3.2 Making Online Evaluation Capacity Building Resources Available

Description

This section suggests that VOPEs should make evaluation resources available in order to build the capacity of their members. Some examples of evaluation repositories are listed under resources.  

One strategy for evaluation capacity building that some VOPEs pursue is making information resources about evaluation available to their membership. Owing to the distributed nature of a VOPE’s membership, it is usually done through compiling an online repository of evaluation material such as published and unpublished evaluation reports, conference proceedings, journal articles, evaluation guides and standards, research about evaluation, summaries of evaluation approaches, donors’ or governments’ evaluation guides and many more. Such an online repository may be accessible via the website to all visitors, or may be accessible to members only.

Compiling such a repository would require a smart website design which allows members to suggest or upload resources, and for a VOPE administrator to approve the suggested resources. It may also be helpful if the VOPE has a mechanism to make members aware of newly added resources. Social media or the VOPE’s listserv could easily be used for this purpose. Curating an online repository, however, would take quite some effort on the part of a VOPE staff member or volunteer, and VOPEs should consider whether there are existing repositories to which they could link in order to achieve the same goal. A VOPE could contribute resources to an existing portal, and then focus on building a unique set of resources applicable in its context on its own website.