PREVAL Bulletin Nº9 on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PM&E) / August – September 2007

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PRESENTATION

An Image–Based Monitoring and Evaluation approach uses the audio-visual language to provide evidence of change in a development intervention. Within the framework of a results-based M&E system, this change can be recorded and communicated by such means as videos, photographs, geo-referential information systems, maps and talking models, as well as infographs.

This newsletter features a special article on “Image-Based Monitoring and Evaluation: Learning Tools for Rural Development,” based on a recent publication by PREVAL and the Southern Highlands Project (Peru). It discusses conceptual and methodological issues relating to the use of images in the project cycle, and includes tools, practical guidelines and selected literature in Spanish on the use of communication means for adult learning

This number of PREVAL’s electronic newsletter also includes its usual sections, “PREVAL in Action,” “Communities and Networks,” “Courses and Events on M&E,” and “Job Opportunities.”

Best regards,

Emma Rotondo
PREVAL Coordinator
www.preval.org
preval@desco.org.pe

“Networking to build stronger M&E capacity”

If you do not wish to continue receiving PREVAL’s e-newsletter, please contact: preval4@desco.org.pe indicating, “Do not subscribe e-newsletter".
 
PREVAL IN ACTION

BUILDING CAPACITY ON RIMS IMPACT SURVEY
During the previous months, PREVAL has provided online technical assistance to IFAD co-funded projects regarding implementation of the Results and Impact Management survey. The survey measures two impact indicators: the household assets index and malnutrition in children under five years of age, as well as an effect indicator linked to food security. PREVAL’s advice includes providing training materials to technical and field teams, supporting the development of job descriptions for the recruitment of consultants, identifying specialist consultants, and providing advice for the data gathering, processing and analysis phase. Nine projects in the region have been implementing the RIMS survey so far. One – CONAFOR in Mexico – is in the process of analysing the data collected; four are collecting field data and/or acquiring anthropometric equipment to implement the survey (PRONADEL in Honduras, NGABE and BUGLE in Panama, PNM in Mexico, and CIARA / BARLOVENTO PRODUCTION CHAINS in Venezuela); and finally, four are still undergoing the initial phase, i.e., developing terms of reference, identifying consultants and/or developing a work plan: PREMODER in El Salvador, PAIP / FAES in Haiti, PROSALAFA II in Venezuela, and PRODECAR in Brazil.
 
SEMINAR ON “BUILDING CAPACITY IN DECENTRALISED M&E SYSTEMS IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN”
PREVAL’s Programme and IFAD’s Latin America and the Caribbean Division jointly hosted a Seminar on 19 - 20 June in Lima, Peru. The event was attended by some 25 practitioners, including IFAD project managers, consultants and PREVAL’s strategic partners. The purpose of the event was to discuss the most relevant findings of a recently conducted external assessment of PREVAL, and collect participants’ feedback on PREVAL’s assets, challenges and sustainability for the coming years. The study highlighted that the network’s main assets include the creation of a knowledge and information data base on M&E-related topics, the drafting of methodological proposals for the development of M&E systems tailored to the needs of different stakeholders, and the building of M&E capacity (among consultants, and project and government officials), all of which makes up a supply of M&E services. For further information, go to preval@desco.org.pe

RAPID ASSESSMENT OF M&E SYSTEMS IN LAC
At the beginning of PREVAL’s Phase 3 in 2004, a “Survey on Technical Assistance and Training Needs” was conducted and provided an understanding of the situation of those monitoring and evaluation systems that had received technical assistance and training from PREVAL. Upon completion of Phase 3, PREVAL has now conducted a new assessment to determine to what extent the above systems have become institutionalised, by sending out a new survey to the 15 participant projects that were initially consulted. The report is now completed and provides a comparison of progress made in 2004 – 2007 against the findings of the first survey.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS
PREVAL has as one of its main components the creation of knowledge and the dissemination of best practice in M&E for rural development. Following is a list of PREVAL’s most recent publications and their individual links within the “Virtual Library – Publications” section on the PREVAL web site www.preval.org 

  • “Los Estudios de Base: Fundamentos de una gestión por resultados” [Baseline Studies: Foundations of Results-Based Management]. Rodríguez Sosa, Jorge; Rotondo, Emma; and Vela, Gloria. PREVAL/IFAD. First edition, June 2007. To access the publication go to: http://www.preval.org/cdroms/estudiosdebase/
  • “El Seguimiento y la Evaluación por Imágenes. Herramientas para el Aprendizaje en Desarrollo Rural” [Image-Based Monitoring and Evaluation. Learning Tools for Rural Development]. Gutiérrez, Carlos, and Rotondo, Emma. PREVAL/IFAD and Southern Highlands Project (Peru). First edition, July 2007. To access the publication go to: http://www.preval.org/documentos/2244.pdf
  • “Sistematización de experiencias locales de Desarrollo Rural. Guía metodológica revisada y aumentada [Systematisation of Local Rural Development Experiences: Revised and augmented methodological guidelines]. Berdegué, Julio; Escobar, Germán; and Ocampo, Ada. FIDAMERICA and PREVAL. May 2007. To access this publication go to: http://www.preval.org/documentos/2245.doc 
     

