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Session Title: New Frontiers in International Development Evaluation: Key Challenges and Lessons Learned in Evaluating Online Communities of Practice (CoP)
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Panel Session 811 to be held in Conference Room 13 on Saturday, Nov 5, 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM
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Sponsored by the International and Cross-cultural Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Michele Tarsilla, Western Michigan University, michele_tarsilla@yahoo.com
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| Abstract:
Policy-makers in developing countries are increasingly confronted with a host of unprecedented political, social, economic and environmental challenges. In response to such scenario, a need for better strategic planning as well as results-focused and evidence-informed management has emerged quite vigorously, both within national governments and civil society.
To this end, international donors have sponsored a number of online capacity-building initiatives aimed at enhancing countries' ownership and south-south cooperation in two key areas: Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) and Management for Development Results (MfDR). The International Program in Development for Evaluation Training List-Serv (IPDET), the My Monitoring and Evaluation Knowledge Management Platform (MYM&E) and the African Community of Practice on Managing for Development Results (AfCoP) offer some good examples.
As no systematic evaluation of such initiatives has been conducted to this date, panelists will share some tools and methods as well as an innovative framework to evaluate online Communities of Practice.
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Evaluating the Effects of the African Community of Practice on Management for Development Results (AfCoP-MfDR): Key Issues and Findings
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| Michele Tarsilla, Western MIchigan University, michele_tarsilla@yahoo.com
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African policy-makers are being confronted with a host of unprecedented social, economic and environmental challenges today. In response to the current scenario, donors and civil society across the continent are increasingly calling for the mainstreaming of results-oriented and evidence-informed practices in national strategic planning and management processes. To this end, donors have sponsored a number of international online capacity building initiatives fostering country ownership and enhancing south-south cooperation in the areas of Management for Development Results (MfDR) and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E). The African Community of Practice on Managing for Development Results (AfCoP-MfDR), established in 2007, is a good illustration of that. Michele Tarsilla, an Evaluation and Strategic Planning Specialist based in Africa, will discuss the key methods and tools used during the AfCoP-MfDR retrospective evaluation and will share with the audience an innovative framework to evaluate the impact of online Community of Practices (CoPs) in international development contexts.
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Evaluating the Effects of IPDET's Listserv as a Community of Practice: Issues and Findings
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| Linda Morra Imas, World Bank, lmorra@worldbank.org
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The International Program of Development Evaluation (IPDET) is an international evaluation capacity building program, sponsored by the Independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank and Carleton University, which has been operating since 2001 and has had almost 3000 participants from 105 countries around the world. One of its key features is the IPDET listserv-an online community of practice of IPDET participants and instructors. In 2010, an impact evaluation of the program was conducted. Linda Morra Imas, Co-Founder and Co-Director of IPDET will present some of the issues and challenges in trying to evaluate the effects of a community of practice like IPDET's, how the evaluation addressed them, and specific findings on the effects of IPDET's community of practice.
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