Bangladesh - Belgium

Citizens’ Voice and Accountability Evaluation – Bangladesh Country Case Study
• Conduct introductory meetings and/or workshops to explain the Framework
and Methodology and explore the different perceptions and interpretations of
“Voice and Accountability”;
• Finalise, in close consultation with relevant country offices (and SDC
representatives), the range of interventions to be evaluated ensuring balance
between “supply and demand” side policies, programmes and projects and
spread of rural/urban, formal/informal, empowered/disempowered actors.
• Determine the most appropriate evaluation methodology and tools (drawn
from the options contained in the Methodological Guidance);
• Ensure that there is adequate background material and expert advice on the
country context 39 ; in the case of Bangladesh, this issue will be particularly
important, considering the great amount of studies which have been recently
undertaken in thematic fields related to CV&A; 40
• Arrange a programme of appointments and field visits in preparation for the
full team’s visit;
• Ensure logistics and accommodation arrangements are in hand;
• Report progress and observations in the form of an inception report to the
commissioning donor and donor partner country offices (indicative length 4-6
pages); and,
• Be prepared to attend and discuss/present the inception report at a meeting
of the ECG in Germany (Bonn, October 22-23, 2007).
.
Second “Main Evaluation” phase
22. The second main phase of the mission will involve all members of the CCS
Team. The duration of the field study should not exceed three weeks. The CCS
Team will conduct an evaluation of the interventions identified based on, and drawing
questions from, the Evaluation Framework and accompanying Methodological
Guidance.
23. At the end of the evaluation period the CCS Team will:
• Conduct a debriefing seminar on the preliminary findings; and
• Write the CCS Evaluation report.
24. As the Team will be using a new framework and approach for evaluating
CV&A, it will be important to note, throughout the evaluation exercise, aspects of the
Framework which proved of most value (and vice versa) and areas where additional
guidance would have been of benefit.
25. Apart from the country mission, time should be also allocated for pre reading,
documenting and writing up the Evaluation (CCS) Report. A Quality Assurance (QA)
panel for this process has been established and all CCS reports, in addition to being
submitted to the commissioning donor, have to be copied to the QA Panel for their
advice. The QA Panel will be available (by telephone) to the CCS Team leader for
advice on standards and queries on methodological approaches.
26. A one-day workshop may be arranged, probably on completion of all CCS
(mid to late January 2008), to further share experiences and comments on the CCS,
the Framework and methodologies employed with other consultancy teams, ECG
members, the QA panel and Synthesis report authors. All of this is designed to
contribute to a greater understanding of the issues involved and assist in the
compilation of the Synthesis report.
39 This knowledge may be available through the selection of consultants for the CCS Team but it may
also be necessary for the Team to commission additional work (included within the terms of the
consultancy contract) from a national expert.
40 See for instance: ODI/Scanteam: Support Models for CSOs at Country Level – Bangladesh
Country Report, Oslo, August 2007, as well as the studies mentioned in this document.
49