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Session Title: Evaluating United States Foreign Assistance
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Panel Session 390 to be held in Sebastian Section L1 on Thursday, Nov 12, 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM
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Sponsored by the International and Cross-cultural Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Cynthia Clapp-Wincek, Independent Consultant, ccwincek@aol.com
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| Discussant(s):
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| Gerald Britan, United States Agency for International Development, gbritan@usaid.gov
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| Abstract:
Over the last decade much attention has been focused on changes to U.S. foreign assistance, and as of late, different recommendations for how it should be delivered under the Obama Administration. In some form, all proposals identified the need to be "smart" and have strengthened monitoring and evaluation functions.
USAID commissioned MSI to study the intersection of the changes in US foreign aid and the trends in development evaluation theory and practice and to recommend how evaluation of U.S. foreign assistance programs could be strengthened. Richard Blue, Cynthia Clapp-Wincek and Holly Benner undertook an independent study capturing the views and experiences of external evaluators of U.S. foreign assistance efforts. The authors of these studies will discuss what policies, practices and organizational structure would best assure learning and knowledge sharing to maximize the effectiveness and impact of US Government foreign assistance programs. What are the pros and cons for greater or lesser independence for USG foreign assistance evaluation offices? What are the best approaches to assuring quality, minimum standards, and sufficient rigor across the agencies, as well as broader learning relevant to program and policy decision making.
The panel will begin with a presentation by MSI authors Keith Brown, Molly Hageboeck and Jill Tirnauer discussing the recommendations from their two studies and what trends in US foreign assistance and development evaluation theory and practice led them to those recommendations. Although the MSI studies were focused on recommendations for the USAID evaluation system, this panel is an opportunity to discuss how those trends might inform USG evaluation more broadly. Richard Blue, Cynthia Clapp-Wincek and Holly Benner will discuss recommendations based on the external view of monitoring and evaluation of USG foreign assistance as seen by practitioners such as themselves. Gerald Britan, Acting Chief of USAID's central evaluation unit, will discuss the implications of these studies for evaluations at USAID and the beyond.
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Changes in US Government Foreign Assistance and Their Implications for Evaluation
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| Keith Brown, Management Systems International, kbrown@msi-inc.com
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| Jill Tirnauer, Management Systems International, jtirnauer@msi-inc.com
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The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was at the forefront of evaluation thought among the bilateral and international donors in the 1970s and 1980s. Although USAID missions worldwide undertook project-level evaluation, USAID's Center for Development Information and Evaluation was responsible for establishing evaluation policy, undertaking cross-sectoral evaluations and studies of special interest, and managing contracting vehicles. During the later years of the Bush Administration, USAID's evaluation system languished and the central office was eventually dismantled in 2007. USAID has recently recreated an evaluation function and this was commissioned to inform the development of that function.
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Trends in Development Evaluation Theory, Policy and Practices to Inform United States Government Foreign Assistance Evaluation
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| Molly Hageboeck, Management Systems International, mhageboeck@msi-inc.com
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The theory and practice of development evaluation has evolved over the past several years, with a growing emphasis on impact evaluation, methodological rigor and experimentation, as well as the creation of several new international evaluation forums and institutions. How do these trends inform the reinvigoration of USAID's evaluation system and what might that mean for US Government foreign assistance more broadly?
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The External View of United States Government Foreign Assistance Evaluation
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| Cynthia Clapp-Wincek, Independent Consultant, ccwincek@aol.com
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| Holly Benner, Independent Consultant, hwbenner@yahoo.com
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Richard Blue, Cynthia Clapp-Wincek and Holly Benner presented an independent, unfunded view of US Government monitoring and evaluation of foreign assistance in "Beyond Foreign Assistance: Monitoring and evaluation for Foreign Assistance Results". Much of this study included the responses to a survey of independent US Government evaluators on a number of issues associated with the present status of monitoring and evaluation efforts as practiced in the principal U.S. agencies that provide foreign assistance: USAID, MCC, and the Department of State. The perspective presented is the view from a set of 'external evaluators'', individuals who conduct evaluations of U.S. foreign assistance programs, either as part of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), consulting firms, or as individual consultants.
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Proposal for a Center for Monitoring and Evaluation of USG Foreign Assistance
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| Richard Blue, Independent Consultant, richardblue@earthlink.net
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Richard Blue will present a proposal for an independent Center for Monitoring and Evaluation (CME) that should be established to provide leadership and comparative monitoring, evaluation and reporting of the results of foreign assistance programs across the US Government. The center should strengthen monitoring and evaluation capacity across all foreign assistance agencies supporting each agency's M&E functions with greater consistency in policies and standards.
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