Approach in Action
Programme and Project Evaluation
Baseline, mid-term and final evaluations that answer the questions decision-makers actually have.
Your role on this kind of work?
The problem we solve
Evaluations are often late, descriptive and hard to use: they count activities, rely on weak data and end with recommendations nobody owns. A useful evaluation starts from the decisions it must inform and tests the programme's logic with credible evidence.
Our method, phase by phase
Phase 1 of 5
Inception and evaluability
- Reconstruct the theory of change and results framework with the client
- Agree evaluation questions against the OECD DAC criteria
- Check what data exists, its quality and the gaps
Deliverable: Inception report with evaluation matrix
Phase 2 of 5
Methods and instruments
- Choose the design (contribution analysis, mixed methods, quasi-experimental where data allow)
- Draft survey, interview and focus group tools; test them
- Agree sampling and ethics, including safeguarding and data protection
Deliverable: Approved instruments and sampling plan
Phase 3 of 5
Data collection
- Review documents and monitoring data
- Key informant interviews, focus groups and site visits
- Surveys with digital data capture and daily quality checks
Deliverable: Clean data set and field report
Phase 4 of 5
Analysis and validation
- Triangulate sources for every evaluation question
- Rate performance against the criteria with the evidence shown
- Validate emerging findings with the client and stakeholders
Deliverable: Findings presentation and validation workshop
Phase 5 of 5
Reporting and use
- Concise report with conclusions linked to evidence
- Recommendations with owners, priority and timing
- Management response template and a learning session
Deliverable: Final report, summary and management response plan
Tick what your organisation already has: we show you where to start.
Try the instruments live
The same instruments we use with clients. Try them with your own organisation; your answers stay in your browser until you ask for the result.
What you receive
- An evaluation matrix linking every question to sources and methods
- Tested instruments and a clean data set
- Ratings against relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability
- Recommendations with owners and a management response plan
How we keep quality
- Methods and tools agreed with you at inception, then applied openly
- Every finding linked to its evidence
- Senior review of every deliverable before it reaches you
- Knowledge transfer: your team keeps the tools and routines
Reference frameworks: OECD DAC evaluation criteria
Ask about this approach
Ask in your own words. The answer comes from this page and our instruments, with the links you need.
Programmes that build this capacity
Evaluating a proposal from Risalat?
This page shows the method we would apply to your assignment. We will gladly walk your committee through it live, online, with your own questions and data.
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What does Risalat's Programme and Project Evaluation approach involve?
Baseline, mid-term and final evaluations that answer the questions decision-makers actually have. It runs in 5 phases: Inception and evaluability, Methods and instruments, Data collection, Analysis and validation, Reporting and use. Each phase ends with an agreed deliverable.
What problem does it solve?
Evaluations are often late, descriptive and hard to use: they count activities, rely on weak data and end with recommendations nobody owns. A useful evaluation starts from the decisions it must inform and tests the programme's logic with credible evidence.
What does the client receive?
An evaluation matrix linking every question to sources and methods; Tested instruments and a clean data set; Ratings against relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability; Recommendations with owners and a management response plan.
Can we try the method before engaging Risalat?
Yes. The instruments on this page are free and online: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning System Blueprint, M&E and MEAL Assessment, Theory of Change Builder, Logframe and Results Framework Builder. Your answers stay in your browser until you ask for a result. Evaluation committees can also ask for a live walkthrough.
How do we know where to start?
Tick what your organisation already has in the method above: the page shows the first phase that needs work and what the assignment would cover. The diagnostic gives a scored baseline in about ten minutes.
Can it be delivered as training, advisory support or both?
Both. The same method can be delivered as an advisory assignment, as an in-house or open training programme for the team, or as a combination with coaching while the team applies it to its own work.