Capacity Building - Evaluating Capacity Building

Evaluating Capacity Building

Since the arrival of capacity building as such a dominant subject in international aid, donors and practitioners have struggled to determine a concise mechanism for determining the effectiveness of capacity building initiatives. In 2007, David Watson, developed specific criteria for effective evaluation and monitoring of capacity building. Watson complained that the traditional method of monitoring NGOs that is based primarily on a linear results-based framework is not enough for capacity building. He argues that evaluating capacity building NGOS should be based on a combination of monitoring the results of their activities and also a more open flexible way of monitoring that also takes into consideration, self-improvement and cooperation. Watson observed 18 case studies of capacity building evaluations and concluded that certain specific themes were visible:

• monitoring an organization's clarity of mission-this involves evaluating an organization's goals and how well those goals are understood throughout the organization
• monitoring an organization's leadership – this involves evaluating how empowered the organization's leadership is-how well the leadership encourages experimentation, self reflection, changes in team structures and approaches.
• monitoring an organization's learning – this involves evaluating how often an organization participates in effective self-reflection, and self-assessment. It also involves how well an organization "learns from experience" and if the organization promotes the idea of learning from experience.
• monitoring an organization's emphasis on on-the-job-development - this involves evaluating how well an organization encourages continued learning, specifically through hands on approaches.
• monitoring an organization's monitoring processes - this involves evaluating how well an organization participates in self-monitoring. It looks at whether or not an organization encourages growth through learning from mistakes.

In 2007, USAID published a report on its approach to monitoring and evaluating capacity building. According to the report, USAID monitors: program objectives, the links between projects and activities of an organization and its objectives, a program or organization's measurable indicators, data collection, and progress reports. USAID evaluates: why objectives were achieved, or why they were not, the overall contributions of projects, it examines qualifiable results that are more difficult to measure, it looks at unintended results or consequences, it looks at reports on lessons learned. USAID uses two types of "indicators" for progress. "output indicators" and "outcome indicators." Output indicators measure immediate changes or results such as the number of people trained. Outcome indicators measure the impact, such as laws changed due to trained advocates.