Finding the common thread: The charms and challenges of evaluation for a consortium-run international development program
| Author | Tricia Keys,Kathryn Dinh,Naomi Thomson |
| DOI | 10.1177/1035719X1501500202 |
| Published date | 01 June 2015 |
| Date | 01 June 2015 |
| Subject Matter | Refereed Article |
4Evaluation Journal of Australasia Vol 15 | No 2 | 2015
REFEREED ARTICLE Evaluation Journal of Australasia Vol 15 | No 2 | 2015 | pp. 4–11
KATHRYN DINH | TRICIA KEYS | NAOMI THOMSON
Finding the common thread
The charms and challenges of evaluation for a
consortium-run international development program
This article explores the opportunities and challenges in designing and implementing a
monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework for a consortium-run, multi-country international
development program.
The East Asia Vision Program (EAVP), a three-year program of the Vision 2020 Australia Global
Consortium, aims to improve capacity in the delivery of eye health and vision care services in
Vietnam, Cambodia, and Timor-Leste. Funded by the Australian Government, the EAVP began
in 2013 and consists of ve Australian organisations working with government and other
stakeholders in each country.
The Consortium members have been working in collaboration to support national government
planning, health professional training, patient treatment, and research capacity through
monitoring and evaluation. An M&E Reference Group helped with initial drafts of an M&E
framework. Australian and in-country sta were then consulted to ensure availability of data and
understanding of the Framework. Early drafts of data entered into the framework were shared
between the participating organisations and the evaluator in order to detect errors and share
good practice examples using online program management software.
Monitoring the program provided an opportunity for Consortium members to improve program
implementation and strengthen their capacity for M&E, by sharing examples of evaluation tools
and expertise in the monitoring of cross-cutting issues and data collection.
The combined work of the organisations within each country provided a rich dataset of
outcomes at a health systems strengthening level. Challenges faced during the evaluation
included: aligning the evaluation systems of all organisations (including data that were feasible to
collect); monitoring a large range of activities; and developing an evaluation tool that was usable
by a diverse range of sta.
This article reports the perspectives of the M&E Advisor for EAVP and those of a program
implementer to share learnings regarding the M&E for a consortium-run program. Consortia are
used globally to implement international development programs and they present a unique
challenge for evaluators. These consortia also provide the opportunity to build the monitoring
and evaluation capacity of participating organisations, leading to improved data quality and
better-informed program implementation.
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