1. Module 8: Monitoring, evaluation and learning – for increased impact and improvement of the IEA process

2. Sessions at a Glance Session 1: Introduction to Module
Session 2: Definitions and Context
Session 3: Developing a Monitoring and Evaluation Plan
Session 4: Framework, Attributes and Measures
Session 5: Planning a Self-Assessment
Session 6: Improvement Opportunities

3. Exercise: Previous Experience with Monitoring and Evaluation (30 minutes)
Discuss with your neighbour (10 minutes)
When have you been involved in an evaluation/monitoring process?
What were some of the keys to success?
What were some of the challenges?
Discuss in plenary (20 minutes)
Your stories, key elements of success and key challenges in plenary.

4. Monitoring Defined
Monitoring is a planned, systematic process that closely follows a course of activities, and compares what is happening with what is expected to happen.
Monitoring the IEA process makes sure the assessment meets its goals, while working within the scope of allocated resources (i.e., time, financial, human, informational and technical).

5. Evaluation Defined
Evaluation assesses an achievement against preset criteria. Evaluations can have a variety of purposes, and follow distinct methodologies (process, outcome, performance, etc.).
Evaluation of the IEA process determines the extent to which achievements (outputs, outcomes and impacts) are comparable with the originally intended purpose, and what lessons can be learned for the next environmental assessment and management cycle.
The evaluation of the process is, first and foremost, a capacity-development opportunity.

6. Compare Monitoring and Evaluation
Collecting data
Sense of progress
Present time
Attention to details
Inspires motivation
Occurs continuously
Requires management skills
Asks: What needs to happen now to achieve our goal
Evaluation
Assessing data
Sense of achievement
Past / future time
Attention to bigger picture
Inspires creativity
Occurs intermittently
Requires leadership skills
Asks: Have we achieved our goal? Can we do better next time?

7. Learning Defined
An emotional and/or cognitive transformation taking place during information collection and information processing, bringing about behaviour change or change in the ability to act differently.

8. Key Questions for Developing an Evaluation Plan
1. What is the purpose of the evaluation?
2. Who will use the evaluation results?
3. Who will do the evaluation?
4. What evaluation framework is practical?
5. What needs to be monitored and evaluated?
6. What are the steps to develop a self-assessment matrix?
7. How can I use the evaluation to enhance a learning culture that keeps improving my IEA process?

9. Stages of National IEA Process,

10. GEO as a Reporting Process

11. Plan - Do - Review Model ,

12. Why Monitoring and Evaluation?
Lessons learned from IEAs help improve policy making processes, policies and state of environment.
The IEA process builds capacity for periodic policy revision through monitoring and evaluation.
Capacity is built among individuals and organizations.

13. Conceptual Understanding of the National IEA Process, With Links to Ecosystem Health and Human Well-Being

14. Example: Ozone-related Treaties
Continuous improvement of ozone-related international treaties was due to research-based evidence.
This involved close monitoring of ozone concentrations in the stratosphere, simulation of possible scenarios, and revision of international agreements.
Monitoring took into account processes, products and impacts.

15. Example: SoE Monitoring in India
Capacity building and preparation of the SoE report are the main activities of the SoE Monitoring Program.
National Host Institutions (NHI) and State Host Institutions (SHI) lead the program.
A two-stage monitoring and evaluation program is in place.

16. SoE Monitoring in India
Stage 1:
NHI performance evaluation (done by the Ministry) is indicated by the number of states that have progressed in their SoE programs and published final SoE reports.
Stage 2:
SHI performance as measured through the number of SoE reports prepared.
The success of NHIs depend on SHI success, and SHIs depend on NHIs for funding.

17. Coupling Science and Policy
Communication between the cycle of scientific data collection and processing, and the cycle of policy making is facilitated by a GEO-type process.
It can take decades to develop the right set of policies after the first evidence of an environmental issue.

18. Example: Lake Balaton, Hungary
The first scientific warnings of eutrophication in were published in the early 1970s.
The process of policy response included:
unusual scientific observation;
scientific debate;
acceptance by the policy-makers;
policy development;
policy enforcement; and
a long time period required before the cumulative impact was apparent.

