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OVERVIEW OF EAS PROJECTNovember 22, 2012

Mr. Jenkins Cooper, Vice-President, The Mitchell GroupDr. Louis A. Picard, Senior Capacity Building

Specialist, EAS ProjectMs. Kiné Liddell, Deputy Chief Of Party, EAS Project

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1. Project Objectives (Liddell) Local Capacity Building Provision of Evaluation and Analytical Services

2. Key Project Interventions Local Capacity Building-Picard

Capacity Building Objectives: Overall Theme

Local Partners Research Fellows Enumerators

Data Collection and Evaluations-Liddell & Picard Research and Analysis- Picard

3. Management and Organizational Structure (Cooper) Key Personnel Organizational Structure Home Office Management Communication Protocols4. Immediate Next Steps (Cooper)

Presentation Outline (Liddell)

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The objectives of the EAS Project are to:

build local counterpart capacity in evaluation and analytical support;

provide USAID/WA/RPGO with evaluation and analytical support in co-operation with local and regional partners …

…in support of USAID/WA/RPGO regional programs and objectives in:

Democracy and Governance Conflict prevention and mitigation Supporting local resiliencies against violent extremism

Project Objectives (Liddell)

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Research Institute Increased Capacity to Carry out Performance and Impact Evaluations

Increased Organizational Capacity to Assess Institutional Changes in Conflict Mitigation and Governance

Increased Institutional Capacity to Carry Out Assessment Research

Decrease the Need for Technical Assistance and External Interventions in the Monitoring and Evaluation Field over the Five Years of the Project

Capacity Building Objectives: Overall Theme (Picard)

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1. Regional Partners

Goal: Dedicated Staff for Monitoring and Evaluation Activities

Conduct baseline organizational analysis of regional partner capacity in monitoring and evaluation at the start of the project to better inform project design.

Conduct yearly assessments to measure changes in the capacity of organizations or networks being supported and ensure that local partners receiving capacity building support will take on increased responsibilities with respect to research design, management, implementation and production of final research products over the lifetime of the project

Technical Transfer Methodology: Training of Trainers and Organizational Development (OD)- Partners, First Tier to Second Tier Skills levels as agreed upon

Key Project Interventions- Local Capacity Building (Picard)

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2. Research Fellows: Key to Research and Analysis Skills Development

Promote the capacity of communities and policy makers to better understand key policy questions by providing emerging or established West African researchers with strong and on-going ties to the region yearly stipends to support research activities that relate to the work of RPGO in the region.

Citizens and Residents of Burkina Faso, Chad and Niger

Gender Balance

Target In-country Research Institute Placement

Key Project Interventions- Local Capacity Building (Picard)

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3. Enumerators: Interview Techniques

Provide specific technical training (guided by training manuals, training of trainers and appropriate quality control mechanisms) to ensure that the technical experts drawn from the partner organization and enumerators are well qualified and follow through on training received.

Assess progress by enumerators and local institutions in training enumerators during the life of this project in order to document capacity built.

Outline methods for measuring enumerator and partner capacity to include use of robust systems of oversight and quality control to verify the quality of enumerator work being done.

Enumerators and other field researchers used in assessments are residents of the localities being surveyed and have the confidence and trust of those being surveyed.

Key Project Interventions- Local Capacity Building (Picard)

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Key Project Interventions- Data Collection and Evaluations (Liddell)

USAID Evaluation Policy“An ambitious recommitment to learn as we do” – Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator

Rationale of EAS Project

USAID/WA has increased both the frequency as well as the standards for Mission level evaluation activities

Housing all RPGO evaluation needs under one project will allow USAID/WA/RPGO to:

evaluate the full spectrum of RPGO activities,

have a holistic approach to evaluation, be consistent in execution, make linkages through evaluation

between activities, better document potential trends and

lessons to be learned. have evaluative information available in a

more timely fashion.

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It is anticipated that the bulk of Data Collection and Evaluation activities in this project will be related to the Peace through Development II (PDEV II) Project being implemented in Chad, Burkina Faso, and Niger by IRD (International Relief and Development) and its partners .

1. Data Collection for Evaluation PurposesFor PDEV II Baseline Survey: Determine criteria for identifying control zones in PDEV II countries. Identify suitable control zones and modalities for surveys, controlling for security risks Training of local enumerators Quality Control of survey work being conducted

Ongoing:

Design of data collection tools and methodology in collaboration with RPGO and when applicable other implementing organizations.

