Description | Syllabi

This course deals with evaluation as it is currently practiced and used in many international development organizations/NGOs. Many of those practices and uses tend to be qualitative. It also starts from the premise that evaluation is, among other things, a tool designed to improve performance. It therefore needs to be scrutinized and evaluated itself in terms of the uses made of it. Consequently the course takes a primarily qualitative approach to evaluation and how to evaluate the effectiveness of evaluation.

By the end of the course successful students should be able to:
1. Prepare an evaluation to be carried out by an international development organization including identifying when and why one is needed, preparing a terms of reference including a report outline; identifying skill needs for evaluators and a plan for implementing and following up of the evaluation.
2. Describe the different issues or problems in designing and developing an evaluation including deciding when one would be cost effective and when not; also the criteria for developing an evaluation plan for an organization.
3. Define which form of evaluation is most appropriate for a given problem whether it be one of policy, strategy, program or project.

Prerequisites:CORE-GP.1022 or URPL-GP.2660