Simon Koolwijk

‘Outcome harvesting is an excellent tool for evaluating projects, that operate in a complex environment and that do not have a pre-defined strategy!’    This was one of the comments from one of the participants, who participated in a workshop conducted by Ricardo Wilson Grau, one of the founding fathers of the Outcome Harvesting method.  The workshop was hosted on the 23 rd June, 2015 in The Hague by the Nedworc Association and OXFAM Novib ,   participants were Nedworc consultants and MEL-officers of OXFAM Novib. Outcome harvesting is an evaluation approach, involving all stakeholders in a project,  in a program context where there are no clear relations between cause and effect.  Especially projects that involve lobby and advocacy,  fast changing contexts and unpredictable situations can benefit from the Outcome harvesting approach. In 2013, UNDP selected Outcome Harvesting as one of the 11 major Monitoring and Evaluation innovations. Th...

'The literacy rate has increased with 20 % in five years!' 'Fifty percent of the young people, who participated in reading and writing classes have acquired a job within a year after their studies!' 'The number of parents, who take on volunteer responsibilities in the Youth Centre have increased with 30 parents in two years!' These are just three examples of project indicators, which can be for mulated according to the Logical Framework (LF) principles for a youth development project in a big slum area in Kampala City, Uganda. However, most statistical indicators are difficult to measure. And what do statistics say about structural change? Mostly change can not be liniarly and logically explained...... Most structural change starts with behavioural change. Many times I hear people express after an inspirational workshop about social media; ' Tomorrow I am going to open an account at Twitter!', 'I will update my profile at Linkedin!...