Evaluating ICT for Education in Africa - Royal Holloway, University of ...

„You are throwing terms around as if they are everydaylanguage but it is not, people will not understand it. You haveworked on the topic for years – you need to consider thatwhen you talk to us.‟Through this encounter I learnt that effective partnership based monitoringand evaluation requires an intentional decision to employ accessible languagethat does not ostracise those from a non-specialist background. This resultsin slower initial progress but a greater chance of overall sustainedcommitment from partners. Deciding to operate in this manner led to agradual change in culture across the partnership with various partnersincreasingly recognising the value of monitoring and evaluation and adoptingit into their individual approach. This issue is returned to in detail throughthe subsequent discussion regarding capacity development in section 6.6.Alongside oral clarity, the challenge of effective communication also affectsthe written dimension of monitoring and evaluation exercises. This requirespresenting outputs of the research in a form that the audience deems to becredible and dependable (Baxter and Eyles 1997). This is a prerequisite forany effective writing but was exacerbated in this context by the distinct anddifferent written communication cultures of each partner. It was therefore arequirement of the cross-sectoral reports to express findings in such a way aseach could recognise value and utilise the lessons learnt.Having established both an oral and written communication style conducivefor effective partnership, there remained a challenge regarding whatinformation from the monitoring and evaluation was appropriate fordisseminating to a wider audience. Tensions existed between partnersregarding how the lessons learnt could be shared honestly and potentiallycritically without undermining the partners and still strengtheningcollaboration for the future. Alongside this were significant partner concernsin both Malawi and Ethiopia regarding the implications of an associatedacademic maintaining the prerogative to publish potentially critical reports.The private sector partner concern regarding public relations was248