capability statement monitoringand evaluation

MONITORING & EVALUATION CAPABILITY STATEMENT2011

7-9 North St David Street EdinburghUnited Kingdom EH2 1AW

Tel: +44(0)131 524 9640Web: www.upperquartile.co.uk

M&E Capability Statement 2011

Monitoring & Evaluation Capability

Upper Quartile is an international management and economic development

consultancy based in Edinburgh. We specialise in providing creative advice

in the most challenging business and economic environments. All of our

partners are experienced international development and management

professionals who have worked at senior level in the public and private

sector. Our clients include international NGOs, the UN, government agencies

and global companies. Our scope of work embraces economic reconstruction

in hostile regions, advice on economic development and reform, and business

strategy and benchmarking.

The common theme is our ability to deliver clear, pragmatic solutions to

problems that are complex, highly uncertain and, occasionally, chaotic. We

have three main areas of expertise: post-conflict reconstruction; economic

development and reform; and business strategy.

Upper Quartile has worked extensively in several conflict-affected and fragile

economies, advising international donors and agencies and helping to build

local government capacity. Our work has included monitoring and

evaluation, strategic development, project design, FDI and trade promotion.

In addition, we currently have staff embedded in DFID addressing aspects of

poverty and post-conflict reconstruction.

Our Partners are accustomed to working alongside the military, to

coping with uncomfortable working conditions and to supporting national and

regional governments to build their own skills. They have been trained for

working in hostile environments and have security clearance to do so. As

conflict-affected economies recover, livelihoods, trade and investment

opportunities begin to develop. With our local knowledge and network of

contacts, we are able to advise small companies and global companies on

doing business in these economies and are currently working with Business

Development Service (BDS) providers as well as energy, logistics and

engineering companies.

You can find out more about Upper Quartile by visiting our website at

www.upperquartile.co.uk

Upper Quartile


Our M&E Team

Upper Quartile’s M&E practice is led by three of our partners: Dr Ken MacTaggart, Chris Boyd and David Crichton.

Dr Ken MacTaggart

Dr Ken MacTaggart is a Partner in Upper Quartile with more than 20 years experience in economic

development work, both as a public agency economist and strategist, and as a private sector

consultant.

With a doctorate in economics, Ken specialises in measurement and evaluation, aligned with a

pragmatic approach to project implementation. Ken has implemented best-practice approaches in the

UK and abroad for development agencies. He was formerly chief economist in charge of monitoring

and evaluation at Highlands & Islands Enterprise, a rural development agency in the UK. In his

consultancy work over the past 10 years, he has undertaken development and project/programme

evaluation work in Afghanistan, Pakistan, The Maldives, India, Caribbean, Zambia, Egypt, Morocco and

elsewhere.

Ken has been a director of several consultancy companies and an editor in business publishing. He has

excellent investigative, analytical and writing skills, and is highly familiar with evaluation, identifying

lessons learned, providing supportive feedback to projects and writing up persuasive and instructive

case studies.

Regarding economic sectors, Ken’s experience includes agriculture, infrastructure, rural development,

higher education, training, energy, food products and the creative industries. He has also worked on

infrastructure projects including business parks and transport networks.

Ken has a BA (Hons) in Economics, Public Policy and Statistics, and a PhD in the Economics of Industrial

Innovation. He is a member of the Scottish Economic Society and the Scottish Council for Development

and Industry. He has given evidence in person to committees of the UK and Scottish Parliaments on

industrial innovation, the knowledge economy, and the importance of infrastructure to business growth.


Our M&E Team

Chris Boyd

David Crichton

Chris Boyd is a Partner in Upper Quartile and an experienced economic development practitioner with

more than 12 years experience in the public and private sectors. Chris specialises in appraising and

evaluating economic development interventions. He has undertaken over 60 project and programme

evaluations in his career to date in sectors such as enterprise support, learning and skills, and regional

development.

Chris is adept at undertaking economic and social impact assessments. He worked on behalf of Regional

Development Agencies (RDAs), UK Local Authorities and Central Government departments to design

research which gathers primary data from project beneficiaries before distilling it into gross and net

impacts. Chris has considerable experience of describing the qualitative impacts of programmes in cases

where quantitative data is poor or unavailable. He is competent in undertaking impact assessments in

accordance with the guidance issued by DFID, HM Treasury, the EU and the World Bank.

