The World Bank Independent Evaluation Group has recently published a study on How to Build M&E Systems to Support Better Government.  The author of the study is Keith Mackay, and the book is divided six chapters covering a wide variety of topics:

• monitoring and evaluation for governments (M & E concepts, methods, strategies, and plans);
• monitoring and evaluation country experiences and good practices (Chile, Colombia, Australia, and the special case of Africa);
• lessons learned from experience on building M&E systems, as well as ways to persuade governments to set up M&E Systems;
• ways to strengthen a government’s M&E system and ways to set up action plans;
  commonly asked questions and lessons on how to ensure evaluations are influential. Read the rest of this entry »

Following are some recommendations I usually make to organizations in order to improve their evaluation process. I have structured them in a prioritized order.

• Make the evaluation process more participatory. This would imply the involvement of the stakeholders and interested parties in all phases of the evaluation:

• design – the staff holds critical information about the program evolution, so it is important to organize brainstorming sessions in all offices (i.e. during a staff meeting) to determine the issues which should be included in the evaluations, the tools which would work best for their sites as well as indicators which could be measured;
• gathering and analyzing data – with a more clear understanding of the goals and uses of the evaluation, as well as a sense of belonging, the stakeholders could better explain these to the participants, and thus gather more accurate information;
• concluding and making recommendations – a final brainstorming should take place after the data is analyzed, so as to involve staff members and other stakeholders in elaborating recommendations for the program, as well as drawing conclusions on the future of the program.

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This is a review of the multimedia training course on Key Skills in Project Management Fundamentals (FMF), the equivalent of 2 days classroom based training. This is a subjective review based on my personal understanding of the outlined concepts.

I was very impressed with the content of the course, covering all the basic principles of project management, such as Product Based Planning, Activity Based Planning, Scheduling, Resource Management, Monitoring and Control Risk Analysis, Quality Control, etc. Even the most complex topics are presented in a basic way, so that beginners and experienced managers can easily get a grasp of the concepts. Read the rest of this entry »

Many managers these days are conducting capacity assessments for their organizations. Such an analysis is a great organizational development resource. In addition, capacity assessment tools can be used by any individual to analyze their life mission, to strategically plan for the future, and manage the daily activities. Read the rest of this entry »

From my experience in working with several nonprofit organizations both in the US and abroad, as well as from research, I have come to conclude that competition among nonprofit organizations can be positive, and can be ethical.

Positive, because competition in the nonprofit field generally produces increased quantity of products, improved services, and better management. Read the rest of this entry »