Dates:  Monday, 5 September – Friday 9 September 2011

Venue: Emperors Palace, 64 Jones Street, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa (Telephone: 011 928 1000)

From indigenous values to instruments and action in the context of developmental evaluation – Nan Wehipeihana (Kinnect Group, New Zealand) 5^th & 6^th September 2011 

    

Key Themes

Adding to your toolbox: Culturally responsive methods to working with and in Indigenous Communities

Learning Objectives

This workshop, within the context of Developmental Evaluation, aims to share and work through a range of practical tools which have been used (and refined) over the years when working with Māori and with iwi (tribes). For examples this includes the use of whakatauki (tribal and regional proverbs); the use of iconic or culturally relevant photographs; the use of music (as an engagement and facilitation technique); the use of objects from ones environment (leaves, rocks etc to pens and paper clips etc. The workshop will outline general principles of engagement - from within the presenters own culture – and then provide examples of how one gives effect to this principles in practice

The Facilitator

Nan is highly respected in New Zealand as an evaluator and a leader in the profession. She brings to her work a strong focus on many of the key principles of genuine evaluation. She is a top-level evaluation advisor to several large government agencies, often working at the strategic level to influence government policy as well as helping agencies devise robust macro-level evaluation strategies that will inform both policy and practice. She is also well known internationally for her work on applying indigenous approaches, models, and perspectives to high quality evaluation work. Nan is considered one of evaluation’s premier thought leaders in New Zealand evaluation, and is particularly skilled at applying her Māori (indigenous) worldview to leading-edge evaluation theory, methodology and practice in a way that generates powerful insights with – in our view – global implications. Nan Wehipeihana is the Director of Research Evaluation Consultancy Limited, established in 1997. She specializes in evaluation and research with a focus on Māori (indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand) and evaluation in and with Māori tribal and community groups. A key focus is in the area of policy and program evaluation, and the development of culturally driven evaluation outcome frameworks. Nan has extensive public and private sector experience including work in the broadcasting, education, employment, housing, justice, social development, social policy, sport and recreation sectors. Nan’s tribal affiliations are to NgātiPorou, TeWhānau-ā-Apanui and NgātiTukorehe.

Don’t miss this once in a lifetime opportunity! To confirm your attendance for the pre-workshops and the Conference, please complete the attached registration form and return to Conference Call (appointed conference co-ordinator) as soon as possible.  Please continue to visit the SAMEA website (www.samea.org.za) for further conference updates and program information.  

The Third Biennial SAMEA Conference

WHEN: 5 - 9 September 2011

WHERE: Johannesburg

Some highlights to look forward to:

• Networking opportunities for M&E users and providers; and a forum for international evaluation bodies to engage with the South African M&E community
• Exciting and thought-provoking panels and expert lectures
• High-quality insights into development and key M&E initiatives in the country and abroad, including the work of the Ministry for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation in the Presidency, which drives the national outcomes based approach, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), the monitoring of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by Statistics South Africa, the work of Constitutional oversight bodies in the country (the Auditor-General, the PSC, the Human Rights Commission)
• Training opportunities in the form of pre- and post-conference workshops

Systemic Enquiry refers to the technical aspects of the evaluation (such as understanding of the knowledge base, knowing quantitative and qualitative methodologies and mixed methods, conducts literature reviews, specifies programme theory, frames evaluation questions, and designs the evaluation, collects and analyses the data, makes judgments and recommendations, provides rationales for decisions, reports procedures and results, notes evaluation strengths and weaknesses, conducts meta-evaluations).

Situational Analysis includes having an understanding of the unique interests, issues, contextual circumstances of the evaluation (describes programmes, assesses evaluability, identifies stakeholder interests, serves the intended users’ information needs, addresses conflict, attends to the evaluation use, examines organizational and political context, attends to organisational change, respects site and client uniqueness, remains open to input, and modifies evaluations as needed).

Project Management refers to the “nuts and bolts” of evaluation work (includes responding to RFPs, negotiating with clients, writing formal agreements, communicating with client, budgeting for the evaluation, justifying cost, identifying needed resources, using appropriate technology, supervising and training others, conducting evaluations in non-disruptive manner, and presenting work in timely manner).

Reflective Practice refers to the evaluator’ s own evaluation expertise and need for growth (including knowing oneself, reflecting on one’s own practice, pursuing professional development in evaluation and content areas and building professional relationships).

