scholarly journals Reflecting on an impact evaluation of the Grade R programme: Method, results and policy responses

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Louise Samuels ◽  
Stephen Taylor ◽  
Debra Shepherd ◽  
Servaas Van der Berg ◽  
Christel Jacob ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Impact Evaluation ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Record Keeping ◽  
Service Support ◽  
Empowering Teachers ◽  
Programme Outcomes ◽  
The Impact

This paper describes the expansion since 2001 of a public pre-school programme in South Africa known as ‘Grade R’, summarises the findings from an impact evaluation of the introduction of Grade R, discusses the policy recommendations flowing from the evaluation and reflects on the process of implementing the recommendations. The Grade R programme has expanded dramatically, to the point where participation is nearly universal. Although a substantial literature points to large potential benefits from pre-school educational opportunities, the impact evaluation reported on in this article demonstrated that the Grade R programme, as implemented until 2011, had a limited impact on later educational outcomes. Improving the quality of Grade R, especially in schools serving low socio-economic status communities, thus emerges as a key policy imperative. Recommended responses include professionalising Grade R teachers, providing practical in-service support, increasing access to appropriate storybooks, empowering teachers to assess the development of their learners, and improving financial record-keeping of Grade R expenditure by provincial education departments. The impact evaluation was initiated by the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) and the Department of Basic Education (DBE), and was conducted by independent researchers. The move towards increased evaluation of key government programmes is important for shifting the focus of programme managers and policymakers towards programme outcomes rather than only programme inputs. Yet the process is not without its challenges: following a clear process to ensure the implementation of the lessons learned from such an evaluation is not necessarily straightforward. 

Working Together, Building Capacity - A Case Study of Civil Defence Emergency Management in New Zealand

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 565-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo-Yao Lee ◽  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Exercise Programme ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Psychosocial Effects ◽  
Civil Defence ◽  
The Impact ◽  
New Zealanders

New Zealanders are exposed to multiple natural hazards. The country has experienced major disasters in the past, but recent decades have been relatively uneventful.1This paper reviews the New Zealand approach to civil defence emergency management (CDEM), as introduced by the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002 (the CDEM Act). The approach promotes co-operative planning and sustainable management of hazard risks through the “4Rs” - reduction (of risks), readiness, response and recovery. It recognises the central government’s roles of national coordination, and emphasises the responsibilities of regional CDEM Groups, local government and communities for managing local hazard risks. The paper reviews various initiatives to illustrate that capacity building is a collective effort requiring active involvement across central and local government, nongovernmental agencies, communities and all individuals. New Zealand’s preparedness is examined from several perspectives, including: the level of public preparedness, lessons learned from real emergencies, a national exercise programme, and a monitoring and evaluation programme. The paper concludes that New Zealanders are making progress but difficulties remain in persuading all parties to work towards the vision of a “Resilient New Zealand.” 1. This paper was submitted before the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand (where the second largest city Christchurch is located) on 4 September 2010. Fortunately, no deaths and only a few serious injuries were reported as a result of the earthquake. The impact on buildings, infrastructure and economy, and psychosocial effects are being assessed as the paper is being finalised. However, the event is set to become the most costly disaster so far in New Zealand history. It will also be the most significant real test for many years of New Zealand’s emergency management arrangements, but it is too soon for an assessment in this paper of their effectiveness.

scholarly journals Evaluating the impact of agricultural extension programmes in sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and prospects

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hailemichael Taye
Keyword(s):  
Impact Evaluation ◽  
Agricultural Development ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Evaluation Studies ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Agricultural Extension ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact

Background: In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), impact evaluation has been used to assess whether agricultural extension interventions have brought the intended result or to establish causal linkages between interventions and outcomes. However, there is some scepticism about the validity and reliability of the results of the impact evaluation reports due to some contradictory and exaggerated results.Objectives: This article analyses some impact evaluation studies conducted in SSA as to why contradictions and exaggerations are manifested in some reports and what would be the future prospects of impact evaluation of agricultural extension programmes in the region.Methods: Impact evaluation reports and results of agricultural extension programmes from 10 SSA countries were reviewed and analysed based on impact evaluation principles and theories.Results: The results show that most of the evaluations reported positive impacts. There are also conflicting reports on extension performance. The fact that the overwhelming majority of impact evaluation reports claim positive extension impacts is not in line with the reports on agricultural productivity growth in the region. There are various reasons for over estimated impacts and contradictory results, which include use of poor impact evaluation methodologies, lack of reliable data and insufficient capacity to conduct rigorous impact evaluations.Conclusion: Due to these challenges and the shift in agricultural research and extension approaches, it is recommended that rather than investing effort in trying to prove impact, greater attention should be given to improving impact as well as using other innovative monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and learning tools that consider the dynamic nature of agricultural development.

scholarly journals A methodology for malaria programme impact evaluation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilie Pothin ◽  
Luis Segura ◽  
Katya Galactionova ◽  
Leah Bohle ◽  
Barbara Matthys ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Malaria Control ◽  
Impact Evaluation ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Regular Monitoring ◽  
Efficiency Assessment ◽  
Malaria Programme ◽  
Control Programmes ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Malaria Interventions

This document describes a methodology for continual assessment of the impact of malaria interventions, and the efficiency of the malaria programme. The methodology is designed to be implemented recurrently on a cycle of 2–5 years, with the involvement of stakeholders, including National Malaria Control Programmes, development partners and other organizations active in the programme. Their participation should inform the impact and efficiency assessment, so that it is linked to subsequent decision making defining the nature and scope of malaria control interventions. The methodology is designed in a modular way, providing some flexibility with regard to which elements are implemented at any given time. Some modules require technical capabilities usually not available in a regular monitoring and evaluation (M&E) team, and will require contributions from other national and/or international partners.

scholarly journals A methodology for malaria programme impact evaluation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilie Pothin ◽  
Luis Segura ◽  
Katya Galactionova ◽  
Leah Bohle ◽  
Barbara Matthys ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Malaria Control ◽  
Impact Evaluation ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Regular Monitoring ◽  
Efficiency Assessment ◽  
Malaria Programme ◽  
Control Programmes ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Malaria Interventions

This document describes a methodology for continual assessment of the impact of malaria interventions, and the efficiency of the malaria programme. The methodology is designed to be implemented recurrently on a cycle of 2–5 years, with the involvement of stakeholders, including National Malaria Control Programmes, development partners and other organizations active in the programme. Their participation should inform the impact and efficiency assessment, so that it is linked to subsequent decision making defining the nature and scope of malaria control interventions. The methodology is designed in a modular way, providing some flexibility with regard to which elements are implemented at any given time. Some modules require technical capabilities usually not available in a regular monitoring and evaluation (M&E) team, and will require contributions from other national and/or international partners.

scholarly journals Evaluasi Dampak Pelaksanaan Program Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Industri Kecil dan Menengah di Kabupaten Ponorogo

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Dina Trisiana Iskandar ◽  
Sumartono Sumartono ◽  
Tjahjanulin Domai
Keyword(s):  
Impact Evaluation ◽  
Qualitative Evaluation ◽  
Evaluation Process ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
Management Skills ◽  
New Information ◽  
Implementation Program ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Alternative Solutions

