Module 9 – The Contributions of Program Evaluation to Poverty Reduction

1. Module 9 – The Contributions of Program Evaluation to Poverty Reduction

2. Introductory Discussion • How can evaluation help determine the contribution of programs to poverty reduction?

3. Effect on living conditions • infant and infant/juvenile mortality • incidence of specific diseases IMPACT ... Then there will be an impact on poverty if the project reaches its objective IMPACT • Access, utilization and satisfaction • number of children who were vaccinated • % within 5 kms of a health centre EFFECTS OUTCOMES OUTPUTS DIRECT • Goods and services produced • number of nurses • availability of medications RESULTS • Financial and material resources • primary health care expenditures INPUTS INPUTS Clarify the Causal Relations Between the Project/Program and Poverty

4. Causal Relations Between a Project/Program and Poverty • Poverty and the impact on poverty (in a broad sense) are among the criteria for evaluating the success of programs. • The definition of poverty is quite broad (revenues and consumption, health, education, access to basic services, security, etc.). Therefore, most public policies and development aid programs contribute to poverty reduction. • But, for each specific project or program, it is necessary to identify the dimensions of poverty on which the contribution will focus and to precisely identify the various groups of beneficiaries.

5. Need for a National Evaluation System • The measurement of impacts on poverty requires specific investigations which, in some respects, go beyond the project or program level.

6. A National Evaluation System The ‘logical framework’ outlines four levels of monitoring and evaluation activities Impacts Impact on the standard of living Who are the beneficiaries?(access, utilization and satisfaction) Outcomes Goods and service produced by the project Outputs Inputs Resources generated for the project

7. A National Evaluation System • Identification of the information needed to evaluate the impact: • The evaluation of the global effect of the measures implemented on well-being and poverty levels: “ The evaluation of impacts and the monitoring of beneficiaries require specific data,the collection of which requires a concerted effort.”

8. A National Evaluation System

9. Some Sources of Information • National and local data: • National accounts • Data on public expenditures and services • Price index • Production data • Household data: • Census • Surveys: Integrated Survey, Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), labour market, service utilization, etc.

10. How Can One Be Sure the Impact Results from the Program? The project contributes only to poverty reduction Impact on poverty Measured effects Its objective is specific to the project Objective Level of uncertainty The attribution issue is especially important when it comes to the impact. One must be able to say what would have happened, in respect to poverty, without the project or the program!

11. How Can One Be Sure the Impact Results from the Program? • Questions that must be answered: • Has the professional training program contributed to job placements, or would these people have found work anyway? • Has the supply of textbooks contributed to the improvement of education levels or is this improvement caused by other factors? • Has the micro-financing project improved the standard of living of families or has their standard of living improved due to other factors?

12. How Can One Be Sure the Impact Results from the Program? • Going back to quantitative methods with a comparison group, their difficulties, and the ways that are being explored to overcome them… “Despite the billions of dollars spent on development assistance each year, there is still very little known about the actual impact of projects on the poor”. Evaluating the Impact of Development Projects on Poverty, A Handbook for Practitioners, Judy L. Baker

13. Detailed Presentation of your Case • Your own experience of the evaluation of a project or program’s contribution to poverty reduction