutral source. Consequently, I suggest that evaluators are expected to present the evaluation findings in various formats and particularly during presentations/webinars with key audiences, whoever these may be.
Finally, I do not see recommendations on communicating the results of the evaluation as part of the scope of any evaluation exercise. However, an evaluation plan and even an evaluation inception report can outline a communication strategy for a given evaluation, including the roles and responsibilities that will underly it.
RE: Reporting evaluation results or communicating evaluation results?
I’m not quite sure that I see reporting and communicating as two distinct processes. Reporting, in my view, is related to monitoring. When we issue an evaluation report, we are in fact communicating about the evaluation, albeit in a longer and more technical format. I do agree that fewer people are likely to read such a report. However, I would include the donor amongst those in that first group, as it is highly likely that the donor would be interested in reading about the technical details. I also encourage the publication of full evaluation reports, so that any stakeholder interested in reading all the details is given the opportunity to do so.
Regarding the funding of the communicating campaign, I believe that this should come directly out of the evaluation budget. This means that the funder is the same as the donor of the intervention that is being evaluated. However, it is the evaluation office and/or the entity that is commissioning the evaluation that should have control of the evaluation budget and thereby it is that same entity that should be responsible for developing a communication strategy for the evaluation and its related funding.
Regarding the involvement of evaluators in communicating findings to stakeholders, I believe that they should be the primary communicators indeed. The evaluators are the ones that are external and independent to the intervention under evaluation; thereby, they benefit from a neutral image/reputation and stakeholders expect to hear about the evaluation’s findings from a trustworthy and neutral source. Consequently, I suggest that evaluators are expected to present the evaluation findings in various formats and particularly during presentations/webinars with key audiences, whoever these may be.
Finally, I do not see recommendations on communicating the results of the evaluation as part of the scope of any evaluation exercise. However, an evaluation plan and even an evaluation inception report can outline a communication strategy for a given evaluation, including the roles and responsibilities that will underly it.
Katia