Given Hapunda

60 Picking Apples and Oranges: Assessing Different Project Components A number of project areas are considered during monitoring or evaluation. Need to assess these areas vary from project to project. Whenever possible, all areas must be assessed. These include: 1. Different components of the intervention - the apples and oranges of the project. These components should relate to areas assessed during baseline surveys. In addition to baseline surveys components, the theory of change is often tested indirectly through measuring the components of the hierarchy of objectives. 2. Hierarchy of objective – a project, policy or programme should assess different components of the hierarchy of objectives. This process starts during monitoring when inputs, outputs and immediate outcomes are checked relative to targets, while taking into consideration whether implementation and achievements are within budget, time (established schedules), and of acceptable standard or quality (indicators of success). The objectives (purpose) and goal (impact) are the components that are assessed during evaluation. These are assessed against evaluation standards (criteria) or targets. 3. Core-evaluation questions – are used as criteria or as standard for judging an intervention. These include: impact, relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, utility, sustainability and governance of the project, programme or policy. These are some of the components that need to be assessed. These standards will be discussed together performance questions later in this chapter. 4. Cross-cutting issues - given that cross-cutting issues affect almost every sector, most evaluators consider them as components that need to be assessed in every evaluation. Cross-cutting issues that may be considered include but not limited to poverty, gender, culture, participation and religion. 5. Project operations - although under efficiency and effectiveness, operation components are covered, during monitoring it is important to asses use of resources (financial and human), quality and timely implementation of activities.