The following materials will also be published in Spanish shortly:

  • CD on “Building Capacity in M&E: Guidelines, literature and useful links”
  • Working Paper 3, “Capacity Building in M&E in Latin America. Good Practice and Lessons Learned” (temporary title)
  • “Rapid Assessment Report on the Institutionalisation of M&E Systems for the Struggle against Rural Poverty”

PUBLIC SERVICES PROVIDED BY PREVAL
NOTES ON PROGRAMMES, COMMUNITIES AND NETWORKS

ALLIANCE FOR ANDEAN CHANGE PROJECT - CIP-CIAT/CGIAR
This partnership between the International Potato Center, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (part of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CIP-CIAT/CGIAR) encourages South-South learning on the use of participatory approaches, their impacts and the policies required to gear innovation towards benefiting the poor. One of the project’s components is an Impact Assessment on the use of participatory methods in technological and organisational innovation initiatives, which is managed by the International Potato Center (CIP). The assessment focuses on collecting evidence on how much and to what extent participatory methods have contributed to the achievement of significant impacts or results in poor farmers’ sustainable livelihoods. The findings of the assessment will be targeted at two primary audiences: (i) the Alliance for Andean Change project, that will draw upon the findings to develop a case for advocacy vis-a-vis national innovation systems and other relevant actors; and ii) participating organisations and communities, who will do the same within the framework of their own local strategies and agenda.

SECOND RELAC CONFERENCE
From 17 to 21 July 2007 a Second ReLAC Conference, entitled “Contributions of Monitoring and Evaluation to Good Governance and Democracy,” was held in Bogota, Colombia, and attended by some 170 practitioners from 22 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Spain and North America. A number of training workshops were held from 17 to 18 July, whereas the conference as such was held from 19 to 21 July, including master conferences by outstanding professionals specialising in evaluation issues, and several presentations by panel members on a range of evaluation-related topics.
For more information on the conference, go to ReLAC’s website at http://www.relacweb.org/
  
EVALPERU’s NEWSLETTER
The Peruvian Monitoring and Evaluation Network (EvalPeru) has prepared and published its Newsletter No. 4, KALLPACHAQ (“he who strengthens”), which contains thinking on the subject of monitoring and evaluation as well as other relevant information. A note is included on “Evidence-Based Management and Evaluation of Public Projects,” by Aníbal Velasquez, a briefing note on the International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation (IOCE), in-house news on network members, and a summary of the first session for sharing experience, conducted on 3 May 2007.
To see the complete Newsletter, go to: http://www.preval.org/documentos/bolet4.pdf

INTERNATIONAL KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT 
In March 2007 an International Knowledge Management Fair was held in Lima, Peru, jointly hosted by the Regional Learning Programme (PAR), the Impact Alliance (IA), and the UK Department for International Development (DFID). The event was managed by PACT and attended by representatives of 24 partner and guest organisations. Its aim was to share successful experiences, knowledge, strategies and approaches in Knowledge Management and Learning Networks, with a focus on processes, methods, architectures (approaches) and technologies used to facilitate networking.

The proceedings of the International Knowledge Management Fair – Learning Networks are available on
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/mdg/rc/ItemDetail.do?itemId=1109541

ASOCAM PUBLICATIONS
The ASOCAM platform and members are making available to impact measurement experts in the region and the public at large a number of publications on the issue, which are available in ASOCAM’s Virtual Library: www.asocam.org

The following publications on impact monitoring and assessment (in Spanish) should be highlighted:

1. Hipótesis de Impacto Campesinas [Rural Impact Hypothesis] (ATICA - Intercooperation)
http://www.asocam.org/biblioteca/B0002_completo.doc

2. Valoración Participativa de Impacto de Proyectos Productivos con Manejo de Recursos Naturales [Participatory Impact Assessment of Productive Natural Resource Management Projects] (ATICA - Intercooperation, Bolivia)
http://www.asocam.org/index.shtml?apc=Be--x-Valoracion%20Participativa%20de%20Impacto%20de%20Proyectos%20Productivos%20con%20Manejo%20de%20Recursos%20Naturales-x1-&x=8273

3. Una propuesta metodológica para la Planificación, Monitoreo y Evaluación Participativa [A Methodological Proposal for Participatory Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation] (Fundación AGRECOL Andes, Bolivia)
http://www.asocam.org/index.shtml?apc=Be--x-una%20propuesta%20metodologica-x1-&x=8354

