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

7.9 CAMPAIGN EVALUATION
OVERVIEW
Evaluation assesses the merit or worth of the campaign. It brings together monitoring
data, and findings from additional research to assess the effectiveness, or likely
effectiveness (in formative evaluation), of a campaign and its different elements. Ideally,
an appropriate baseline assessment and well-documented, regular monitoring form the
basis for rigorous evaluation. Where such a basis has not been built, participatory
approaches that explore stakeholders’ memories of activities, outcomes and challenges
encountered are particularly important.
Bear in mind: While monitoring is an on-going process accompanying all campaign
activities, evaluations are more time-bound and specific interventions, usually carried
out at the end or at particular moments (e.g. mid-term) during campaigns. When and
how monitoring activities and evaluations take place, should be decided in the campaign
planning phase.
Evaluation can start with the first campaign planning steps through to the formative
research needed to devise an appropriate campaign strategy. Mid-term, “real-time” or
“developmental” evaluations that are carried out while the campaign is running
include a strong formative element – a key purpose is to learn from previous campaign
phases so as to improve the following ones or develop innovative approaches.
Summative evaluations, conducted after the campaign ends, focus on campaign
outcomes and impact.
Internal versus external
An evaluation can be conducted by the campaign team/alliance (self-evaluation or
internal evaluation), or commissioned to an external actor. Both types of evaluation
should involve stakeholders in the campaign, i.e. be conducted in a participatory
manner, so as to obtain as comprehensive and accurate a picture of the realities of the
campaign.
� A self-evaluation can be seen as a way of learning and improving practice. It takes
substantial capacity for open self-reflection to do this effectively, so it may often be
beneficial to call in an outsider to facilitate the internal evaluation. Formative
evaluations are often carried out by the campaign team itself.
� In an external evaluation, usually most appropriate for summative evaluations, an
outsider or outsider team is chosen to carry out the evaluation. This can be a
research institute or an experienced consultant who has the knowledge and capacity
to apply advanced techniques and handle more complex evaluation questions. The
external evaluator should not have any direct stake in the campaign objectives, but it
is advisable that he or she be familiar with the topic and ethical issues related to
researching VAW.
TOOLS:
� ‘What we know about…Evaluation Planning’ from the US Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) is a quick summary on what is evaluation and how
to do it, using examples from a VAW campaign conducted in Western Australia.
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Campaigns December 2011