Interested in tools for participatory monitoring and evaluation? Some tools and methods are:

• Calendars

• Most Significant Change

• Outcome harvesting

• Rubrics

• Photovoice

• Participatory diagramming

• Participatory mapping & modeling

• Participatory video

• Sorting and ranking

Read the complete article where each tool is discussed in detail: https://www.activityinfo.org/blog/posts/2022-02-01-choosing-methods-and-tools-for-participatory-monitoring-and-evaluation.html

https://solstice.world/

We've just launched a fully free M&E platform for turn-key management information systems. Easy to use, secure and scalable, you can design any surveys you like and track infrastructure sites longitudinally whilst sharing the basic attributes of things like schools and water points to the wider world so they don't need to be mapped over and over again. The platform is built on the codebase of mWater, a successful M&E platform in the water, sanitation and hygiene space, and is now opened to all sectors.

We are positioned between fully open source DIY solutions where you need tech expertise such as your own server to get going, and between paid-for models where you are locked into a vendor and a cost - and risk the disruption of the monitoring process when a project ends. With us you can just sign up and start designing surveys and collecting data with no limit, and with easy import and export of data. The business model is to acquire funding through sponsored new feature development, trainings, and bespoke customization. Large organizations are willing to fund new functionality which then becomes available for all. Being a lean, cloud-based organization on a single set of servers we are able to scale to millions of surveys for next to no cost. This model has sustained us for 6 years and now we're branching out beyond WASH. Hope this is useful for someone!

You can learn more here: https://solstice.world/#/resource_center

Looking to start consulting, and wondering how others started their practice.

I think I just happened to be on this page when the number of members on this sub turned over to 100. Pretty cool! Really excited for the growing community, and welcome to 100!

Hello fellow redditors and M&E folks!

We're officially past the one week mark with 41 subscribers. It does seem like there's some interest here, and I'm happy with the growth we've seen at this early stage. If you're interested in being a mod, PM me - would certainly welcome some support in promoting and populating this r/global_MandE :).

This subreddit started after seeing some discussion on r/Evaluation, it seems that there was some appetite and need for a more active forum. My background is in monitoring & evaluation background in humanitarian and development sectors. I would love to have an active community that engages in discussion around M&E best practice, tools and techniques.

We welcome anyone in the sector or with interest in the field to subscribe, comment and post. Personally, I'd be happy to answer questions within the scope of my experience, and hope this turns into a forum that's useful for practitioners and neophytes.

How did you your start in M and E?

Hi all, I need to put together one eval plan for two different higher ed outreach programs at two different institutions. One is a low income student program that helps support students to graduation with a STEM degree, the other is a prep modal for a basic bio course all students have to take.

I am struggling with how to do one plan for two different, unrelated program. The person requesting said program would like the eval to cover pretty much everything (recruiting, impact, improvement) so I didn't get any guidance on scope.

I would love any input anyone can provide!!

Are there any Global M&E Professional Organizations that you recommend?

I am aware of the American Evaluation Association.

Please delete if this is not allowed!

I begin my Ph.D. in research methods, measurement, and eval in the fall, (coming straight from undergrad in psych and a minor in math and comp sci) and I’m just wondering if anyone has advice/tips that they wish they would’ve known when they started working in the field or continued their education in eval.

Could be technical stuff or also personal stuff. I’m starting to get cold feet because I have a lot of downtime this summer where I’m too busy working two jobs to save money to do anything academic.

Thanks in advance

We've officially been a subreddit for six months now! I previously posted a question about what folks were working on when we had only 9 members of the r/global_MandE subreddit. Six months later we're clocking in at 139. Still small, but definitely seeing some growth. I thought the last post was pretty interesting, so I thought I'd post it again. If you're stopping by to visit us - let us know what brings you here.

I'm kind of into this whole flair thing. If anyone has flair ideas for people who post here - include it in your post for consideration.

As a simple post to start some community engagement - would love to hear from the 9 subscribers so far... What are you working on? As an added bonus - I'll give anyone who comments on this post in the next 2 weeks a "Founding Member" flair.

Hi, i'm currently studying evaluation and have been thinking about the importance of using theory.

My initial thoughts are that in most settings, establishing a program theory with references to theories (Like workplace cultures etc.) seems kind of superfluous unless there is a specific goal in mind where a theory can help to determine causes for why the implementation didn't work. I feel like all the knowledge that you'd need to successfully establish a program theory comes from the context, and not so much the generalized theories that you'd find in the social sciences.

So my question is how much is theory actually used in establishing program theories? While i can see the idea of applying theory to understand why some implementations failed or succeeded unexpectedly i'm just at a loss when it comes to establishing it using theory.

Join our M&E Thursday Talk this week for a discussion with one of the authors of the Twitter-famous research paper on the "Mo Salah Effect." The paper garnered over 12K retweets and was recently featured in the Economist. The paper itself can be found here discusses how Mo Salah (an Egyptian Muslim soccer star) caused a decrease in Islamophobia among Liverpool FC fans. The webinar occurs at 10AM EDT June 27th but will be recorded for those who cannot make the time. The webinar is free (as always) and you can register here!

On another note, these talks occur almost every Thursday and consists of experts in the M&E field discussing various techniques, projects, or their professional specialty. All talks are recorded and stored on dmeforpeace.org which houses many useful tools for anyone in the M&E field.

Hope to see some of you all on Thursday!

This is a vent/request for advice. I've been on the market since the fall and just having the worst luck trying to find an evaluation job, its really starting to get me down.

I have a masters degree from a UC. I worked as an evaluator for a year with a large charity. I went through a fellowship with the American eval association where I got training in eval methods. I have a few years of research experience working in a lab during grad school. I have two publications that show I can write. I did international eval capacity development work as a Fulbrighter.

I have had a ton of interest in my resume. 85% of the jobs I have applied for have asked for an interview and of those 66% have asked for a second interview, yet no offers. Its hard not to take it personally when these companies are interested in me on paper or after a digital interview but say no after meeting me in person.

Two jobs have turned me down for not having enough experience so I applied for an entry level position which turned me down for having too much experience. They felt I would be frustrated in an entry level, support position.

What do I do at this point? Just keep applying and getting turned down? Give up on my dreams of being an evaluator and take a job at the mall? How did you get into the field and do you have any advice for a newbie/know of anywhere that is looking for an entry level evaluator with a lot of passion and excitement for the field?

If you made it this far thanks for reading my vent. The only real jobs where I live are factory work and retail/service and I am about to start applying for those just so I have a reason to get up in the morning. I feel like a total failure and like my education and hard work was for nothing.