In addition, Chris has expertise in assisting clients with the development and implementation of

monitoring and evaluation frameworks. He has advised RDAs, Urban Regeneration Companies and other

public sector bodies on the suite of indicators required to best demonstrate how their activities contribute

to output targets. Chris holds an MSc in Local Economic Development from the University of Glasgow and

a first-class BA (Hons) in Social Sciences from the University of the West of Scotland. He recently

completed Hostile Environment Security Training (HEST).

David Crichton is a Partner in Upper Quartile with over 30 years experience in economic development

both in the public sector and as a commercial consultant. He has held senior management positions in

economic development agencies and private sector companies. Prior to joining Upper Quartile, David was

Global Director of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Custom Research Business which worked on behalf of

national governments, multilateral organisations, NGOs and global companies.

David is currently specialising in economic reconstruction in conflict-affected regions advising on voca-

tional skills and education, economic strategy, infrastructure investment, programme design and moni-

toring and evaluation. He has worked extensively in Afghanistan and undertaken projects on behalf of

USAID, DFID, CIDA, ISAF and the Afghan Government. Recent examples include: an impact evaluation

of an Afghan local procurement programme run by the Peace Dividend Trust; the design of a $300m jobs

and income programme for Southern Afghanistan; and design and appraisal of the c$40m DFID Helmand

Growth programme.

David holds an MA (Hons) in Economics and Sociology and has completed the World Bank Executive

Development Programme. He is trained to work in hostile environments.


Relevant Experience

The Upper Quartile M&E team have undertaken a range of M&E projects. The following are summaries of our work in the UK and

overseas.

Monitoring, Evaluation & Appraisal in Developing Countries

Review of Peace Dividend TrustAfghanistan

The Peace Dividend Trust is contracted by CIDA and DFID to

operate a market place development programme in

Afghanistan. The programme promotes local procurement

from the Afghan private sector by the international donor,

diplomatic and military communities. Upper Quartile reviewed

the impact of the programme, looking at additional revenue

and job creation as well as value for money.

Recommendations were made on the future direction and

funding of the programme.

Options Appraisal for TVET Investment in Afghanistan

Upper Quartile was commissioned to explore options for

DFID’s investment in TVET in Afghanistan. A key element in

this work was economic appraisal of the proposed options.

Upper Quartile developed a bespoke impact model, gathered

Afghan specific economic data and estimated the likely

economic returns over a range of time periods. This

complemented a wider desk research and stakeholder

consultation programme and will be used by DFID to inform

its internal decision making process.

Economic Appraisal of the Bost Industrial Park in Helmand Province

Upper Quartile carried out an appraisal of a combined airport

and agricultural park in Southern Afghanistan. The projects

considered the Net Present Value of the investment and the

wider employment and supply chain benefits it would bring to

the largely rural Lashkar Gha district.

International Oil & Gas HubSouthern Iraq

Upper Quartile completed a full financial evaluation of a $200 million oil and gas hub in Southern Iraq for a private client.

Helmand Growth Programme Economic Appraisal

Upper Quartile undertook the economic appraisal of a range of

rural developments in Helmand for DFID. These covered basic

infrastructure (irrigation, feeder roads, hydro

electricity), training for agriculturalists on improving yields

and new types of crops, establishing downstream value-chain

industries based on rural products, such as canneries, food

processing, marketing. The likely benefits were assessed and

quantified, measurement tools devised, and realistic targets

set.

Appraisal of Projects in IT Skills and Infrastructure

Upper Quartile provided economic advice to the Maldives NCIT

for a suite of projects in its sectoral development programme.

These included the innovative use of young people to teach

basic IT and mobile phone skills to older people within village

situations, and the use of SMS technology to aid illiterate

fishermen. Mobile telephony running new applications was

the approach chosen over landlines as appropriate for an

archipelago with limited infrastructure. Pre-project

benchmarking and subsequent monitoring were established

and implemented.

