Specialist in rural development and gender, Bintou is a confirmed expert with more than twenty years experiences in development projects evaluation in particular those relating to resilience to food security and climate changes in Sahelian domain. She is AGDEN and AFREA member and evaluation consultant: She has developed experiences on all evaluation types: ex ante, mid-term and final.
Posted on 31/03/2020
Hello dear members!
I thank NICK MAUDER for having launched this reflection among us. Indeed, I fully share this observation on the cessation of ordinary activities carried out, in particular those relating to evaluation exercises. In fact, this is an unforeseen situation, but one which gives rise to reflections and provides the opportunity to reinforce the approaches used until now. I have often had the opportunity to manage evaluations in conflict zones where displacement is not possible due to insecurity. In these cases, I used "telephone" survey methods. This type of survey requires following some principles, among others:
1. The formulation of short and precise questions, to avoid long discussions;
2. A fairly strict time management because the people concerned can be discouraged quickly by lack of direct physical contact;
3. A good orientation of the discussions, stay focused during the interview;
4. The language of the interview is important in that the interviewee must be comfortable with understanding the questions asked, often interpreters are required;
5. Good planning of the interview can often be time consuming because it requires a moment of total availability of the person or group.
However, the method requires more triangulation efforts to verify the data collected. It must be said that this is an alternative methodology but not a replacement for human contact. Indeed, human contact is always the best means of evaluation because it allows the evaluator to make observations and personal observations which can support the appreciation of the facts.
Mali
Bintou Nimaga
consultant
Posted on 18/01/2023
Hello Emilia!
Thank you for this very interesting topic which deserves special knowledge. In fact, almost all evaluations insist on lessons/lessons learned, but my opinion is that this step is always at the discretion of the evaluator, his previous experiences and competences on the theme and/or the sector evaluated in relation to the results of the evaluation (attached, in French). I am attaching one of my examples of lessons learned from an evaluation on gender equality to benefit from the resources and services of the project evaluated. I hope it will contribute to the discussion.
Link here