Purpose
Due to its capacity to increase responsibility and learning for policymakers, non-governmental organizations, donors, and affected communities, impact evaluations have become standard components of program implementation.
Real-world impact evaluations can be challenging to carry out and may require a combination of methodologies to get impact estimates.
This course expands on the impact evaluation introduction course and offers a practical method for calculating and analyzing causal affects using a variety of methodologies.
These consist of the instrumental variables technique, propensity score matching, difference in differences, regression discontinuity design, and randomized control trials and designs.
The process of conducting an in-depth econometric estimation/analysis of causal influences will be taught to the students.
This course is intended to emphasize internal and external project evaluation and familiarize students with the tools needed to gauge and enhance project performance.
The participants follow a step-by-step methodology to comprehend how to plan and carry out an evaluation.
Impact Evaluation of Projects is monitoring changes, deviations, and developments after projects are delivered. This is crucial for any company.
In addition to helping to optimize the processes, evaluation and assessment of the impact and benefits provided can also serve to establish standards for upcoming initiatives.
This training is intended to help the development staff with impact evaluation and other research-based needs.
It uses a variety of approaches and procedures that can aid in gathering and analyzing the appropriate data, which ultimately facilitates the acquisition of precise statistics.
Course Objectives
By the end of the course, Participants will be able to:
- Enhance and expand public service and policymaking accountability
- Planning, acquiring, and managing impact assessments and evaluations could be improved.
- Determine which efforts are the most successful, efficient, and cost-effective by using impact evaluation techniques.
- Introduce and present collaborative methods for creating evaluation plans
- helping the team and other participants in the process by simplifying and facilitating the plans
- figuring up ways to make the review process’ present procedures better
- Utilizing both technical and soft abilities, identify and involve pertinent stakeholders throughout the impact evaluation process.
- Choose the most suitable impact evaluation approach to address the intervention’s specific context and the current data, time, and money restrictions.
- Create a customized impact evaluation plan for the special circumstances around a development intervention of your choosing.
- Create a strategy for carrying out the impact assessment.
- Data should be gathered, processed, and analyzed to determine the impact utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods.
- Utilize the findings of impact evaluations to guide decisions and economic analyses
Duration: 10 days
Target Audience
Researchers, project coordinators and program managers, monitoring and evaluation professionals, independent evaluators, staff from donors who assess and evaluate projects and programs;
Policy-makers; officials from non-governmental organizations who are in charge of monitoring and reviewing
Course Content
TOPIC 1: Impact evaluation versus evaluation
Impact Assessment vs. Evaluation: Differences
Project/Program Evaluation: A Must
The requirement for effect and result measurement
Impact evaluation and assessment best practice examples and models from around the world
Taking a quick look at the PCM (Project Cycle Management)
The Participatory Evaluation Frameworks: An Overview (PEFs)
Various Evaluation Process Principles
Important Markers for Verification and Assessment
Topic 2: Evaluation Process Planning
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Defining the evaluation process’ criteria, guiding principles, and questions
Making a list of the stakeholders
Action plan for the evaluation procedure
Determining, planning, and scheduling the resources’ availability
Preparing a budget for the review procedure
Identifying the appropriate techniques for gathering pertinent data
TOPIC 3: Data Gathering and Analysis
Different methods used to acquire data
Defining methods for reading and analyzing the data collected
Drafting the evaluation process’s conclusions
Understanding report authoring for process reports for evaluation
Delivering intelligence and data gleaned from the evaluation process
Identifying the areas that can be improved or corrected
Creating a strategy for adopting and integrating the necessary improvements
TOPIC 4: Designs for impact evaluation research
Experimental  design
Trials with randomized control
Designing quasi-experiments
Backward discontinuity
Difference-in-difference
Matching
Non-experimental approach
TOPIC 5: Sampling for Impact Assessment
Techniques for Impact Evaluation Sampling
Calculating sample size and sampling weight
Statistical validity
Establishing reliable comparison groups
Analysis of Quantitative Data for Impact Assessment
TOPIC 6: Randomized Impact Evaluation
Setting the counterfactual
Statistical Design of Randomization
Impacts of Program Placement
Impacts of Program Participation
Capturing Both Program Placement and Participation
Measuring Spillover Effects
TOPIC 7: Propensity Score Matching Technique (PSM)
Introduction to PSM
Application of PSM in Impact Evaluation
Constructing propensity scores
Matching Analysis (Nearest-Neighbour, Stratification, Radius, Kernel)
Common support
Doubly Robust Estimation
TOPIC 8:Difference in Difference Method
What is DID?
Application of DID in Impact Evaluation
Estimating DID estimator: Single DID, DID with covariates, Quantile DID
DID for Cross-Sectional Data
Balancing Tests
Diff-in-Diff with Propensity Score Matching
TOPIC 9: Qualitative Methods in Impact Assessment
ÂMost Important Change: Harvesting and Outcome Mapping
Gratitude-Based Inquiry
TOPIC 10: Producing and disseminating results of impact evaluation
ÂImpact Assessment Plan
Impact Evaluation Reports: Baseline Report, Case Studies, and Impact Evaluation Reports