M3.06. Preparing the evaluation of the mentoring process

5. Evaluation Plan

Using the logic model, the evaluation questions, and the measurement framework tool as the basic components, you can now start to develop an evaluation plan that pulls all of these and more together.
A good evaluation plan should have the following elements:

Background Information about the programme
Evaluation Questions: Specific questions that are measurable.
Evaluation Design: Data collection methods; types of data that will be collected; sampling procedures; analysis approach; steps taken to ensure accuracy, validity and reliability; and limitations.
Timeline: Completion dates and time ranges for key steps and deliverables.
Plan for communicating findings and using results
Evaluator/evaluation team: Specify who is responsible for conducting the evaluation process and what this role entails. This might be an external evaluator, internal evaluator or internal evaluator with an external consultant.
Budgetary Information: Could include expenses for staff time, consultants' time, travel, communications, supplies and other costs (e.g., incentives for participants, translation and interpretation time).

Parts of your evaluation plan can be copied and used to write your evaluation report. The table below shows the general outlines for the evaluation plan, and the evaluation report.

Evaluation Plan	Evaluation Report
Cover Page: Includes clear title; name and location of the strategy, initiative or program; period to be covered by evaluation.	Cover Page: Includes clear title; name and location of the strategy, initiative or program; period covered by evaluation or date evaluation was completed.
Background Information of the Effort: Purpose of the evaluation, origins and goals of effort, activities and services, including theory of change and logic model.	Executive Summary: Brief, stand-alone description of program, outline of evaluation purpose and goals, methods, summary of findings and recommendations.
Evaluation Questions: Specific questions that are measurable, might need to be prioritised to focus resources and keep evaluation manageable.	Introduction and Background: Purpose of the evaluation, origins and goals of effort, target population, activities and services, review of related research, evaluation questions and overview and description of report
Evaluation Design: Data collection methods; types of data to be collected; sampling procedures; analysis approach; steps taken to ensure accuracy, validity and reliability; and limitations.	Evaluation Design: Data collection methods, types of data collected, sampling procedures; analysis approach; steps taken to ensure accuracy, validity, and reliability; and limitations (include the theory of change and logic model).
Timeline: Completion dates or time ranges for key steps and deliverables.	Evaluation Results: Evaluation findings, evaluation questions addressed, visual representations of results (e.g., charts, graphs, etc.).
Plan for Communicating Findings and Using Results to Inform Work: Details regarding what products will be developed and what will be included in each product. Potential users and intended audience include programme staff and administration, program participants, community leaders, funders, public officials and partner organisations.	Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations: Summary of results, implications of findings, factors that could have shaped results, clear and actionable recommendations.
Budgetary Information: Might include expenses for staff time, consultants' time, travel, communications, supplies and other administrative costs. (If the plan is to be shared with a wider group of people, information about staff and consultants' time may be excluded.)
Evaluator and Evaluation Team: Specifications regarding who is responsible for conducting the evaluation process and what this role entails. This may be an external evaluator, internal evaluator or internal evaluator with an external consultant.

Various, surprising things can affect how long it takes to implement and complete an evaluation. When developing the outline of the evaluation, you should consider the following potential barriers:

Reluctant participation in the evaluation process by stakeholders
Evaluation answers not guaranteed to be honest
Participants might find it difficult to give negative responses
Anonymity is harder to achieve with a small mentoring programme
Participants may find it difficult to self-reflect
Programme strategy may be unclear or inadequate
Low response rate to surveys
Long term output success is harder to determine when evaluation is done earlier in the mentoring programme lifecycle