Adaptive Action Planning Workshop: the What, Why, and How?
By Esrael Woldeeyesus, SDRM-SI DE Deputy Team Lead, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC. Many institutions conduct or commission studies or facilitate discussions to generate evidence to identify successes and areas for improvement. However, taking recommendations into action can be a challenge for two reasons: (1) some perceive evaluations or studies as just compliance activities and have
Is Developmental Evaluation a fit for all projects? (Part 2)
By Dr. Yitbarek Woldetensay, Developmental Evaluation Lead, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC. Introduction As described in our previous post, two essential questions need to be answered before deciding that Developmental Evaluation (DE) is the right fit for our project. The first question (Is DE the right fit for the proposed project?) was described in our last
What is a Developmental Evaluation? (101 Level)
By Julie Mandolini-Trummel, CLAME Specialist, and Alison Harrell, CLAME Specialist, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC This blog post is the first in a 3-part series on Developmental Evaluations. In Parts II and III of this blog series, we will explore how to identify if a DE is a good fit for your project/activity and how DE
Continuing Your Organizational Learning Journey with CLA
By Georgia Handforth, CLAME Associate, Headlight Consulting Services, LLCand Rebecca Askin, Senior CLAME Specialist, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC This blog is the third and final of a three-part mini-series on organizational learning and the Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) Framework. This is the third and final post of our three-part mini-series on Collaborating, Learning, and
Two Tools for Assessing and Leveling Up CLA in Your Everyday Work
By Georgia Handforth, CLAME Associate, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC This blog is the second of a three-part mini-series on organizational learning and the Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) Framework. Welcome back to our mini-series sharing Headlight’s experiences with Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA)! In the first post in this series, we talked about why CLA is
Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) Practice and Insights at Headlight
By Georgia Handforth, CLAME Associate, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC This blog is the first of a three-part mini-series on organizational learning and the Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) Framework. Here at Headlight—and for many of our partners and peers—we spend our days digging into development work that is evidence-based, systems-aware, and locally-led. While most people
Organizational Capacity Assessment Process: Part 2
By Yitbarek Woldetensay, Chelsie Kuhn, and Alison Harrell Introduction In Part 1 of this blog series, we described an Organizational Capacity Assessment (OCA), why we conduct an OCA, and how to prepare for the OCA process. In this Part 2 blog post, we will describe how to conduct organizational capacity gap identification (including OCA workshop
Why Embeddedness Is Crucial For Use-Focused Developmental Evaluation Support
By Esrael Woldeeyesus Introduction “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.” – Albert Einstein In other words, solutions are only as good as the understanding of the problem. The level of detail we know about the problem, such as
Learning to Make Our Assessments and Evaluations More Effective for Our Clients through Better Contextualization
By Maxine Secskas, CLAME Specialist, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC This blog came about as a response to my interest in learning more about how to get better feedback and insight from a client while designing an assessment or a tool. Last year, I was disappointed to realize that a very involved assessment and analysis that
Organizational Capacity Assessment Process (Part 1)
By Yitbarek Woldetensay and Chelsie Kuhn Background Local ownership and organizational learning have become integral to many international programs that engage in capacity development. However, many local organizations still need greater capacity to assume this leadership role. Hence, many international programs want to assess organizations’ capacity before and after their capacity-building interventions to identify capacity-building
Locally-Led Developmental Evaluation Advantages and Limitations: The Case of Headlight Consulting Services
By: Endashaw Beshir, Esrael Woldeyesus, Tseday Tilahun, Yitbarek Woldetensay, and Yomif Worku Introduction Development and humanitarian challenges are local in nature; hence, effective humanitarian and development assistance requires an inclusive approach that centers local actors throughout all aspects of the work (USAID, 2022; USAID Learning Lab, 2022). Locally-led development improves the participatory process and enhances
Being a DE Admin – How the Role Shifts When Focusing on Locally-Led DEs
By Chelsie Kuhn and Julie Mandolini-Trummel Now that we have reminded readers of what DEs are, when DEs are the right fit, and how to determine if their project is ready for a DE, we wanted to share a bit more about one of the essential roles for implementing a DE—the DE Administrator. This post
Is Developmental Evaluation a fit for all projects? (Part 1)
By Dr. Yitbarek Kidane Woldetensay, SDRM-SI DE Team Lead, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC. Introduction No single evaluation approach is best for all projects, nor is there a “good enough” approach– matching an evaluation approach with a particular project is about finding the “right fit.” Choosing the right evaluation approach for the proposed project is crucial
Reflections on Writing a USAID Performance Management Plan
By Maxine Secskas, CLAME Associate, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC This is the second in a 2-part series on USAID Performance Management Plans. This installment in our blog continues the discussion around USAID Performance Management Plans (PMP), begun in our previous post, What is A USAID Performance Management Plan?, which explored the history of PMPs to
What is a USAID Performance Management Plan?
By Maxine Secskas, CLAME Associate, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC This blog post is the first in a 2-part series on USAID Performance Management Plans. This blog post (and a subsequent post reflecting on our recent support in drafting a Performance Management Plan) is intended to inform and offer suggestions from our recent experience for those
Evaluation Rigor in Action—The Outcome Harvesting Methods Memo
For the last 9 months, we have had something big in the works, and we are finally ready to share it. Headlight Consulting Services has compiled our first Methods Memo to provide guidance for professionals of all levels to implement stronger CLAME practices. This particular piece’s goal is to provide evaluators practical guidance for deciding
Introduction to Secondary Analysis
By: Maxine Secskas, CLAME Associate, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC This blog post is the third in a 3-part series on components of qualitative methods. This blog continues the discussion on how we at Headlight conduct Qualitative Analysis from the previous post called Intro to Primary Analysis. This blog post will build on the information from
Introduction to Primary Analysis
By: Maxine Secskas, CLAME Associate, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC This blog post is the second in a 3-part series on components of qualitative methods. This blog post (as well as the previous post with tips on qualitative coding and the upcoming post on Secondary Analysis coming on April 7) is intended to expand on our
Top 5 More Dos and Don’ts of Qualitative Analysis
By: Maxine Secskas, CLAME Associate, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC and Chelsie Kuhn, CLAME Specialist, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC This blog post is the first in a series of 3 posts on components of qualitative methods. Welcome back to Headlight’s educational blog series on all things collaborating, learning, adapting, monitoring, and evaluation (CLAME). You may have noticed
Upcoming Training: Fundamentals of Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA)
By: Monica Matts, Director of Strategic Learning, Headlight Consulting Services, LLP, and Georgia Handforth, CLAME Associate, Headlight Consulting Services, LLP Stay tuned for a blog mini-series on Headlight’s approach to all things CLA and M&E, coming early 2022! Are you interested in improving your skills around knowledge management, working with others, and tackling complex development
