1. Alemaya University Regional Programme to Strengthen Managing for Impact (SMIP) in Eastern and Southern Africa M&E as Learning – rethinking the dominant Paradigm

2. Alemaya University How have we done?  Despite large amounts of aid the development record is very patchy (cf Asia)  Meta-analysis of IFAD/WB projects reveals that we are repeating mistakes eg FTCs in Ethiopia  Development is still heavily donor-driven  Although there are some good examples…..  We cannot continue to do business as usual

3. Alemaya University Current trends in development  Need to be able to demonstrate impact - convince donors that worthwhile results are being achieved  Similarly, increasing pressure for donors to justify investment  This means a need to combine technical solutions with social and institutional change - Participation and empowerment  Need for a flexible process approach to development where implementing partners and beneficiaries (primary stakeholders) learn together

4. Alemaya University What is impact?  Impact on livelihoods, policies, institutions and processes “The changes in the lives of rural people, as perceived by them and their partners, plus sustainability enhancing change in their environment to which the project has contributed”

5. Alemaya University Barriers to impact 1. Analysis of situation inadequate and driven by external forces 2. The ways organizations operate and the institutional context top- down and leads to lack of participation and ownership 3. Projects and programmes not adaptive to changing situations 4. Catastrophes (shocks and stressors) undermine current situations 5. Lack of proven and effective service delivery models at local level 6. Lack of sufficient and quality human resources 7. Lack of organizations working together in effective partnerships 8. Power and vested interests influence the development agenda 9. Non-enabling institutional framework 10. Alternative conflicting development paradigms

6. Alemaya University Alternative paradigm for M&E being outlined presupposes that M&E system fulfils the following purposes:  Accountability – demonstrating to donors, beneficiaries and implementing partners that expenditure, actions and results are as agreed or are as can reasonably be expected in a given situation.  Supporting operational management - providing the basic management information needed to direct, coordinate and control the human, financial and physical resources required to achieve any given objective.  Supporting strategic management – providing the information for and facilitating the processes required to set and adjust goals, objectives and strategies and to improve quality and performance.  Knowledge creation – generating new insights that contribute to the established knowledge base in a given field.  Empowerment – building the capacity, self reliance and confidence of beneficiaries and implementing staff and partners to effectively guide, management and implement development initiatives. Purpose of M&E

7. Alemaya University Challenges within M&E  The LFA  The demand for accountability and impact  Quantitative indicators only, please  The tyranny of participation  Lesson learning  Everything for nothing

8. Alemaya University The basis for an alternative M&E paradigm (1)  Increased demand for integrating learning in our work: Learning organisations Integrating lessons learned in our work, Making M&E more reflective and learning oriented Collaboration with stakeholders in multi-stakeholder processes: important to facilitated (social) learning processes and generating and documenting lessons learned

9. Alemaya University The basis for an alternative M&E paradigm (2)  Learning from a constructivist perspective - what is perceived as “real” is influenced by history, culture & language; value of experiential learning  “Learning” is not just about the accumulation of knowledge & skills but also the ability to constantly improve the efficacy for action  Recognising dynamic environments and uncertainty, need for responsive & adaptive management - the environments in which pro-poor initiatives operate is dynamic & often difficult to predict  Moving from external design and evaluation to internal learning  Types and sources of information for learning and management is increasingly impact and results based

10. Alemaya University The basis for an alternative M&E paradigm (3)  Integrating action learning into development initiatives which can improve efficiency and effectiveness  Capacities, incentives and resources – need to acknowledge innovation and be open to failure  Emphasis on critical reflection

11. Alemaya University The managing for impact approach  …a participatory management and learning approach, which seeks to address the needs of people, communities and organisations to bring about positive change  …at it’s heart lies people and organisations, where all involved in a development initiative become part of a learning alliance that seeks to achieve the greatest possible impact

12. Alemaya University Principles of managing for impact (1)  People-centred development – where it is realised that the focus needs to be on benefits to groups of people, not just development of a sector  A rigorous and shared understanding by stakeholders of theories of change which underpins the strategy of intervention  Empowering of stakeholders at all levels  Learning is recognised as a self-conscious process of reviewing and reflecting on experience, generating and applying knowledge in innovative and creative ways to improve action  Appreciates and builds on existing strengths and capacities

13. Alemaya University Principles of managing for impact (2)  Promotes participatory development at all levels and ensures the inclusion of disadvantaged and vulnerable people  Requires effective partnerships between stakeholders including civil society, public and private sectors  Based on a holistic understanding of livelihoods and systems  Promotes sustainable interventions (economically, environmentally, socially and institutionally)  Recognition of the need for leadership and management which is consistent with learning and participatory approaches

14. Alemaya University Managing for impact – Key Components  Guiding the strategy towards impact – taking a strategic perspective whether an initiative is heading towards its goals (impacts) and reacting quickly to adjust the strategy or even the objectives in response to changed circumstances or failure  Ensuring effective operations - managing the day to day coordination of financial, physical and human resources to ensure the actions and outputs required by the current strategy are being effectively and efficiently achieved.  Creating a learning environment – establishing a culture and set of relationships with all those involved in an initiative that will build trust, stimulate critical questioning and innovation and gain commitment and ownership.  Establishing information gathering and management systems - ensuring that the systems are in place to provide the information that is needed to guide the strategy, ensure effective operations and encourage learning.”

15. Alemaya University The genesis of SMIP  SMIP = Strengthening Management for Impact  Grew from acknowledgments within IFAD of need to think more creatively about how projects are learning  Regional programme with implementing partners from South Africa, Kenya and Ethiopia.

16. Alemaya University SMIP – overall goals & objectives  Increasing impact of rural poverty reduction initiatives in Eastern & Southern Africa  Enhancing the capacity of key stakeholders to manage towards impact through: Enhanced service delivery and application of M for I Increased availability & access to innovations and new & existing knowledge Advocacy aimed at ensuring that policy/institutional environment is supportive of efforts to manage for impact

17. Alemaya University SMIP’s key approaches to enhancing capacity for managing towards impact  Improving internal learning processes to guide design & evaluation  Building capacity to influence and guide the “people processes” – relationships between & commitment of different actors  Strengthening abilities to identify and react to problems related to Project/Programme theories and/or implementation

18. Alemaya University Current SMIP activities  Training for service providers  Responding to requests for support from projects/ programmes on developing managing for impact approaches  Identifying action learning sites where we can test and improve the approach  Developing ERIL (electronic resource,information & learning centre)

19. Alemaya University Contact details  SMIP Regional Programme Facilitator Mine Pabari – mine.pabari@gmail.commine.pabari@gmail.com  Eastern Africa Sub-Regional Institution: IFPRI-ISNAR – Cosmos Ochieng c.ochieng@cgiar.org.or c.ochieng@cgiar.org.or Haramaya University - Shimelis Wolde Hamriat shimelis65@yahoo.com shimelis65@yahoo.com  Southern African Sub-Regional Institution Khanya-aicdd - Rachel Searle-Mbullu rachel@khanya-aicdd.org. rachel@khanya-aicdd.org