Building Evaluation Capacity
ORS believes organizations benefit from integrating evaluative thinking and processes into their day-to-day work. While external evaluation is important, regular assessment and reflection lead to stronger organizations, programs and results. ORS supports organizations in developing internal capacity to conduct evaluation. The following services help clients become more informed consumers of evaluation:
- Development of guides, manuals and tools: ORS has been commissioned by foundations and government agencies to create customized tools to support the use of evaluation within their organizations and programs. These have included resources that give grounding in frameworks or evaluation practices and “how-to” documents with specific steps and exercises.
- Development of capacity-building models: ORS works with funding organizations to develop the capacity of their grantees as a part of their portfolio. This can include helping grantees develop a capacity building approach, designing related RFPs and measurement systems, and providing grantees with one-on-one coaching.
- Customized training sessions: ORS offers organizations a number of full- and half-day trainings, including the introduction to outcomes-based evaluation, Outcomes for Success, Data Management and Analysis, and Advocacy and Policy Evaluation. Our trainings feature interactive activities and tools, and resources that participants can put into practice.
- One-on-one coaching: ORS staff members work closely with organizations’ internal teams from the conceptualization of a program logic model or theory of change all the way through data collection and analysis. Typically these are multi-year relationships that include in-person and remote (phone, email) coaching sessions tailored to the needs of each organization. ORS helps cultivate a sense of accountability and ensures that coached organizations institutionalize their own approaches and in-house systems for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data to achieve their evaluation goals.
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Annie E. Casey Foundation
