Позитивные изменения, Том 3 №1, 2023. Positive changes. Volume 3, Issue 1 (2023) - Редакция журнала «Позитивные изменения» Страница 20

Namely:

• Integrating evaluation into the activities of donor organizations

Foundations or companies engaged in philanthropy and social investment will strive to make evaluation an integral and natural part of their activities, develop and implement evaluation practices and systems tailored to their specific activities, and promote evaluation among their partners and grantees.

• Improving the effectiveness of evaluation and ensuring practical use of its results

Evaluation only makes sense if it is used to guide decision-making and reinforce the effects achieved. Its results should be of maximum benefit to all stakeholders in the program, including the donor, grantees, beneficiaries, and other partners.

• Creating opportunities for the growth of evaluation competence

The staff responsible for implementing programs must acquire and develop the knowledge and skills necessary for quality planning and evaluation. It is in the interest of the organization to create the prerequisites for this growth.

A new trend is appearing right before our eyes, as both Russian and international donor communities are starting to focus more on the quality of impact management.

• Developing the grantees’ evaluation capacity

Donor organizations will seek to create conditions to enhance the grantees’ evaluation capacity. If the latter do not have sufficient resources for that, the donor organization will try to provide them with access to the missing resources through additional funding, training and consultations, and the involvement of specialist evaluators.

• Adherence to and promotion of professional principles and standards

Organizations that implement an evaluation system must be guided by professional principles and standards, including: openness of the evaluation process, ensuring the safety of its participants, and respect for their dignity and distinctions.

• Developing and sharing knowledge about the use of evaluations and evaluation practices To build a culture of knowledge-sharing and enhance synergies in evaluation, donor organizations will strive to make information open, accessible, and easily digestible for a wide range of stakeholders. It is also important to share experiences with the donor community, the grantees, and professional specialist communities.

Definitely, an evaluation culture must be aligned with the organization’s mission and the overall organizational culture, so all key stakeholders of charity and social investment, including founders, employees, grantees and partners in social and environmental programs and projects, are expected to be working to promote it.

GROWTH AREAS IN 2023

Today, a new trend is appearing right before our eyes, as both Russian and international donor communities are starting to focus more on the quality of impact management. Foundations and socially responsible businesses that invest in reducing poverty, improving access to services and resources, and preserving and protecting the environment are all interested in evaluating their performance. Such an analysis provides an understanding of whether there is a progress towards achieving the goals, what mechanisms and technologies are most effective, and what the criteria are for achieving the planned impact.

There is also a trend toward the use of predictive evaluation, with donors working in partnership with the expert community to develop new tools for it. The solutions developed by specialists are used not only to evaluate the actual results achieved, but also to analyze the potential of organizations and projects seeking to mitigate risks and guarantee high investment efficiency.

For example, potential impact is analyzed not only at the project level, specifically for its stakeholders, but also at the level of the market as a whole. The evaluation looks at the project’s contribution to developing systemic market effects, to the intensity level indicator – in other words, how the project is able to address the problem identified. The evaluation looks at what the situation would have been if the project had not been implemented (counterfactual factor) and considers the potential adverse effects.

Of course, such methods and solutions cannot be classified as simple, and their use will require separate investments; however, the potential benefits and effects of their implementation guarantee a decent return on this investment.

Another aspect the donors are now increasingly focusing on is the use of equitable evaluation principles. The approach makes it possible to recognize and account for the complexity of human experience accumulated in the process of transformations initiated by the activities of donor organizations. Adherence to these principles and their alignment with the Russian reality provides an opportunity to maximize the involvement of beneficiaries and other stakeholders in the process of analyzing the potential and actual impact. This is necessary in order to take account of their values and vision, as well as to incorporate them promptly into the project design and strategy of foundations and socially responsible companies.

Экспертные статьи / Expert Publications

«Сделай сам»: как НКО оценивать проекты своими силами

Алексей Кузьмин

DOI 10.55140/2782–5817–2023–3–1–34–43

Многие эксперты считают, что самооценивание – одна из ключевых тенденций развития оценки. Между внешней оценкой и самооцениванием есть и сходство, и существенные различия. В статье обсуждается значение принципов для проведения оценки, а также даются рекомендации для ситуации само оценивания НКО.

Алексей Кузьмин

PhD, генеральный директор ООО «Компания «Процесс Консалтинг», Член Совета Международной Академии оценки

ИСТОРИЯ ОДНОГО ПРЕДСКАЗАНИЯ

В 2012 году американский специалист по оценке Джон Гаргани, который чуть позже стал президентом Американской ассоциации оценки, назвал в своем блоге 10 предсказаний относительно будущего оценки программ и проектов. Первое из них звучало так: «Оценки, по большей части, станут внутренними» (Gargani, 2012).

О чем здесь шла речь?

Начнем с того, что оценка программы (проекта) состоит в «систематическом сборе информации о деятельности в рамках программы, ее характеристиках и результатах, который проводится для того, чтобы вынести суждение о программе, повысить эффективность программы и/или разработать планы на будущее» (Patton, 2008).

Предположим, что некая организация выполняет проект. Оценка этого проекта может проводиться силами внешних по отношению к организации специалистов. Такую оценку называют