This research is part of thesis that aims to evaluate the impact of the implementation program of development of small and medium industries in Ponorogo Regency, such as the impact of increasing the skills and improving the welfare of SMEs. The method used is descriptive qualitative evaluation. The evaluation results show that the program’s goals include increased skills not optimum. It is evident from the interviews that output of this program to increase the knowledge of SMES. But, because this knowledge is only basic level, where after joining the training, SMEs will find new information and knowledge, so the technical and management skills of SME entrepreneurs not increase properly. However, it should be noted that through the impact evaluation there is improvement of SME’s skills in the product quality. On the other hand, through impact evaluation the welfare improvement is not maximal yet in order to upgrade sales turnover. From the result of this evaluation, the lack of monitoring and evaluation causing the program has not been successful in achieving target. The monitoring and evaluation process are needed to analyze the problems and make some alternative solutions, so the regional development planning can be effective and efficient.Keywords: Impact evaluation, SME development, welfarePenelitian ini merupakan bagian dari tesis yang bertujuan untuk mengevaluasi dampak pelaksanaan program pembinaan dan pengembangan IKM di Kabupaten Ponorogo, berupa dampak peningkatan keterampilan danpeningkatan kesejahteraan IKM. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah evaluasi kualitatif deskriptif. Evaluasi hasil menunjukkan bahwa tujuan program berupa peningkatan keterampilan belum sepenuhnya optimal. Hal ini terlihat dari hasil wawancara bahwa output program ini berwujud terhadap peningkatan pengetahuan pengrajin IKM, yang merupakan tahap permulaan, dimana setelah mengikuti pelatihan menjadikan pengrajin IKM mendapatkan informasi dan pengetahuan baru, dan belum menunjukkan peningkatan keterampilan teknis maupun manajerial. Selanjutnya melalui evaluasi dampak terlihat adanya peningkatan keterampilan IKM berupa perbaikan kualitas dan mutu produk yang dihasilkan. Sedangkan melalui evaluasi dampak peningkatan kesejahteraan masih belum maksimal dalam upaya meningkatkan omzet penjualan. Berdasarkan hasil evaluasi tersebut, minimnya monitoring dan evaluasi menyebabkanprogram belum berhasil optimal dalam mencapai target. Perlunya proses monitoring dan evaluasi tersebut agar dapat dianalisis permasalahan dan menghasilkan alternatif solusi, sehingga perencanaan pembangunan daerah dapat berjalan secara efektif dan efisien.Kata Kunci: evaluasi dampak, pengembangan IKM, kesejahteraan

The Impact Evaluation of the Maryland Break the Cycle Initiative

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adele Harrell ◽  
John Roman ◽  
Avinash Bhati ◽  
Barbara Parthasarathy
Keyword(s):  
Impact Evaluation ◽  
The Impact

The Impact of the Public Expenditure Cuts Policy on the Labor Market in Vietnam

2012 ◽  
pp. 22-46
Author(s):  
Huong Nguyen Thi Lan ◽  
Toan Pham Ngoc
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Computable General Equilibrium ◽  
Impact Evaluation ◽  
Public Expenditure ◽  
Computable General Equilibrium Model ◽  
Living Standard ◽  
Input Output ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Impact

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of public expenditure cuts on employment and income to support policies for the development of the labor mar- ket. Impact evaluation is of interest for policy makers as well as researchers. This paper presents a method – that is based on a Computable General Equilibrium model – to analyse the impact of the public expenditure cuts policy on employment and income in industries and occupations in Vietnam using macro data, the Input output table, 2006, 2008 and the 2010 Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey.

Characteristics of Physician Relocation Following Hurricane Katrina

2009 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-12
Author(s):  
Kusuma Madamala ◽  
Claudia R. Campbell ◽  
Edbert B. Hsu ◽  
Yu-Hsiang Hsieh ◽  
James James
Keyword(s):  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
General Medicine ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Bivariate Analysis ◽  
Fisher Exact Test ◽  
Exact Test ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACT Introduction: On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the Gulf Coast of the United States, resulting in the evacuation of more than 1.5 million people, including nearly 6000 physicians. This article examines the relocation patterns of physicians following the storm, determines the impact that the disaster had on their lives and practices, and identifies lessons learned. Methods: An Internet-based survey was conducted among licensed physicians reporting addresses within Federal Emergency Management Agency-designated disaster zones in Louisiana and Mississippi. Descriptive data analysis was used to describe respondent characteristics. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify the factors associated with physician nonreturn to original practice. For those remaining relocated out of state, bivariate analysis with x2 or Fisher exact test was used to determine factors associated with plans to return to original practice. Results: A total of 312 eligible responses were collected. Among disaster zone respondents, 85.6 percent lived in Louisiana and 14.4 percent resided in Mississippi before the hurricane struck. By spring 2006, 75.6 percent (n = 236) of the respondents had returned to their original homes, whereas 24.4 percent (n = 76) remained displaced. Factors associated with nonreturn to original employment included family or general medicine practice (OR 0.42, 95 percent CI 0.17–1.04; P = .059) and severe or complete damage to the workplace (OR 0.24, 95 percent CI 0.13–0.42; P < .001). Conclusions: A sizeable proportion of physicians remain displaced after Hurricane Katrina, along with a lasting decrease in the number of physicians serving in the areas affected by the disaster. Programs designed to address identified physician needs in the aftermath of the storm may give confidence to displaced physicians to return.

