Blog: Local Participants
Who is accountable for the ‘sustained development’ of those who suffer, and for how long? US/Czech and Kenyan Views
Who is accountable for the ‘sustained development’ of those who suffer, and for how long? Some of the rarely discussed myths of ‘sustainable development is that the aid we donors and implementers bring will help everyone, and that recipient governments can take...
Setting a higher bar: Sustained Impacts are about All of us
Setting a higher bar: Sustained Impacts are about All of us Global development aid has a problem which may already affect impact investing as well. It is that we think it's really all about us (individuals, wealthy donors and INGO implementers) not all of us (you, me,...
Maximizing what we’ve got… Time is now!
Maximizing what we've got... Time is now! We had a stirring conversation here in D.C. with someone very knowledgeable about sustainability; this person is a strong proponent of local ownership of all development. They also said...
Who is responsible for sustaining development?
Whose responsibility is it to sustain project activities? Billions of dollars are pumped into development activities in developing countries all over the world. Communities getting involved in these projects have a clear objective, which is to have their lives...
It’s not just Me, it’s We
It's not just Me, it's We Many of us want to be of service. That's why we go into international development, government, and many other fields. We hope our words and deeds help make others' lives better. For 25 years I've written...
Longing to do an Ex-post Sustainability Evaluation? How to support this work…
Longing to do an Ex-post Sustainability Evaluation? How to support this work… Just back from Niger where Catholic Relief Services, Rutere Kagendo and I are doing a fascinating post-project evaluation. Fresh on my mind is the commitment we all had to make...
IEG Blog Series Part II: Theory vs. Practice at the World Bank
IEG Blog Series Part II: Theory vs. Practice at the World Bank In Part I of this blog series, I described my research process for identifying the level to which the World Bank (WB) is conducting participatory post project sustainability...
Are We Done Yet?
Are We Done Yet? When are we off the hook, so to speak, for the well-being of the participants whom we said we'd make healthier, better fed, more educated, safer, etc? America’s Agency for International Development (USAID) is the main channel for...
A Missing Piece In Local Ownership: Evaluation Reblog from InterAction (US’ NGO Umbrella Organization)
A Missing Piece In Local Ownership: Evaluation (Reblog from http://www.interaction.org/blog/missing-piece-local-ownership-evaluation Grino and Levine) Ten years ago, ownership was established as a key principle of aid effectiveness. Although understanding...
IEG Blog Series Part I: Pick a term, any term…but stick to it!
Pick a term, any term...but stick to it! Valuing Voices is interested in identifying learning leaders in international development that are using participatory post-project evaluation methods to learn about the...
Making money– is this a way to sustainable livelihoods? PACT’s Nepalese Lessons
Making money-- microenterprise-- is this a way to sustainable livelihoods? PACT's Nepalese Lessons Many Americans are steeped in the belief that we must 'pull ourselves up by our bootstraps', that hard work and especially faith in small businesses is the...
What should projects accomplish… and for whom?
What should projects accomplish... and for whom? An unnamed international non-profit client contacted me to evaluate their resilience project mid-stream, to gauge prospects for sustainable handover. EUREKA, I thought! After email discussions with them I...
What’s likely to ‘stand’ after we go? A new consideration in project design and evaluation
What's likely to 'stand' after we go? A new consideration in project design and evaluation This spring I had the opportunity to not only evaluate a food security project but also to use the knowledge gleaned for the follow-on project design. This Ethiopian Red Cross...
Data for whose good?
Data for whose good? Many of us work in international development because we are driven to serve, to make corners of the world better by improving the lives of those that live there. Many of us are driven by compassion to help directly through working...
Sustainability SPRINGing out all over the place… and Disrupting!
Sustainability SPRINGing out all over the place… and Disrupting So what is sustainability? You may think it's the climate's long-term wellbeing and how to gauge changes to that. You may think it's linked...
Pineapple, Apple- what differentiates Impact from self-Sustainability Evaluation?
Pineapple, Apple- what differentiates Impact from self-Sustainability Evaluation? There is great news. Impact Evaluation is getting attention and being funded to do excellent research, such as by the International Initiative for Impact...
Stepping up community self-sustainability, one [Ethiopian] step at a time
Stepping up community self-sustainability, one [Ethiopian] step at a time Having just come back from evaluation and design fieldwork for an Ethiopian Red Cross (ERCS)/ Swedish Red Cross/ Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent project, the power of...
