Senior Consultant with 38 years of experience in socio-economic and rural development, agriculture extension services, food security, agribusinesses, tailored institutional capacity building schemes, and monitoring and evaluation. He holds a Ph.D. in environmental agriculture from Ain Shams University (Egypt) and a master’s degree in agriculture (horticulture) from Suez Canal University (Egypt). His professional record reflects a diversity of capacities with international organizations in Egypt and Sudan with an emphasis on agriculture development, farmer’s empowerment, and projects evaluations. He worked on several projects sponsored by multilateral development organizations, including USAID, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), FAO, the U.N. Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and the EU.
Egypt
Gebril Mahjoub Osman
Consultant
Independent
Posted on 06/05/2024
Dear Ibtissem and Colleagues,
Here are my contribution to this discussion:
1. Involvement of evaluation managers: While preserving the independence of evaluations, how should the involvement of an evaluation manager be strategically calibrated across the evaluation phases?
Involving evaluation managers in the evaluation stages strategically is a matter that varies from one organization to another. It must be clear that the evaluation team is completely independent. The evaluation managers have no choice but to facilitate the work of the evaluation team, facilitate their access to the required documents, and conduct the necessary interviews, whether with the stakeholders concerned or the project's beneficiaries. Evaluation managers have an important role in reviewing the evaluation report with the evaluation team in terms of the standards set for the form and content of the report.
2. Role of evaluation managers: To what degree should the role of an evaluation manager encompass active participation as a team member, as opposed to just supervising the evaluation process? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each level of involvement?
In addition to the answers mentioned in the previous question, the evaluation manager should not be an active member of the evaluation team because he ultimately belongs to the organization, which is a disadvantage to the independence of the evaluation. Another disadvantage of his participation is that he may influence the evaluation team in one way or another and take the evaluation team in directions that are not neutral. The direct involvement of the evaluation manager may lead to unfair highlighting of the results/outcomes of the implementation and effectiveness of a certain activity/component of the project against any other activities/component of the project, simply because there is some negative/positive relationship with the project implementation team.
3. Collaboration with evaluation managers: As an external evaluator, can you share your insights and experiences regarding collaboration with evaluation managers and functions? Has their participation enhanced the relevance and utility of evidence for decision-making processes?
Yes, it is possible to share the ideas and experiences of the evaluation team with the evaluation manager and his functions during the discussion stage of the inception report which includes the evaluation methodology and detailed evaluation plan, as well as in the discussion stage of the evaluation report to clarify the evaluation team’s justifications for their recommendations and findings from the evaluation.
Thanks and Best Regards,
Gebril
Gebril Mahjoub Osman, PhD
Cairo, Egypt