19. Example: United Kingdom
The UK government has been publishing environmental indicators since 1996.
The UK sustainable development strategy in 1999 significantly incorporated indicators.
Headline indicators are used to communicate progress.
An interdepartmental management board coordinates indicator development.
Indicators were more successful in communicating progress than policy review.

20. Example: Ministry of Environment, Hungary
Over a decade of published environmental and sustainable development indicators.
Trends are distributed to a wide audience of technical experts, policy-makers and the general public.
Regularly updated information has been a factor in the reports’ policy impacts.

21. Discussion: Additional Examples
Do you know of other examples of how research-based evidence can guide policy making and lead to improvements?
What are some examples in your country at the national level?

22. Sessions at a Glance Session 1: Introduction to Module
Session 2: Definitions and Context
Session 3: Developing a Monitoring and Evaluation Plan
Session 4: Framework, Attributes and Measures
Session 5: Planning a Self-Assessment
Session 6: Improvement Opportunities

23. Foundation Steps for Effective Monitoring and Evaluation
Identifying your purpose.
Identifying your primary users.
Deciding whether internal or external evaluators best serve your purpose.

24. 1. Types of Purpose
Judgment: Sets clear criteria and standards to judge performance. Can increase credibility of the GEO-process.
Improvement: Open-ended evaluation that measures change over time. Often applied to cyclical activities, like the GEO Process.
Knowledge-creation: Identifies emerging knowledge and insights. Increases the saliency of the GEO process.

25. 2. Users of a GEO-type Evaluation
People who:
can revise the GEO process: have the mandate, knowledge and skills; and
want to revise the GEO process: have a vested interest in influencing the design and implementation of the GEO process.

26. Primary Users The primary users of the evaluation may include:
IEA core team (includes policy-makers);
policy and decision-makers who are primary users of the IEA; and
the evaluation team (internal and/or external).

27. Exercise: Purpose for Monitoring and Evaluation
In small groups, discuss the following:
Why do you need a plan for monitoring and evaluation of your IEA process and impact at the beginning of your planning process?
Why is improvement-oriented evaluation relevant to your IEA process?
Using the information above, what would you state as the purpose of your evaluation?

28. Exercise: Continued 4. Who are potential users?
What are their interests in using the evaluation results?
Do they have a mandate to revise the GEO?
Group discussion (30 minutes), plenary presentations (15 minutes)

29. 3. Evaluators Evaluators may include:
A small internal evaluation task force (including the IEA core team, which is recommended).
External evaluators (consultants and internal evaluators of another IEA).
A combination of internal and external parties.

30. Plenary Discussion: Identifying Evaluators (40 minutes)
In small groups, for 20 minutes,
Brainstorm key criteria for selecting evaluators; and
Identify types of evaluators and possible names.
In plenary, discuss your results (20 minutes).

31. Plenary Discussion Continued:
What are some other parameters to consider for a monitoring and evaluation plan to be a success in my context?

32. Sessions at a Glance Session 1: Introduction to Module
Session 2: Definitions and Context
Session 3: Steps to Developing a Monitoring and Evaluation Plan
Session 4: Framework, Attributes and Measures
Session 5: Planning a Self-Assessment
Session 6: Improvement Opportunities

33. Corresponding Attributes of Effective Evaluations

34. Conceptual Understanding of the National IEA Process, With Links to Ecosystem Health and Human Well-Being

35. Framework for Monitoring and Evaluating the National IEA Process

36. Monitoring the timely Completion of Key Activities and Outputs

37. Possible Measures for Effective Knowledge Management

38. Discussion: Effective Knowledge Management (30 minutes)
In small groups, consider the following (15 minutes):
1. Can you think of additional important measures of effective knowledge management?
What do you think are reasonable targets for the measures you identified?

39. Possible Measures for Effective Opportunity Management

40. Discussion: Effective Opportunity Management (30 minutes)
In small groups, consider the following (15 minutes):
1. Can you think of important measures of effective opportunity management not included in the table above?
What do you think are reasonable targets for the measures you identified?

