An innovative approach to program evaluation that takes readers behind the scenes of real evaluations and the decisions the evaluators made.

Are you overwhelmed on how to do nonprofit program evaluation? You're not alone. Chari's here to help! There are many ways to do program evaluation, making it difficult to know how to start. In this book, Chari outlines a clear approach, filled with real world stories as well as examples of evaluation plans, surveys, and reports. Key topics addressed: Understand how to build buy-in for evaluation and address staff resistance and make a realistic program evaluation plan Create measurable outcomes for both grant applications and to guide program improvement Develop an impact and/or logic model that visually communicates what your program does and the difference it makes Create useful surveys that measure what matters Understand the choices in how to manage your data - spreadsheets v. database solutions Basic data analysis and reporting to make meaning of your data Included with the book is a link to a companion website filled with downloadable real world examples and templates.

This volume analyzes how evaluation theorists apply their approach in practice. A scenario of a situation at an elementary school is presented to four prominent theorists, who describe how they would design and conduct an evaluation of the school's program. The editors consider the theorists' proposed evaluations, as well as their subsequent comments, to develop themes related to the influence of theory and context on practice. They also provide a comparative analysis of the theorists' evaluation approaches in relation to the context of evaluation case presented. Evaluation theorists seem to be quite good at propounding on how they think the evaluation world ought to work. Yet do we really know that what theorists say they would do in practice is indeed what they would actually do? Evaluation, after all, is situational. Each context offers its own constituency, set of values, programmatic elements, bureaucratic hurdles, and other variables. This volume demonstrates why evaluators need to adapt their point of view to a particular situation, and provides much-needed study and analysis on the way in which they make those adaptations. This is the 106th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Evaluation.

This text presents both the quantitative and qualitative methods and focuses on teaching students how to skillfully apply the full range of research designs, methods and strategies to evaluation of social work in all domains of social work practice. The book provides a framework for the integration of systematic inquiry with practice that can be used by all social workers. The authors have created a model called, "evaluation practice" that provides the evidence-based structure within which diverse social work theories and skills can be organized, examined and verified.

Cash transfers have become a key social protection tool in developing countries and have expanded dramatically in the last two decades. However, the impacts of cash transfers programmes, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, have not been substantially documented. This book presents a detailed overview of the impact evaluations of these programmes, carried out by the Transfer Project and FAO’s From Protection to Production project. The 14 chapters include a review of eight country case studies: Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, as well as a description of the innovative research methodologies, political economy issues and good practices to design cash transfer programmes. The key objective of the book is to enhance the understanding of these development programmes, how they lead to a broad range of social and productive impacts and also of the role of programme evaluation in the process of developing policies and implementing programmes.

Concentrates on the steps vital to program evaluation, including systematically identifying stakeholder needs, selecting evaluation options best suited to particular needs, and turning decisions into action.