How do we Evaluate Programmes?
In-itinere evaluation (also called Formative Evaluation or or Monitoring Review)
If the project duration is longer than one year, it is useful for the project manager to conduct an in-itinere evaluation, often called formative evaluation or monitoring review, of the project along with the team and also with clients/beneficiaries. This evaluation exercise constitutes a moment of reflection with the team and with the beneficiaries around project efficiency and effectiveness- whether you have achieved expected results, whether the activities have been cost efficient, whether the team had sufficient capacity to implement the project- and helps you to take corrective measures, if required.
The in-itinere evaluation is conducted by the Project Manager, supported by the Monitoring and Evaluation person and others responsible for supporting programme quality (like the programme development coordinator, programme quality advisor, technical experts). During this evaluation, the programme team analyses information collected by monitoring activities, discusses the logic model of the programme, identifies what worked well and what didn’t, what changes occurred, shares team learning and decides together on corrective measures to be taken.
The project in-itinere evaluation is usually conducted, at the end of each project year, by a team comprising the project manager, programme manager, Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator and field/partner staff. After the monitoring information is reviewed along with implementing teams, it is good practice to share the information with target beneficiaries through focus groups discussions.
Learning emerging from these evaluations and from baseline surveys are fed into the annual Country Learning Review. Partners and people we work with are invited to take part in order to analyse lessons learned and make joint decisions about the future direction and delivery of programmes. While Monitoring reviews are done at a project level and then at a programme level, Country Learning Reviews are conducted at programme level.
see a Sample In-itinere (Monitoring Review) Report for an Oxfam project in Afghanistan