41. Measures for Effective Relationship Management
Identifying relationships based on behaviour
Behaviour Type
Receiving (individual, organization)
Seeking (individual, organization)
Acting Upon (individual, organization, institution)
Demanding (individual, organization, institution)
Behaviour Exhibited
Reports, s, listserv
Target users seek new information.
Technical expertise is sought to revise policies.
Specific needs, such as monitoring data for the next IEA cycle.

42. Possible Measures for Effective Relationship Management

43. Discussion: Measuring Relationship Management (30 minutes)
In small groups, consider the following (15 minutes):
Can you think of any other important measures of effective relationship management?
What reasonable targets would you recommend for various measures?

44. Measures for Improvements in Policy and Policy Making
Measurement should relate to the change statement you identified in your impact strategy.
Measurement should also track other observed improvements in policies and policy processes.

45. Sessions at a Glance Session 1: Introduction to Module
Session 2: Definitions and Context
Session 3: Steps to Developing a Monitoring and Evaluation Plan
Session 4: Framework, Attributes and Measures
Session 5: Planning a Self-Assessment
Session 6: Improvement Opportunities

46. Planning a Self Assessment
Step 1
Identify major issues and monitoring questions, and develop specific measures.
Step 2
Identify sources of data and data collection methods.
Step 3
Set priorities and frequency of monitoring

47. Effective Relationship Management Activities and Outputs
Step 1. Identify Major Issues and Monitoring Questions, and Develop Specific Measures
Outcomes
Your Change Statement
Effective Relationship Management
Activities and Outputs
Effective Knowledge Management
Effective Opportunity Management
Timely completion of activities and outputs

48. Outcome-based Measures: Possible Organization of Your Self-Assessment Matrix
Key Issues/Questions
Specific Measures and Target
Data Source
Data Collection Method
Your Change Statement
Have the desired improvements in policies and policy processes that you identified in your impact strategy been realized?
What other improvements in policies and policy processes have you observed during and following your national IEA process?
Effective Relationship Management
What changes in the thinking and actions of policy-makers and decision-makers (and other important relationships) have you observed?
See Table 4 for guidance

49. Activity and Output-based Measures: Possible Organization of Your Self-Assessment Matrix
Stage of the IEA
Key Issues / Questions
Specific Measures and Targets
Data Source
Data Collection Method
Stage 1
Inception
Timely completion of activities and outputs
See Table 7 for guidance
Effective Knowledge and Opportunity Management
See Table 5 and 6 for guidance
Stage 2
Institutional Setup
Stage 3
Scoping and Design
Stage 4
Planning
Stage 5
Implementation of IEA
Stage 6
Communication and Outreach
Stage 7
Evaluation

50. Step 2: Identify Sources of Data and Data Collection Methods

51. Collecting Data for Monitoring Effective Relationship Management
Requires that changes in behavior be identified and mapped:
these incremental changes will lead towards the decisions or changes you are seeking.
Can be a time intensive process, so it is important to set up simple ways to monitor your strategy against those measures.
Can set up a small contacts database with a journaling function (see next slide).

52. Collecting Data for Monitoring Effective Relationship Management

53. Step 3: Set priorities and Frequency of Monitoring and Evaluation
Ensure that critical indicators are monitored.
Establish the frequency of monitoring for each indicator.
Process indicators are needed throughout the IEA.
Progress indicators are needed less frequently, but long after the IEA is complete.

54. Exercise: Preparing a Self-Assessment
Form working groups of 4–5 persons.
Complete steps 1–3 for preparing a self-assessment matrix.
Step 1: Identify major issues and monitoring questions, and develop specific measures. For activity and output-based measures, assign different stages to different groups and compile in plenary.
Step 2: Identify sources of data and data collection methods.
Step 3: Set priorities and frequency of monitoring
Plenary Session to compile the results and discuss them.

55. Sessions at a Glance Session 1: Introduction to Module
Session 2: Definitions and Context
Session 3: Steps to Developing a Monitoring and Evaluation Plan
Session 4: Framework, Attributes and Measures
Session 5: Planning a Self-Assessment
Session 6: Improvement Opportunities

56. Improvement Opportunities
Thinking of an IEA as a capacity-building process significantly increases its impact.
The more that monitoring and evaluation is treated as an organizational learning opportunity (versus a value judgment), the more effectively the IEA supports improvements in policy making.

