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Session Title: Reflections From Applying a Complexity Lens to Monitoring and Evaluation
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Panel Session 319 to be held in REPUBLIC A on Thursday, Nov 11, 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): |
| Tricia Wind, International Development Research Centre, twind@idrc.ca
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| Abstract:
This panel will share reflections and questions emerging from a collaborative study among four action research projects that are experimenting with applying systems and complexity thinking to their monitoring and evaluation systems. The panel will present both broad themes as well as some practical experience of the projects in modifying their M&E strategies. The panel will include an overview to the study from the International Research Centre. It will highlight reflections from one of the participating projects, whose research seeks to understand the working, environmental and health conditions of informal sector solid waste workers and their families in Peru. The panel will conclude with reflections from the evaluation consultant who has been working with the Peruvian project to identify the project’s outcomes and evaluate the significance of those outcomes.
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The Challenges of Monitoring and Evaluating Development Research in Complex Systems
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| Tricia Wind, International Development Research Centre, twind@idrc.ca
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This presentation will introduce the collaborative study, and some of the broad themes and questions arising across the four participating action research projects. It will review different tools the projects used to enrich their M&E through the study, and some reflections on the use of those tools. This presentation will also connect this study to other ways in which IDRC’s Evaluation Unit has applied complexity thinking to its evaluation work.
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The Specific Systemic and Complexity Challenges for the Consortio por la Salud, Ambiente y Desarrollo (ECOSAD) Action Research Project
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| José Valle, Consorcio por la Salud, Ambiente y Desarrollo, ECOSAD, jvalle2@yahoo.com
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| Ruth Arroyo, Consorcio por la Salud, Ambiente y Desarrollo (ECOSAD), arroyo.ruthy@gmail.com
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| Anita Lujan, Consorcio por la Salud, Ambiente y Desarrollo (ECOSAD), lujan.anita@gmail.com
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| Walter Varillas, Consorcio por la Salud, Ambiente y Desarrollo, ECOSAD, wvarillas@gmail.com
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| Magaly Oviedo, Consorcio por la Salud, Ambiente y Desarrollo (ECOSAD),
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| Karim Castro, Consorcio por la Salud, Ambiente y Desarrollo (ECOSAD),
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The aim of the study is to identify, monitor and document outcomes, of processes of change in the behavior of recycling workers in an implemented project of research-participation, with Ecohealth approach, located on the Left Bank of the Rímac River. We developed a results-oriented monitoring system to analyze the complexity of the recycling process and its impact on the health of workers and their families, gathering information and developing collaborative learning between researchers and workers. We were able to recognize risk factors and components of community participation. We improved the bargaining skills of organizations, and openness to dialogue between workers and authorities. In conclusion, the activities of M & E from a systemic perspective and complexity of outcomes can guide research and identify flaws in the responses to challenges and explore new fields of observation of social-ecological changes.
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The Strengths and Weaknesses of the Monitoring System Adapted by ECOSAD to Meet the Special Challenges it Faces
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| Ricardo Wilson-Grau, Ricardo Wilson-Grau Consulting, ricardo.wilson-grau@inter.nl.net
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We will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of a monitoring (M & E) system that purposely does not attempt to track all activities and outputs of the research project. Instead, it identifies and documents the outcomes, understood as the principal changes in the behaviour, relationships, actions, policies or practices of the three principal social actors – the garbage recycling families, the policy makers and the ECOSAD research team – that emerge in the process of the action-research. In addition, the M&E system identifies the significance of those changes for the health of the garbage recyclers and for the environment and urban development and establishes how the ECOSAD project contributed to them. The outcomes are interpreted from three angles: their interrelationships, the varying perspectives on those relationships, and the boundaries of it all. Then, decisions are made for improving or modifying the research design.
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