Periodic data collection on projects such as P-DEV II; J’aime notre pays, in Cote d’Ivoire and Transparency and Accountability over Natural Resources, in Niger

With the use of graphic and digital mapping tools, creation of a matrix of previous relevant survey questions asked in the relevant sector / region (e.g. Afrobarometer survey) and analysis of the survey methodology used (e.g. areas covered by the survey etc).

Key Project Interventions- Data Collection and Evaluations (Liddell)

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Develop a system to identify and investigate any potential issues that might affect the on-going suitability of control groups where control groups / locations are used to measure impact.

Co-ordinate research actions with pre-existing research programs on-going in each location and where possible, leverage existing surveys and other research work already being undertaken within the region.

Ensure an appropriate gender mix among researchers and enumerators in the staffing levels of local partner organizations

Emphasis on Data Quality (Liddell)

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2. Evaluations: Performance-based evaluations to determine

whether a given program achieved its targets within its own frame of reference

Use of Performance Measurement Tools

Impact evaluations of both program performance and wider impact, often through the use of control groups

Key Project Interventions- Data Collection and Evaluations (Picard)

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In addition to baseline, mid-term, and end-line evaluations alluded to under the preceding section, other baseline, mid-term and final evaluations for individual projects / programs and/or cumulative performance and impact of projects of a similar nature implemented in sequence over time.

Tailored assessments and other studies as directed by RPGO, i.e. Country Risk Assessment of Violent Extremism in Niger

Key Project Interventions- Data Collection and Evaluations (Picard)

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Special studies and assessments including one broad CVE risk-based assessment per PDev II target country (Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso).

Tailored research on particular issues within West Africa, including short duration field-based research exercises.

Approximately 9 desk studies and 5 field-based research projects (one per year).

Use of Research Fellows and Regional Institutions to Implement Studies

Key Project Interventions- Research Analysis (Picard)

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Dr. Christopher M. Brown, Acting Chief of Party Dr. Brown is a senior associate with TMG, managing a small-business consortium under the Global Business, Trade and Investment II. He is a seasoned international development practitioner with 25 years’ experience including managing large bilateral democracy and governance programs (Haiti and Russia), as well as coordinating reconstruction efforts for Afghanistan on the USAID Administrator’s post 9/11 Task Force and serving as the Agency’s first Officer in Charge of Pakistan Affairs during the re-establishment of the USAID presence there in 2002-2003. He also has five years’ long-term experience working in Liberia and Mauritania.

Ms. Fatou Kiné Liddell, Deputy Chief of PartyMs. Kiné Liddell is an experienced program manager with expertise using results-based monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems to effectively manage program activities and demonstrate impact. Ms. Liddell has devoted the last 12 years to participating in and managing education and health field programs in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Benin, and the DRC. Prior to joining the EAS Project, Ms Liddell was the Senior Program Specialist for the American Council on Education, managing several higher education programs in seven African countries and providing technical assistance to US and African Universities in monitoring and evaluation, financial management, and programmatic activities. After receiving a BA in International Business from the University of Dakar in 1999, she obtained a Master’s in International Education from Harvard University in 2004. Ms. Liddell is fluent in English, French, and Wolof. 

Dr. Louis A. Picard, Senior Capacity Building SpecialistDr. Picard has conducted nine long-term and roughly 60 short-term projects in design, research, and monitoring and evaluation interventions in areas such as democracy and governance, local government development, personnel development, training and human resource development, rural development, education, and agriculture development in approximately 42 countries. Louis Picard served as Team Leader of a three-person USAID-funded team preparing a research paper on the cultural dimensions of decentralized governance for PADCO in 2006. He has also served as Capacity Building Specialist on an assessment mission to Southern Sudan for USAID. Other organizations he has worked for include; World Bank, National Defense University, USIA, UNDP, and US Department of State. Dr. Picard obtained an MA and PhD from the University of Wisconsin in Political Science (1977). Currently Louis Picard is Professor and Director of the Ford Institute for Human Security of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh.

Management and Organizational- Key Personnel (Cooper)

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Chris A. Belasco, Research and Analysis CoordinatorChris Belasco is an expert on the distribution of cash transfers in developing-country contexts. Mr. Belasco has 8 years of experience in managing research projects, overseeing junior staff, and coordinating cross-university cooperation among scholars. He has conducted a two-month field evaluation in Brazil and Venezuela through both semi-structured interviews and the analysis and modeling of survey data to report on the direction and quality of targeted cash transfer programs. His work in the fields of government cash transfer evaluation and humanitarian relief has yielded numerous conference presentations and working papers. He has worked extensively on issues of comparative political development within the fields of: social policy, foreign aid and human development, civil society, the political economy of foreign investment, and the political economy of oil revenue redistribution.

