How does Right to Playmonitor and evaluate projects and programmes?

New team

In late 2005, a Research and Program Development Team was created within Right To Play to focus on the strategic priorities of M&E, program development and policy and research. This team is working to ensure the creation of strong evidence-based programs that will provide the required data for both quantitative and qualitative measurement of Right To Play Program outcomes. These results will serve as support to future program development and the refinement of resources and tools for use within projects.

Methods

Right To Play's M&E methodology includes both quantitative and qualitative dimensions as well as participatory strategies that involve internal and external stakeholders especially at the community level. Right To Play has created a system to capture Coach and Child participation figures from all project locations. The field testing and implementation of this initiative is a priority to ensure a fine-tuned system is developed to allow for the capture of this quantitative data in a consistent manner. This will further allow for comparison and analysis across projects. This data will not only capture the number of direct beneficiaries but will also provide demographic data that will play a critical role in the design of additional M&E tools.

In addition, in 2006-2007 each project location will have an evaluation conducted. This will be in the form of an external evaluation, a midterm evaluation or alternatively a project 'snapshot' which will include a combination of questionnaires, focus groups and key informant interviews. The midterm evaluation and project 'snapshot' will involve a workshop in-field to train the enumerators and Right To Play field program staff and volunteer coordinators in the tools, data collection and entry. A performance measurement plan and matrix will be developed, where the responsibilities for data collection and monitoring are clearly designated. First-hand input as to feasible data collection methods is crucial. The enumerators will be responsible for the actual data collection.

What are the pitfalls for M&E?

A critical element of this process is the move towards participatory approaches in the field which calls for the involvement of local stakeholders at all levels. This will ensure that monitoring and evaluation findings are accurate and reflect the needs of local participants and beneficiaries. Given the challenging context of many of the project locations, the cooperation of local participants in the monitoring and evaluation process is critical to facilitate efficiency and effectiveness of the M&E process.

Has there been a change in point of view, approach and activities on M&E in the last five years?

Prior to 2005 the M&E component of Right To Play projects was rudimentary. The years of 2004 and 2005 marked a commitment by RTP to strengthen in-field operations and ensure excellence across RTP programs which reflected the use of significant lessons learned to date following three years of project implementation. In 2005 RTP made monitoring and evaluation a strategic priority to ensure that in 2006 quality control was anchored in the organizational strategic plan. Up to the end of 2005, project monitoring was done on a monthly basis by international project coordinators through quantitative data sent back to Right To Play International Headquarters. Data reported was collected with the engagement of individual coaches and partner organizations within the communities where projects are located. However, the necessity to both systematize and standardize monitoring and quality control has been prioritized.