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Session Title: Degrees of Separation: Monitoring and Evaluation in Conflict Zones
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Panel Session 320 to be held in Wekiwa 4 on Thursday, Nov 12, 1:40 PM to 3:10 PM
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Sponsored by the International and Cross-cultural Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Alice Willard, International Relief & Development, awillard@ird-dc.org
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| Abstract:
M&E in conflict zones has developed a number of "good enough" practices designed to balance data reliability with the safety of both the beneficiaries and the project M&E staff. This type of remote-controlled M&E means that there are fewer external actors implicated with data collection, and that the basic tools of monitoring need additional reinforcement to assure data quality. Remote-controlled M&E means that the methods and safety of the M&E team exist in an uneasy equivalence--methods with the highest validity and reliability are simply impossible when the safety of both the respondents and the staff cannot be guaranteed. The following three panelists provide varying solutions to this difficult balancing act, where the best method is frequently the one that has the most physical distance between the project management and the community; and where the most reliable information is from triangulating proxies.
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International Relief and Development (IRD) Community Stabilization Program (CSP) and Community Action Program (CAP) in Iraq: Critical Role of Building National Staff
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| Mamadou Sidibe, International Relief & Development, msidibe@ird-iq.org
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These IRD Iraq programs approach M&E in different ways. In part, this is due to the scale and organizing paradigm of these two large-scale projects, and due to the different environment of operating in Iraq from 2004-2009 (pre and post-surge). Both projects are national in scope. The CSP's activities tend to cluster near urban areas and focus on small-medium enterprise renewal. CAP, by contrast focuses on improving the capacities of smaller communities to begin to affect the enabling environment of civil society. Both projects include a small M&E team of trained staff that report to the head of the project, with staff posted in an uneven ratio to monitor the progress of community mobilizers. This paper examines the different mechanisms in place to monitor progress, and the particular dynamics between the M&E staff and the mobilizers, and the role of an external contractor in supervising M&E for all implementing partners.
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International Relief and Development (IRD) Strategic Provincial Roads-Southern and Eastern Afghanistan (SPR-SEA) and Afghanistan Vouchers For Increased Production In Agriculture (AVIPA) Projects in Afghanistan: Critical Role of Training and Working With the Community
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| Alice Willard, International Relief & Development, awillard@ird-dc.org
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IRD currently operates two major projects in Afghanistan: 1) road building and 2) relief seed distribution. As with the IRD Iraq portfolio, these projects include a core of trained M&E staff who report directly to the project on community outreach. These programs are distinguished from the Iraq programs by the role of the technical field staff in data collection and extensive involvement of both the M&E and technical staff in relief distribution and construction. The communities' involvement is critical to both. How the M&E teams manage the data collection varies not only by virtue of the types of information required by the donor, but also the community footprint. The challenge with both is to ensure that the information is reliable no matter the timing, and how to engage community participation without a consistent local presence. This presentation focuses on the patterns for safety and reliability given variable presence and access.
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Africare's Longitudinal Food Security Programming in Niger and Chad: Critical Importance of Building Flexible Systems
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| Delia McMillan Wilson, Independent Consultant, dellamcmillan@aol.com
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Africare has been implementing food security and health programs in Chad for 25 years and Niger for the last 39 years. During which, the state of Chad and Niger has varied with both international and regional unrest, making their M&E systems necessarily flexible to keep pace with the variable access to the communities they serve. In some cases this has meant finding ways that community-based volunteers and staff could collect the M&E data and report. Africare has integrated many of its data collection efforts into its model for community capacity building which includes a variety of community self-assessment and planning tools. This presentation focuses on various factors that contributed to and detracted from the utility of these tools in sustaining the project's M&E activities during periods of access and non-access to the project sites. The presentation will also highlight the critical importance of developing longstanding relationship with beneficiaries.
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