Campaigns to End Violence against Women and Girls - Virtual ...

the changes in the individuals, groups, organizations or institutions that the campaign
influenced, (ii) assess the significance of these changes, and (iii) plausibly explain how
and to which extent the campaign contributed through its activities and outputs, directly
or indirectly, intentionally or unexpectedly. (Ricardo Wilson-Grau, personal
communication)
2. Who is going to use the information, what for and when? An effective monitoring
system serves the primary intended users, and uses of the data it generates. Thus,
the campaign team, board members and donors will need information about major
developments in the campaign to make informed decisions. What information they
require, and when, will determine the degrees of certainty and precision and
scientific rigor that are to be applied.
Example: The Canadian International Development Research Center (IDRC) has a
policy that “at IDRC, if you cannot identify and articulate the primary intended users and
uses of the evaluation you should not conduct the evaluation. Unused evaluation is a
waste of precious human and financial resources.” (IDRC, 2004. Writing Terms of
Reference (ToRs) for an Evaluation).
Identifying the primary intended user(s) and use(s) of a campaign’s M&E: From
beginning to end, the monitoring and formative evaluation process (M&E) should be
designed and carried out around the needs of the primary intended users. The users are
those particular individuals or groups who intend to use the M&E process or findings to
inform their decisions or actions. It is important to distinguish between the target
audience and the primary intended users. An audience is a group, whether or not
they are the client(s), who will or should see and may react to the findings. Thus, the
audience may be interested in the monitoring and evaluation but has a more passive
relationship with it than the primary intended users.
Users are actually involved in the M&E process itself – i.e. clarifying intended uses and
identifying priority questions, preferred methods, and appropriate dissemination strategy.
This typically results in increased use of the findings. If these individuals or groups are
not included, M&E runs the risk of producing results that may never be used.
The primary intended uses of both M&E findings and process should also be
clear. The findings will support decision-making or changed thinking and behaviour by
the primary intended users.
The uses of the findings about the campaign can include:
- Being accountable for what has been done and achieved.
- Facilitating improvements.
- Generating knowledge.
Process uses are expected changes to result from the conduct itself of M&E.
Some examples:
- Enhancing communication and shared understanding amongst campaign
participants
- Supporting or reinforcing the campaign as participants learn from their
involvement in the M&E. For example: ‘what gets measured gets done’.
- Increasing engagement, self-determination and ownership
- Nurturing an M&E culture
- Learning M&E thinking
- Building capacity to monitor and evaluate
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Campaigns December 2011