Preparing for an Evaluation: Guidelines and Tools

Monitoring and evaluation are core responsibilities of the American Red Cross and CRS program managers and help ensure quality in our programming. Preparing for an Evaluation is the first in a series of M&E training and capacity-building modules that the American Red Cross and CRS have agreed to collaborate on under their respective Institutional Capacity Building Grants. These modules are designed to respond to field-identified needs for specific guidance and tools that did not appear to be available in existing publications. Although examples in the modules focus on Title II programming, the guidance and tools provided have value beyond the food-security realm. 

Our intention in writing Preparing for an Evaluation is to provide readers with information that helps them get the most out of their program evaluation. This module focuses on what needs to be done before an evaluation to ensure that cost, confusion, and frustration are minimized for both field staff whose program is being evaluated and the external evaluator. It offers step-by-step guidance on the who, what, when, where, and how of preparing for an evaluation, with specific tools to organize information and for logistics that have proved useful in a number of settings.