Monitoring and Evaluation
Our signature approach to evaluation is the application of Appreciative Evaluation, which evaluates and develops the strengths of an organization or program as opposed to weaknesses. This gives clients a way to study and build upon successes to develop future actions. The American Evaluation Association recgonized EnCompass’ groundbreaking work with appreciative evaluation as an important new evaluation technique. Tessie Catsambas, President of EnCompass, is an innovator and practitioner in appreciative evaluation methods and is the co-author of the seminal book, Reframing Evaluation Through Appreciative Inquiry.
Our Services
- Theory of change and logic model development. We help organizations develop logic models to map activities and outputs with short- and long-term outcomes.
- Formative and summative evaluation. In formative evaluations, we provide feedback for reflection to make mid-course adjustments. In summative evaluations, we provide the cumulative story of results.
- Process evaluation. We help clients assess progress on planned activities and outputs.
- Outcomes and impact evaluation. In an outcome evaluation, we measure the change experienced among the target populations or institutions of an intervention. In an impact evaluation, we use methods with sufficient rigor to attribute changes to a given intervention.
- Cost-Benefit evaluation. We examine whether the economic benefits of providing a service outweigh the economic costs of providing that service.
- Product evaluation. We evaluate products, including many Web sites, for usability, accessibility, and for compliance with recognized standards.
- Skill-building in evaluation. We create knowledge, tools, training courses, and other resources so that organizations have increased capacity for ongoing evaluation.
- Recommendations for future planning. We use participatory methods to engage partners in evaluation and learning, and link evaluation to knowledge management, sharing of good and promising practices, and informed decision making for organizational and programmatic improvements.
Featured Project
International Republican Institute (IRI), Office of Monitoring and Evaluation, Internal Evaluation (2011)
EnCompass is supporting IRI’s Office of Monitoring and Evaluation (OME) in strengthening its program monitoring and assessment efforts and evaluating strategies for moving forward. Through a desk review of OME’s policies, procedures and monitoring reports, and a series of individual interviews and focus groups with IRI stakeholders, EnCompass evaluated how OME helps its country programs implement M&E. EnCompass’ final report provides recommendations on a strategy for moving IRI forward organizationally as well as improving OME processes for more effective program management.