4. Evaluación Participativa por Productores - EPP. Guía Metodológica para la evaluación del efecto e impacto del desarrollo tecnológico [Participatory Evaluation for Producers  - PEP. A Methodological Guide to Evaluation of the Effect and Impact of Technological Development] (PASOLAC, Central America)
http://www.asocam.org/index.shtml?apc=Lb--x-epp-x1-&x=6640

5. Monitoreo y Valoración de Acciones Orientadas al Impacto. Guía Metodológica [Monitoring and Assessment of Impact – Oriented Action. A Methodological Guide]
http://www.asocam.org/index.shtml?apc=Lb--x5810epp-x-5810&x=5719

6. Informe del Estudio Regional "Evaluación de Impacto en Cinco Casos" [Report on the Regional Research, “Impact Evaluation of Five Cases”]
http://www.asocam.org/index.shtml?apc=Lb--x5810epp-x-5810&x=5700
 
SPECIAL FEATURE ON "IMAGE-BASED M&E"

The feature article in this number deals with image-based monitoring and evaluation. The first part of this section therefore lists a number of links of interest leading to resources on the subject, whereas the second part includes links leading to relevant literature in Spanish and English.
Links of interest

Useful Links

Insight
Insight is a UK/France based organisation pioneering the use of Participatory Video as a tool for empowering individuals and communities. For further information, go to
www.insightshare.org

Capacity.org
Capacity.org is a journal and a web-based portal targeted at practitioners and policy-makers working in capacity building (CB) in international cooperation with countries in the South. This web site is also accompanied by a hard copy journal and an electronic newsletter published on a quarterly basis in Spanish, French and English.
Capacity.org has launched publications on image-based monitoring and evaluation-related topics.
http://www.capacity.org/en/content/view/full/108/(issue)/5769

Pontifical Catholic University of Chile – School of Communication
An academic institution running a number of face to face and remote courses on, amongst other things, Strategic Communication, Digital Photography infographs, etc., which are all subjects that feed into image-based monitoring and evaluation. For more information, go to http://www.puc.cl/curso_dist/infograf/indexIG.html

Razón y Palabra
An electronic journal focused on communications. It includes articles on recent thinking on the importance of visual discourse.
http://www.razonypalabra.org.mx/anteriores/n36/tkaram.html

Selected Publications

Spanish

EL SEGUIMIENTO Y EVALUACIÓN POR IMÁGENES: HERRAMIENTA PARA EL APRENDIZAJE EN DESARROLLO RURAL [Image-Based Monitoring and Evaluation: A Tool for Rural Development Learning]
PREVAL/IFAD and Southern Highlands Project/FONCODES, Working Paper Series No. 2. First edition: July 2007 (Code: 2244) http://www.preval.org/documentos/2244.pdf

RELATOS DE SEGUIMIENTO Y EVALUACIÓN [Tales of Monitoring and Evaluation] Haudry de Soucy, Roberto. IFAD and PREVAL, November 2001.
http://www.preval.org/documentos/2254.pdf

EL VIDEO PARTICIPATIVO COMO HERRAMIENTA DE DOCUMENTACION [Participatory Video as a Documentation Tool]
Lunch, Chris.
http://www.preval.org/documentos/2253.pdf

LA RECEPCIÓN CRÍTICA DEL MENSAJE VISUAL [The Critical Reception of Visual Messages]
Raymond Colle, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Santiago de Chile, 1998.
http://www.puc.cl/curso_dist/infograf/recepcion/index.html

APUNTES DE INFOGRAFIA PERIODISTICA [Notes on Journalistic Infographs]
Raymond Colle, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Santiago de Chile, 1993.
http://www.puc.cl/curso_dist/infograf/indexIG.html 

INFORMACIÓN PERIODÍSTICA VISUAL: LAS GRANDES REDES MUNDIALES DE DISTRIBUCIÓN DE INFOGRÁFICOS [Journalistic Visual Information: The Top Global Infographic Distribution Networks]
Peltzer, G., and Sanchez, J.F. Cuadernos de Información No. 7, Santiago, 1991.
http://www.preval.org/documentos/2246.pdf
 
English

PARTICIPATORY VIDEO FOR MONITORING AND EVALUATION
Chris Lunch. Insight, Oxford, UK
http://www.preval.org/documentos/2248.pdf

PARTICIPATORY VIDEO AS A DOCUMENTATION TOOL
C. Lunch. LEISA Magazine, 22(1), 2006.
http://www.preval.org/documentos/2249.pdf

CASE STUDY: PARTICIPATORY VIDEO IN THE POLICY MAKING PROCESS: THE KEEWAYTINOOK-OKIMAKANAK
G. Ferreira, Pelican. University of Guelph, Canada.
http://www.preval.org/documentos/2250.pdf
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