Impact Evaluation Experiences from the Field

1. Impact Evaluation Experiences from the Field Sebastian Martinez Impact Evaluation Cluster, AFTRL

2. Some Field Experiences Complete (Stages 1-6) • Piso Firme (Housing in Mexico) • Iniciamos Tu Casa (Housing in Mexico) • Mejoramos Tu Casa (Housing in Mexico) • Juventud y Empleo (Youth Training in DR) Baseline (Stages 1-4) • Educacion Inicial (ECD in Mexico) • Plan Nacer (Health Insurance in Argentina) Design (Stages 1-3) • About 10 evaluations in design or baseline stage

3. Impact Evaluation “Life Cycle”

4. Timing & Planning • Impact evaluation design during program design • Baseline survey in the field before program implementation • Exposure period • long enough for results • short enough for politics • Follow up survey in the field before implementation in Control areas • Schedule: work backwards from date results are needed

5. Impact Evaluation Team Design and implement evaluation with: • TTL & Project team • Government counterparts • Other key selected players (donors, NGOs, etc.) • Impact evaluation experts • Data collection agency

6. Budget • Data collection • Consultants • Staff time Financing • Allocate project baseline and ex-post evaluation to IE • Trust Fund money • Piggy back on ongoing data collection

7. A few thoughts… • Design evaluation at same time as project • Get key stakeholders onboard • Operations: build an explicit IE team, timeline • Monitor project implementation • Be prepared for delays • Long run benefits far outweigh short term costs