Evaluation of Tourism, Environment and Trade Facilitation Programme

The European Union committed project expenditure of €

15 million under the 2002 Tourism. Environment and Trade

Facilitation Programme in the Aqaba Special Economic Zone

Area (ASEZA) - in southern Jordan. The Free Zone was a

significant step to build trade between Jordan and Israel and

build the regional economy through the introduction of a free

zone covering the southern half of Jordan and attracting over

$1 billion of investment.


Relevant Experience

Monitoring, Evaluation & Appraisal in Developing Countries

Monitoring, Evaluation & Appraisal in the UK

Evaluation of EU / China Managers Training Programme

Evaluation of the EU-China Managers Training Programme and Identification of Future Areas of Intervention were made on the future direction and funding of the programme.

Trade Enhancement ProgrammeNorth Korea

Upper Quartile was part of a mission to North Korea to design and develop a trade enhancement programme introducing the mechanisms governing foreign relations, international finance and trade and economic policy.

Development of a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework

Clyde Gateway URC is a body tasked with the regeneration of Glasgow’s East End. This project baselined the socio-economic conditions in the area using a range of indicators linked to employment, economic activity, health and culture. These were then used to develop a comprehensive M&E framework which linked the data available to the longer-term strategic objectives of Clyde Gateway URC. The framework has provided a tool for the URC to measure its impact on key economic and social variables over the next 20 years.

Economic Impact Evaluation of the Account Managed Programme

An evaluation of Scottish Enterprises main business support programme. The work programme which involved a number of components. First, the design and delivery of a large scale survey involving 740 beneficiary companies. Second, analysis of this quantitative data to assess the economic impact of the programme. And third considerations of the findings to make recommendations regarding the future delivery and monitoring of the programme.

Evaluation of Yorkshire Forward’s Investment in Key Account Management (KAM)

The evaluation of Yorkshire Forward’s KAM programme which worked with ‘important to the economy’ companies in Yorkshire. This was defined as companies employing over 250 people. The evaluation assessed the current delivery model and the impact of support on larger employers. This involved extensive consultation with senior executives in supported businesses as well as wider stakeholders. The evaluation made recommendations on how the model could be developed in future, including where the programme should focus its efforts to maximise impact.

Evaluation of Business Mentoring Activity in the East Midlands

Completion of a high profile evaluation on behalf of East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA) was completed.. The business mentoring programme matches experienced business mentors to SMEs in the East Midlands. The project involved in-depth consultation with mentees, mentors and relevant stakeholders and offered conclusions around three main areas. The effectiveness of mentoring as a means to stimulate business growth; the need for a subsidised mentoring business service in the East Midlands; and the most appropriate model for future delivery and monitoring of the programme. The findings were used to structure mentoring delivery over the next three years.


Relevant Experience

Monitoring, Evaluation & Appraisal in the UK

What we can offer? This statement has provided an overview of Upper Quartile, key members of our M&E team and relevant projects our team has

undertaken. Our four key areas where we can add value are:

Access to a team of senior economic development professionals – who interpret the findings from

research and translate these into policy.

Technical expertise in monitoring and evaluation – the ability to design and manage technically

sound evaluations which provide the robust impact data it needs to make decisions.

Experience of working in developing countries, including hostile environments – our M&E team

have worked all over the world including post-conflict countries like Iraq and Afghanistan.

A commitment to building a long-term partnership – by demonstrating our professionalism and

commitment to quality, we will help you achieve its objectives and in doing so, aim to become your M&E

partner of choice.

Monitoring of Economic Progress in Rural Region

Monitoring and evaluation of the rural development agency in the Scottish Highlands & Islands, helping track the impact over five years of their development activities in several fields – skills and vocational training, infrastructure, small business development, community cohesion, employment and unemployment. Different data sources from different time periods were combined to achieve best estimates of the benefits from projects and programmes of different types, addressing a variety of issues and target groups.

Hebrides Rocket Range

An economic impact evaluation of the MOD’s decision to closethe Defence Rocket Range at Benbecula. Upper Quartile prepared an economic impact assessment of the range and the impact its closure on the local economy. The range remains open and supports 350 jobs.

capability statement monitoringand evaluation

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