Monitoring & Evaluation 2: Moving the Needle
The second session of the M&E discussion opened with Jose Edgardo Campos from the World Bank Institute describing some applications of interactive media in the Philippines. One striking use was the deployment of Boys Scouts and Girls Scouts to track the delivery of textbooks to remote areas -- and report the result by cell phone. A second project created a citizen-based project to monitor road construction (and the lack of it). The project is now adding a new GoogleMaps component. Crowd-sourcing is alive, well, and effective. However, Campos cautioned that such efforts are limited if there is no follow-through, to press for the changes prescribed by the findings.
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SPEAKERS SAY: Campos, Odugbemi
Jose Edgardo CAMPOS, advisor, Officer of the Vice President, World Bank Institute: "The World Bank Institute is interested in access to information AND in training in the actual use of that information. The 'how' to use information is important. If you get access to procurement information, for example, you need the training to know what 'procurement' is."
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Monitoring & Evaluation: Setting the Baseline?
Everyone on the afternoon panel thought more monitoring and evaluation would be a good thing. And everyone confessed that they weren't entirely sure how to go about it.
Joyce Barnathan opened the session by talking about how ICFJ has built out its M&E functions in recent years. A small foundation grant allowed them to assign two staff members to design an M&E process, which includes training ICFJ staff, setting baselines, and working with grantees to make sure objectives are clear. Barnathan estimated that the process requires 10-15% of the budget to do well. "An M&E toolbox for everyone in the field would help, pooling best practices and adding practical research."
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Funding Open Societies: Let Me Count the Ways
We could start with the basics. The Open Society Institute and its many networks spend around $50 million a year on media programs (even if that does include some discretionary grants). That's a lot.
Stewart Chisholm, from the Open Society Foundation in London, walked us through some of the programs and philosophies. http://www.soros.org/initiatives/media
The Open SocietyMedia Fund makes grants in countries with repressive regimes. Other programs sponsor journalism training and professional development. OSI is a stalwart supporter of press freedom activity and enabling environments. It also advances policy initiatives to address broader changes.
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From Information to Development Outcomes: Some Examples
Here are several examples of how shared information leads to measurable development outcomes. The first three examples are from two progress reports: Strengthening World Bank Group Engagement on Governance and Anti-Corruption – Year One (2008) and Year Two (2009, forthcoming). The fourth example is taken from the Quarterly Journal of Economics.
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