OBGP 3320 - Evaluation of International Cooperation Projects and Humanitarian Operations (NEW)

The course on “Evaluation of International Cooperation and Humanitarian Operations” enables future international cooperation professionals to understand the central role of Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) functions in the project cycle, from its design to its final evaluation. Monitoring defines the actions to be taken for the close oversight of implementation activities, while Evaluation ensures, at defined intervals, that the project is adequately fulfilling its assigned objectives. Accountability defines all the processes for presenting the results of monitoring and evaluation analyses to donors, the implementing organization, its partners, and the beneficiaries, individuals, or target groups supported by the project. Finally, Learning attempts to extract lessons learned and best practices from past activities, enabling the replicability or development of new projects within the same thematic or geographic area. Therefore MEAL functions are increasingly seen as an essential component of the project cycle in order to adequately reflect its qualitative and quantitative achievements of activities, outputs outcomes and impact.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will understand the basic principles of monitoring and evaluation of international cooperation and/or humanitarian projects and their positioning within the project life cycle
• Students will assess the importance of accountability and learning for donors and organizations
• Students will know how to determine the role of various families of indicators to assess the effectiveness or the impact of international cooperation and/or humanitarian projects
• Students will learn how to compose an M&E framework with all its components

Professional Skills

At the end of this course, students should be in a position to

• Design, plan and implement a monitoring and evaluation framework for international cooperation and/or humanitarian projects
• Implement various methodological tools in support of a evaluation or capitalization exercise
• Reflect on the relevance and importance of MEAL for any international cooperation and/or humanitarian projects

There is no particular prerequisite to this course. The students will ideally have an initial understanding of the international cooperation and humanitarian ecosystem and its various stakeholders through volunteering, readings or national/field experience. They should also have an understanding of the basics of project management (project management life cycle, project management tools and operational guidelines).

• Immediate feedback will be given to students in class after oral presentations, and/or at the beginning of each session (for the works who could not have been presented in class)
• Formal feedback will be given to each paper (Summaries/PPT of Oral presentations/Zoom capsules; Final Work) submitted by students

(i) Oral presentations (3*20%): specific evaluation proposals presented by the teacher. Subjects will be presented in class and/or shared through small Zoom sessions.

(ii) Group work: 30% - students will organize themselves in groups of 4/5 persons and will develop a complete international cooperation and/or humanitarian evaluation. Subjects in the realm of international cooperation/humanitarian operations will be proposed by the teacher at the beginning of the course. All project proposals will be subject to a short presentation in class and a written report submitted.

• Attendance: 2 hours a week / 24 hours a semester
• Online learning activities: 02 hours a week / 24 hours a semester
• Reading and Preparation for Class: 02 hours a week / 48hours a semester
• Research and Preparation for Group Work: 1,5 hours a week / 18 hours a semester
• Research and Writing for Individual Assessments: 1,5 hours a week / 36 hours a semester