Simon Brown, monitoring and evaluation adviser, Nepal
The ability to evaluate the impact of any development project is crucial to its success. Simon Brown, a CUSO-VSO volunteer in Nepal, explains why.
It’s clear Simon Brown is relishing his time in Nepal. He talks of the natural and cultural beauty of the Himalayan land, and of the joys and frustrations of working in Asia’s poorest country as an overseas volunteer.
“For me, Nepal is a totally compelling place to work and live in,” he says. One of the things that makes his life there interesting is that he is able to see the impact of his work.
Brown, who has an IT and a business background, works in Kathmandu with the Dalit Welfare Organisation (DWO). It’s an NGO working to eliminate discrimination based on social rank, or caste, in Nepal. He’s been working with them to determine where and how their efforts are succeeding.
There are at least two reasons why it’s critical for organizations like DWO to be able to measure the effectiveness of their work. First of all, for the people being served: DWO wants to know if they’re addressing their needs as effectively as they can. Secondly, for future donors: it is much easier for organizations like DWO to approach potential donors if they can already demonstrate they’re working efficiently and effectively.
Addressing needs
Brown says that he and his partners in DWO have successfully increased the organization’s capacity to monitor its activities, to understand the effectiveness of their programs and to listen to the people they serve.
This has produced what Brown calls “amazing results”, two DWO economic empowerment programs that were struggling two years ago were able to do a complete turnaround. As a result, they were rated as among the most successful in the country by the program funder, the European Community. That means their funding is more secure, and their important work can continue.
There’s no one skill set required of people working in monitoring and evaluation (M&E), says Christine Mylks, a program development specialist based at CUSO-VSO. That’s because the work is varied.
Supporting our partners
Volunteers could be placed with local community workers, helping them learn how to conduct interviews with people in high-risk health groups. Or a volunteer might work with a national-level body, helping analyze statistics or build databases to store results.
In any case, Mylks says it’s important to understand that monitoring and evaluation is not about volunteers going out to assess the work of local partners. It’s about strengthening the capacity of partners to do that assessment work themselves.
“What we’re trying to do is support our partners,” says Mylks. “That means learning what works by talking to people whose lives are changing because of our work, so we can build on positive lessons.”
As they get better at doing those assessments, says Mylks, local partners get better at telling their own stories about the results their work is having. And that, she says, is a crucial asset when those organizations look for funding or other support. They are able to say – and prove – to the world: “The work we are doing is having an impact. Do you want to help us?”