Dr. Steven Finkel, Lead Impact and Evaluation MethodologistWith a PhD in Political Behavior and Psychology, and Research Methodology from State University of New York at Stoney Brook, Dr. Finkel is currently the Department Chair of Political Science and a Daniel H. Wallace Professor of Political Science for the University Of Pittsburgh. He has more than 30 years of experience in designing and implementing assessments of democratic processes in civil education, society, democracy assistance, elections and turnouts for several organizations including IFES, USAID, MSI, and AED. Through his work as a co-principal investigator for the Knowledge-Attitudes-Practices (KAPS) Survey (Sri Lanka 2004, Kosovo 2006), Dr. Finkel helped pioneer the use of survey research as an aid to peace negotiations in conflict settings. 

Management and Organizational- Key Personnel (Cooper)

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Dr. Robert B. Charlick, Senior Applied ResearcherAs an International Development Consultant Professor in the Department of Political Science (Emeritus) for Cleveland State University, Dr. Charlick has experience throughout West Africa including countries; Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal on issues such as local level economic development, civil society, political change, conflict mitigation and management, conflict resolution, and corruption. In 2011 he led the team that completed the Democracy and Governance Assessment for USAID in Cote d’Ivoire. He was also team leader for USAID/Senegal’s Corruption Assessment in 2007. He was Project Leader for Strengthening Civil Society’s Capacity for Conflict Prevention for the USAID/ West Africa Regional Program in 2001. He also holds a PhD in Comparative Politics, International Politics, and Social Anthropology from the University of California (1974), as well as being fluent in French, and conversational ability in Hausa.

To Be Hired: Regional Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation Coordinator based at WANEP Regional Secretariat in Accra, GhanaThe EAS Regional Research, Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator will manage field implementation activities in Ghana and in the Region while keeping the TMG Management and Home Office Personnel in Washington, DC abreast of the project’s progress and challenges. This position is housed at the WANEP Regional Secretariat in Accra, Ghana and reports to the WANEP Programs Director. The incumbent will act as the local representative for the EAS Project; serve as liaison between TMG and its NGO Partners in West Africa; and ensure the timely accomplishment of project deliverables. The incumbent will also be available to answer USAID/West Africa’s questions about day-to-day operations on approved EAS Project tasks.

Management and Organizational- Key Personnel (Cooper)

Host Countries +

Other Donors

USAID/WARP RPGO

USAID/W

University of Pittsburgh

Acting COP,Christopher Brown

Senior TMG/HQ Corporate Support

DCOP + M&E Specialist,

Fatou Kiné Liddell

Operations + Finance Officer

Research and Analysis Team Leader, Bob

Charlick

Field Team Coordinator (FTC)

Accra, G hana

Regional Field M&E Specialist

Regional Field M&E Specialist

Regional Field M&E Specialist

Regional Field M&E Specialist

Regional Field M&E Specialist

Research and Analysis Coordinator

Pitt

Field Team Admin Specialist

Accra, Ghana

STTA Consultants

Lead Methodologist, Steve Finkel,

Pitt

Capacity Building Team Leader,

Lou Picard, Pitt

Management and Organizational- Organogram

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TMG Corporate Support (Cooper) Jenkins Cooper, Vice–President, TMG Abi Fasosin, Chief Financial Officer, TMG Lans Kumalah, Operations Director, TMG Bernice Yalley, Corporate Backstop, TMG

University of Pittsburgh Home Office Support (Picard) Dr. Louis Picard, Director, Ford Institute for Human

Security, University of Pittsburgh, (PITT) Chris Belasco, Research Coordinator, PITT Alisha Cuniff, Comptroller, PITT Diane Roth Cohen, Administrator, Ford Institute for

Human Security, PITT Danielle Loustau-Williams, Publications Director

Management and Organizational– Home Office Management (Cooper & Picard)

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ACTIVITY ANTICIPATED TIMELINEPreparation and submission of Year One Work Plan

By December 3, 2012

Execution of formal Teaming Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with each First Tier Partner

By December 10, 2012

Scope of Work for Baseline Survey of PDEV II Control Areas in Chad and Niger

December 2012

Baseline Survey of PDEV II Control Areas in Chad and Niger

January 2013

Baseline Survey of PDEV II Control Areas in Burkina Faso

Timing to Be Determined

Performance Review of PDEV II March 2013, report to be delivered in advance of USAID/WA May 2013 Performance Implementation Review

Inventory of Monitoring and Evaluation Capacity in Partnership Institutes

Within first 6 months

Training of Trainers Within first 6 months

Immediate Next Steps after this Workshop*(Picard, Cooper, & Liddell)

*Please note: EAS will function with a task order modality!

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Thank you for your attention!