Systems Approaches in Evaluation

The Evaluation Unit of GIZ (ex-GTZ - the organisation implementing a large portion of Germany's official development co-operation) held an international conference early this week, with the title "Systemic Approaches in Evaluation" (25-26 January). It was a huge jamboree bringing together some 200, predominantly German, participants, plus guests from around the world, who exchanged views on "traditional" methods vs. "systemic approaches" vs. "sistematisación".

Warmth and Attention

At this cold time of the year, at least for inhabitants of the Northern Hemisphere, I realise that I have not yet written about work that I did last year with my occasional associate Jasmin Rocha, PhD candidate in social sciences. We visited organisations working with women survivors of violence in Mozambique, Guatemala and Nicaragua to find out what they considered to be "quality services" for survivors of violence against women. The purpose of this "sense-making" exercise was to generate ideas for an international NGO as to how they could best monitor their grantees' work in this extremely complex field.

Human Rights Tactics in many languages

In case this has escaped your attention: New Tactics for Human Rights offers, on its website, a whole range of resources for human rights workers around the world. A comprehensive overview is available as a manual here: New Tactics in Human Rights - A Resource for Practitioners. The link takes you to a page where you can download the full manual in English, and sections thereof in : Arabic, Bengali, Croatian, Farsi, French, Hebrew, Indonesian, Mayan, Mongolian, Polish, Russian, Kiswahili, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu and Uzbek! A range of other resources are available on-line. Highly commendable.

Simple Words about Complexity

In a helpful comment about my recent post "Donor Playgrounds and Unknowable Outcomes", my friend Hélène complains about jargon. Why do we use fancy words? One reason is that sometimes such elaborate terminology (= fancy words) is more accurate than simpler language - but only if everyone involved has the same understanding of the words used. Then, fancy words convey the impression that you know exactly what you are talking about. And finally, fancy words make harsh truths sound elegant and not too painful - especially if the one who reads/ listens does not understand what you mean. But then, what's the point in saying anything if it is not understood?

Donor Playgrounds and Unknowable Outcomes

"Donor Playground Cambodia" is the title of a highly commendable paper Adam Fforde and Katrin Seidel have contributed to a conference on development policy, Thinking Ahead, organised by the Heinrich Boell Foundation in Berlin. A core theme of their paper: "the tensions created by the belief that development is both a known product of interventions guided by predictive knowledge, and the sense that, really, the future is unknowable".

Resolution 1325 - 10th Anniversary

(Logo: Gunda Werner Institute, HBS)

After a decade of deafening silence around Resolution 1325, a flurry of activities has broken out to celebrate its 10th anniversary: New York, Brussels, Geneva, Vienna, Beirut and other attractive locations host international conferences. This year's 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence also plugs into the topic, with the theme "Structures of Violence: Defining the Intersections of Militarism and Violence against Women".

Development speak in many tongues - look it up here

Yesterday in Bujumbura, friends described to me how they had managed to reduce the incidence of particularly violent forms of forced marriage involving abduction and gang rape in their home region, up in the High Plateaux of Southern South Kivu (DRC). It was extremely enlightening, but also sort of surreal because of their generous use of development jargon. Terms such as "baseline assessment", "participatory survey", "target groups", "sensitisation" and "awareness-raising" punctuated every sentence, hiding to some extent what really happened.

Tools again - nicely presented

This is my 101st blog post! Time flies!

I have subscribed to the delightful Pelican mailing list. The pelican, by the way, was the symbol of the Huguenots, that French protestant sect who fled religious prosecution. A statue of a pelican commemorates their arrival in Berlin some time in the... hm... late 17th century. Anyway, this is what I learnt on the mailing list today: the One World Trust has launched a new site, somewhat pompously called Accountability Tools for Policy Research.

Beyond Logframe

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has published an excellent booklet titled Beyond Logframe: Using Systems Concepts in Evaluation, which you can download in English from its web-site. I am particularly enthusiastic about the first article by Richard Hummelbrunner Beyond Logframe: Critique, Variations and Alternatives. Since I experienced difficulties downloading the document from the Japanese site, I summarise some main points below. If you'd like to have a copy of the full article via e-mail, please let me know - for those who have my ordinary e-mail address, use that one, for those who don't, try micraab(at)web.de and be prepared to wait for a few days.

For E-campaigners

Hunting for quality step-by-step guides for campaigners, I have come across yet another exciting site - it's Tactical Tech. Try its "Toolkits and Guides" link for pleasantly designed, clear guides on online advocacy, internet security, working with audio and video, SMS campaigning and so on. The guides are recent - 2009 and 2010 - which is important in this rapidly evolving sector. And since you're at it, also drop by at TakeBacktheTech as a good example for effective internet campaigning.

UN Women!

On 2 July, the United Nations General Assembly finally decided to establish UN Women, a merger of four existing UN structures for the advancement of women - UNIFEM, DAW, OSAGI and INSTRAW - with a US$ 500 million budget. That is only half of what the campaigners for UN Women had asked for, but a fair start. For more information, I recommend the special issue of the UNIFEM e-newsletter Currents.

Monitoring - It's the process that matters

Monitoring is about gathering information that helps us to function effectively, and about verifying whether we do the right things in the right ways. It is a natural part of human life - for example, every morning, I monitor the weather to determine what to wear so as to stay fresh and dry throughout the day. Monitoring makes me more effective in my life.

Output Outcome Impact Blues

A glorious and instructive song for evaluators, available from the very respectable Institute of Development Research, so it can't be wrong. Click here to enjoy it.

In Memoriam: Alice Miller (1923-2010)

Last week Alice Miller died. The Swiss psychologist, who achieved international fame with her 1979 book The Drama of the Gifted Child and subsequent publications, devoted her professional life to research on child abuse and its consequences. Alice Miller's books, translated into 30 languages, show how child abuse and violent behaviour in adult life - such as domestic violence, sexual abuse, even terrorism and political dictatorship - are interrelated.

"Culture" vs. law enforcement

Just came across a "context analysis" for an African country. In its short section on education - tiny compared to the ample deliberations on economic opportunities - the text claims that "cultural factors leading to early marriage and pregnancy" keep girls out of schools.