Evolving Disclosure Issues and IEG’s Potential Assistance to Civil Society

The Capstone project examines whether the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) can and should help civil society to build capacity and expertise to design evaluation frameworks and process information to conduct their own evaluations. In order to answer this question, case studies of civil society organizations working in two countries were conducted. The IEG’s current capacity in evaluation expertise and training were also researched in order to determine whether it is capable of providing such facilities and whether there are other institutions or centers that might be better placed or equipped to meet civil society needs.

The analysis is based on interviews conducted with various gender and health focused organizations in South Africa and Egypt, as well as with persons affiliated or associated with the IEG. The report uses data gathered from these interviews and from additional research to provide an analysis of civil society, the gender and health sector, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) capacity and demand in both countries. In addition, the report provides an analysis of the IEG’s strengths and weaknesses in relation to building M&E capacity and expertise in these countries.

The report focuses on the provision of M&E training to civil society and does not include analysis of other key areas; notably, the political implications for the IEG of assisting civil society in M&E, and alternative ways the IEG could assist civil society.

The findings and recommendations are divided into three main sections, each in response to a question aimed at digging deeper into the original question posed: (i) Is M&E beneficial for civil society? (ii) Is the IEG the best placed to provide M&E training to civil society? (iii) Should the IEG move forward with providing M&E training to civil society?

The key findings and recommendations are:

● M&E is beneficial for civil society.

● The IEG is the best placed to provide M&E training.

● The IEG should provide M&E training based on specific criteria.

● The SIPA-Capstone Civil Society Training model was developed to assist in determining whether the IEG should provide M&E training to civil society in specific sectors/regions, how the training should be conducted, and the focus of the training.