Aminata and I both want to be proud…
Aminata and I both want to be proud... I met Aminata in Mali in 1990 during my doctoral research. She was a Bambara farmer and an impressive woman, with pride in her community. She was a helpful informant during my research on how communities cope with...
Prospects for long-term sustainability…or lack thereof at the Macro Level (Part 2)
Prospects for long-term sustainability... or lack thereof at the Macro level (Part 2) During 2003-2004, the OECD conducted a very interesting Ex-Post Evaluation Sustainability Summary that synthesizes four separate Regional Rural Development (RRD) projects,...
What are the prospects for self-sustained impact at the Macro level? (Part 1)
What are the prospects for self-sustained impact at the Macro level? (Part 1) After studying various impact evaluations, it became clear that different development projects also have different scales, with multilaterally-funded macro-level being focused on higher...
Partners For Democratic Change: Promote Capacity Building to Achieve Self-Sustainability!
Catalyst organizations are those whose focus is on implementing programs with community level involvement during projects and local feedback loops to inform post-project evaluations for impact self-sustainability. An excellent example of this is Partners for...
What can we learn from Ex-Post (Post-Project) Evaluations?
What can we learn from Ex-Post Evaluations? In trying to learn more about sustainable development solutions, the first place to look for information is in ex-post evaluations, also commonly called post-project evaluations, which are conducted by either...
How do we define Sustainability?
How do we define Sustainability? Sustainability is a key success outcome for which a project is assessed, one of the five OECD DAC Criteria for Evaluating Development Assistance, which also includes relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and impact....
Let’s start turning the oceanliner of development to dignified sustainability – today!
Let's start turning the oceanliner of development to dignified sustainability - today! No time like the present, our participants are waiting for dignified development to fully arrive. Dignity is the "quality or state of being worthy of esteem...
Is Development Doomed? No! Youth and community input are key to sustainability
Is Development Doomed? No! Youth and community input are key to sustainability Paul Theroux has a deeply depressing, if quite realistic, view of how development has failed Africa. "Zambian-born economist Dambisa Moyo calls aid a "debilitating...
The ’causes and conditions’ are right for sustainable impact… $100 billion of funding needs it
The 'causes and conditions' are right for sustainable impact... $100 billion of funding in 2014 alone needs it! Many of us know that when the time is right, things click into place and manifest, but when they are not yet ripe for change, they...
Bringing Mandela to grassroots evaluation
Bringing Mandela to grassroots evaluation After South Africa's Nelson Mandela died, accolades flowed as did deep sorrow for a passing of a man of such forgiveness and peace. I too was one of millions who went to anti-apartheid rallies and rejoiced when he too...
Time is ripe for incentives to change….
Time is ripe for incentives to change…. There is so much promise now in returning international development to the hands of those who we mean to ‘develop’. Here are a few examples: •Accountability has been proposed as a core...
Valuing Voices That Change The World… Why?
Valuing Voices That Change the World... Why? Why have I cared for them so? I started interviewing scores of people in all corners of Nigeria when I wrote grant proposals for an amazing Bishop (now Cardinal Onaiyekan) in Ilorin Diocese in 1987. I wanted...
The pitfalls of pushing development even faster… we need compassion for all
The pitfalls of pushing development ever faster... we need compassion for all There is great need for compassion in development, for all those pushed to perform. First, for the participants of development projects, who can have projects imposed on them...
The need to return.. and learn post-project close-out: Plan Int’l
The need to return...and learn post-project close-out: Plan Int'l It's like leaving the screening of a documentary; don't you too want to know how things work out after the movie makers leave? I do. And most of all I long to learn from it... I long to see...
Rewarding Enterprising Desperation: Youth (Un)employment
Rewarding Enterprising Desperation: Youth (Un)employment Eight years ago I interviewed the Kenyan CEO of a big meat processing corporation during a consultancy. After the interview I tried to get him interested in a local nonprofit I support (KUSARD). He...
What do we know… about international development, ourselves, ‘them’ and the intersection?
What could we know... about international development, ourselves, 'them' and the intersection? How would international development look from the eyes of the participants? What works best? What fails? Who decides what success and failure is, and how much...
Jindra Cekan, Ph.D. has used participatory methods for 30 years to connect with participants, ranging from villagers in Africa, Central/ Latin America and the Balkans to policy makers and Ministers around the world for her international clients. Their voices have informed the new Sustained and Emerging Impacts Evaluation, other M&E, stakeholder analysis, strategic planning, knowledge management and organizational learning.