57. Exercise: Learning In pairs, for 10 minutes:
Think of the last time you learned something new. What was it, how did you learn it and what did you do differently as a result?

58. What is learning? Learning is more than knowledge creation;
Learning is demonstrated by behaviour change; and
Information processing, in addition to information collection, is of paramount importance.

59. Learning Cycle

60. Exercise: Learning
A. Write what comes to mind based on the following four questions (5 minutes):
1. What did you hear during the GEO module training course (e.g., Stage 1) that you already knew?
2. What new information and insight did you gain?
3. How are you going to use this new insight?
4. How else and when could you use this new information? How could you improve policy making with this new insight?

61. Exercise: Learning
Discuss your findings with your neighbors (5 minutes).
In plenary, discuss the insights you have gained from this exercise.
How did the group discussion help you to recognize improvement opportunities for the national IEA process and ways to have impact, such as causing changes in policy making? (15 minutes.)

62. A Few Prerequisites for Learning
motivation, which often is the urgency to solve a problem, or act with the support of new knowledge;
trust to discuss values, assumptions and ideas without repercussions;
mandate and opportunity to apply the new knowledge; and
shared understanding of the importance of learning (not only what to learn but also how to learn).

63. Learning Cycle with GEO-Specific Questions

64. Organizational Learning Cycle

65. The Role of Learning in Improving the IEA
Formulate your change statement (Module 3).
Identify measures for your change statement and other supporting measures for key outcomes and activities/outputs (Module 8, Tables 8 and 9)
Examine performance against making the desired changes and summarize results
Formulate recommendations and lessons learned.
Integrate (feedback) recommendations and lessons learned to improve the next planning cycle and other decisions.

66. How Can We Use Learning Opportunities? – The Monitoring Meeting
Learning opportunities naturally present themselves at the beginning and end of each IEA stage and each IEA cycle. These are the times when you need to reflect and articulate lessons learned to improve the next course of action.
Given the limited time available, we suggest that your core IEA team organize regular, mid-stage and/or stage-end monitoring and evaluation meetings to serve two purposes:
1. Monitor progress toward and capture lessons learned to improve the next IEA stage and the next IEA cycle.
2. Cultivate a learning, improvement-oriented approach throughout the whole IEA process.

67. Questions for Monitoring Meetings
What were the most revealing lessons for you in this stage?
How can you use this knowledge, attitude to improve the next stages process, outputs or targeted changes?
Have you achieved what we planned for in this stage? If yes, what factors helped? If not, what factors hindered. How can we reach the desired goal?
Are there any unexpected results, emerging phenomena, trends or questions you want to discuss?
How did this stage contribute to the perception of saliency, legitimacy and credibility of the national IEA process?

68. Suggestions for General and Stage-Specific Questions and Exercises for Monitoring Progress and Promoting Learning at Specific GEO Stages
General questions
for monitoring meetings
GEO Stage
Major activity
Prevailing learning condition
Stage-specific activities
(see Box 7)
(1) What were the most revealing lessons for you in this stage?
(2) How can you use this knowledge, attitude to improve the next stages, process, outputs or targeted changes?
(3) Have you achieved what we planned for in this stage? If yes, what factors helped? If not, what factors hindered? How can you reach the desired goal?
(4) Are there any unexpected results, emerging phenomena, trends or questions you want to discuss?
(5) How did this stage contribute to the perception of saliency, legitimacy and credibility of the national IEA process? 1
Inception 2
Institutional setup
Mandate
Articulate, confirm mandate 3
Scoping and design
Trust
Nurture trust
Force-field analysis 4
Planning
Information processing
Create opportunities for collective information processing 5
Implementation
Shared understanding of learning
Remind participants of how they learn best
Keep, start, stop doing 6
Communication
Motivation
Revisit motivation
Carousel discussion 7
Evaluation
Application
Focus on lessons learned for application
Samoan circle

69. Exercise: Designing a monitoring meeting
In groups of 4 or 5, prepare an agenda for half-day monitoring meeting for any stage of your IEA process (30 min). Address the following:
What specific progress measures will be part of your meeting?
What learning opportunities might be identified for the stage of the IEA process you have selected?
In plenary, discuss the results from two groups (15 min).