Women’s Education May Be Even Better Than We Thought: Estimating the Gains from Education When Schooling Ain’t Learning

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Kaffenberger ◽  
Lant Pritchett
Keyword(s):  
Child Mortality ◽  
Women's Education ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Life Outcomes ◽  
Primary Schooling ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Financial Practices ◽  
Attenuation Bias

Women’s schooling has long been regarded as one of the best investments in development. Using two different cross-nationally comparable data sets which both contain measures of schooling, assessments of literacy, and life outcomes for more than 50 countries, we show the association of women’s education (defined as schooling and the acquisition of literacy) with four life outcomes (fertility, child mortality, empowerment, and financial practices) is much larger than the standard estimates of the gains from schooling alone. First, estimates of the association of outcomes with schooling alone cannot distinguish between the association of outcomes with schooling that actually produces increased learning and schooling that does not. Second, typical estimates do not address attenuation bias from measurement error. Using the new data on literacy to partially address these deficiencies, we find that the associations of women’s basic education (completing primary schooling and attaining literacy) with child mortality, fertility, women’s empowerment and the associations of men’s and women’s basic education with positive financial practices are three to five times larger than standard estimates. For instance, our country aggregated OLS estimate of the association of women’s empowerment with primary schooling versus no schooling is 0.15 of a standard deviation of the index, but the estimated association for women with primary schooling and literacy, using IV to correct for attenuation bias, is 0.68, 4.6 times bigger. Our findings raise two conceptual points. First, if the causal pathway through which schooling affects life outcomes is, even partially, through learning then estimates of the impact of schooling will underestimate the impact of education. Second, decisions about how to invest to improve life outcomes necessarily depend on estimates of the relative impacts and relative costs of schooling (e.g., grade completion) versus learning (e.g., literacy) on life outcomes. Our results do share the limitation of all previous observational results that the associations cannot be given causal interpretation and much more work will be needed to be able to make reliable claims about causal pathways.

Optimizing electronic capture of patient-reported outcome measures in oncology clinical trials: lessons learned from a qualitative study

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (17) ◽  
pp. 1195-1204
Author(s):  
Florence D Mowlem ◽  
Brad Sanderson ◽  
Jill V Platko ◽  
Bill Byrom
Keyword(s):  
Patient Reported Outcome Measures ◽  
Patient Reported Outcome ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Patient Reported ◽  
Oncology Clinical Trials ◽  
Anticancer Treatment ◽  
Fit For Purpose ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Electronic Implementation

Aim: To understand the impact of anticancer treatment on oncology patients’ ability to use electronic solutions for completing patient-reported outcomes (ePRO). Materials & methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven individuals who had experienced a cancer diagnosis and treatment. Results: Participants reported that the following would impact the ability to interact with an ePRO solution: peripheral neuropathy of the hands (4/7), fatigue and/or concentration and memory issues (6/7), where they are in a treatment cycle (5/7). Approaches to improve usability included: larger, well-spaced buttons to deal with finger numbness, the ability to pause a survey and complete at a later point and presenting the recall period with every question to reduce reliance on memory. Conclusion: Symptoms associated with cancers and anticancer treatments can impact the use of technologies. The recommendations for optimizing the electronic implementation of patient-reported outcome instruments in this population provides the potential to improve data quality in oncology trials and places patient needs at the forefront to ensure ‘fit-for-purpose’ solutions.

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