Interpersonal Competence implies the “People skills” necessary for evaluation practice. This includes using written and verbal/listening communication skills, negotiation skills, and conflict resolution skills, as well as being able to facilitate constructive interpersonal interaction, and demonstrate cross-cultural competence.

Each competency may be prioritised differently depending on the context and need of the evaluation stakeholders. For more information see:

Toward a Taxonomy of Essential Evaluator Competencies
Establishing Essential Competencies for Program Evaluators
Current Research Interests
Design, Monitoring and Evaluation - Save the Children (SC)

1). Globalisation of the profession; 2). Evaluation as a transdiscipline; 3). Increased political interest in accountability and performance indicators and transparency; 4). Growing emphasis on evaluation capacity-building and skill development; 5). Continuing debate about what constitutes methodological rigour; and using systems thinking and complexity concepts.

The first– and the one I’ll be focusing on today - is globalization. Evaluation is no longer only a developing country phenomenon, but most developing countries have or are in the process of setting up monitoring and evaluation frameworks for their countries. Patton notes that as a sign of the globalisation of evaluation, is the growing number of international evaluation associations and networks, such as IDEAS (www.ideas-int.org) and SAMEA (www.samea.org.za ).  While one would think that a growing worldwide interest in M&E is wonderful, Patton notes, that more non-professionals are conducting evaluations. Not all researchers are evaluators. Evaluators are specialised researchers who have studied evaluation theory (of which there are more than 150). This means that the quality, approach and theory of evaluations is being affected. In addition, there is a growing diversity of evaluation.  These challenges, Patton argues, highlight the importance of setting evaluation standards, such as the ones adopted by the African Evaluation Association (AFREA) (2002 guidelines) of   utility, feasibility, propriety, and accuracy.

• Utility - the utility guidelines are intended to help to ensure that an evaluation will serve the information needs of intended users and be owned by stakeholders
• Feasibility - the feasibility guidelines are intended to help to ensure that an evaluation will be realistic, prudent, diplomatic, and frugal
• Propriety - the propriety guidelines are intended to help to ensure that an evaluation will be conducted legally, ethically, and with due regard for the welfare of those involved in the evaluation, as well as those affected by its results
• Accuracy - the accuracy guidelines are intended to help to ensure that an evaluation will reveal and convey technically adequate information about the features that determine worth or merit of the program being evaluated.
(The recording of the webinar is available at http://www.mymande.org/?q=content/future...evaluation)

Within this light, the upcoming forum “Professionalising Evaluation” organised by the South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association (SAMEA) is very timely and necessary. On the 23^rd of August 2010 an open panel discussion with guest speakers will be held. While it is free of charge, booking is required due to limited space.  Please RSVP to info@samea.org.za or call 012 346 7490 before 20 August 2010. For more information go to www.samea.org.za.

If you can’t make it to the discussion, make sure you read the next eThamini blog – I’ll be sharing what was discussed and the outcomes with you.

e-Thamini offers a wealth of training and expertise in the field of Monitoring and Evaluation. Among the services we offer; "conducting research including programme evaluations, assisting with the development of programme and organisation-wide monitoring systems, and building capacity in monitoring and evaluation through M&E courses and mentoring."

Monitoring and Evaluation has evolved into an accessable and positive system of solutions, all of which are provided here at e-Thamini. We offer 1 day training courses to your staff and you. We have developed M&Eworx, a software package designed to be tailored to each individual business and organization. Head on over to our Monitoring and Evaluation Solutions and see what works best for you and your business.

e-Thamini is an African-grown company based in Cape Town, South Africa. We provide a range of Monitoring and Evaluation solutions for South African companies, and our work has been formalized with developing countries in mind. We also provide Monitoring and Evaluation Solutions to a host of African, European and American Companies, Organizations, Government Bodies and more. Our key aim is to provide the user with a customizable solution to their Monitoring and Evaluation needs so that each individual Company can monitor and assess or evaluate their progress through the use of Monitoring and Evaluation Software which we have developed especially for this purpose. We have launched M&Eworx into the market place to bring value to your business.

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Why social business? Read this blog by FC Expert Blogger Drew Neisser Sun Sep 11, 2011:   "Move over Social Media; Here Comes Social Business".

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