What you will learn?

Through a mix of practical activities, theory and examples of effective practice you learn how to:

• communicate a Theory of Change overview
• identify a desired change - understanding how change happens
• use participatory methodologies to enhance your strategic planning
• capitalise meta-skills for change
• clarify results at the programme level using logic models and plan a project using the logical framework
• develop indicators and targets
• combine qualitative and quantitative approaches to gather and interpret data
• design and manage evaluation
• use your findings to stimulate learning, improvement and stakeholder buy-in
• develop and work with a practical M&E system

Daily Course Objectives

Day 1

Week 1: Theory of Change and Strategic Planning

• definitions and key concepts - 4 Dimensions of Theory of Change
• relationship with M&E: complementarities and innovations
• desired change: understanding how change happens
• ecosystem analysis.

Day 2

Develop a Theory of Change

• assess our work: attribution or contribution to change?
• Meta-skills and self-development in the ToC process
• explore pathways of change: alternative ways to contribute to change
• the power of assumptions: how does our thinking affect our actions?

Day 3

Complexity, power and learning for social change

• stakeholder engagement: understanding complexity and power dynamics
• develop pathways of change: alternative ways to contribute to change
• indicators of change: how we know we are contributing to change.

Day 4

Contribution assessment framework and participatory methodologies

• assess contribution to change
• participatory methods and tools for contribution assessment
• reflect on our assessment practices.

Day 5

Integrating learning into practice

• revisit our M&E system from a contribution assessment perspective
• meta-skills for facilitating Theory of Change processes
• learning synthesis and steps forward.

Day 6

The changing role and practice of M&E

• M&E fundamentals
• results approaches: outputs, outcomes and impact
• relate M&E to your programme and project cycle
• identify stakeholders and their differing needs and roles.

Day 7

Results framework

• develop logic models
• work with and beyond logframes.

Day 8

Developing M&E frameworks

• criteria for indicators
• develop project indicators
• identify means of verification.

Day 9

Gathering data/information

• quantitative and qualitative approaches and instruments
• data organisation, quality assurance and analysis
• design baseline, evaluation and impact studies.

Day 10

M&E system and plan

• prepare M&E plan
• M&E system overview
• learning synthesis.

Day 11

Data gathering in practice: fieldwork

• practice data gathering tools
• use different tools to gather data in live context
• field work reflection.

Day 12

Theory of Change

• develop a theory of change from the live data gathered during fieldwork
• relate theory of change thinking to M&E.

Day 13

Information for decision-making

• review monitoring data
• use M&E information and evidence for decision-making

Day 14

Fostering a learning culture

• identify ways to foster a learning culture
• become M&E change agents and champions
• coaching and preparation for participant presentations

Day 15

Using what you have learnt

• participant presentations
• embedding learning for personal and organisational benefit
• collective course reflection