report title can be on two lines

MONTH YEAR │ SERIAL####

REPORT TITLE

CAN BE ON TWO LINES FINAL EVALUTAION REPORT

Location, Country

Prepared for Save the Children International by

Primary authors

Author name, organisation


Other Contributors







Cover photo: Photographer name

Published by

Organisation name

Organisation address

Email:

Website:

Month Year

Suggested citation Chinen, M., Bos, J.M. (2016), Final Report for the Impact Evaluation of the Save the Children Early Childhood Stimulation Program in Bangladesh. Washington, DC: American Institutes for Research.

© Save the Children International 2019.

You may copy, distribute, display, download and otherwise freely deal with this work for any purpose, provided that you attribute the Save the Children International as the owner.

Disclaimer

This publication does not necessarily reflect the policy position of the Save the Children International or any Save the Children Member organization. The information in this publication was based on available information at the time of preparation. No responsibility is accepted by Save the Children International or any Save the Children Member organization for any errors or omissions contained within this publication.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

• Add your acknowledgements here.

• With regards to the front cover:

• To change the example picture with your own, simply right click on the picture and click ‘change picture’. If the formatting changes, be sure to right click the text box or picture, select ‘wrap text’ or ‘size and position’ to change the text wrapping to ‘behind text’.

• Similarly change the example icon to reflect the theme of the report. Internal Save the Children staff can access high quality icons through Content Hub www.contenthubsavethechildren.org. You will need to request access from the Global Creative Content Unit before accessing Content Hub, by registering here.

• Add additional logos can be added to the footer as needed.

• ARO is sourcing ISSN serial numbers for use in our reports. In the meantime, your serial number will be a 7-digit code reflecting your country code and the year and month Ie. Afghanistan, Sept 2019 is AFG1909.

NOTES (REMOVE THIS BOX AFTER NOTING)

• Refer to the Save the Children Technical Writing Style Guide when writing this report.

• All long research and evaluation final reports need to be accompanied by a 1-4 page Evidence to Action Brief. Please refer to the Evidence to Action Brief template in preparing this shorter summary document.

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PROJECT SUMMARY (FOR EVALUATIONS ONLY)

Title

Date of report

Type of report

Author

Email

Name of the project

Project Start and End dates

Project duration

Project locations:

Thematic areas

Sub themes

Total budget

Donor

Estimated beneficiaries

Overall objective

Report title

5

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

About the study

• Briefly describe:

• the purpose of the research and why the research was important

• the aim of the research

• where the research was conducted, when and by whom.

• Briefly state the research type and design.

• Also indicate if the stage of the research project and whether it is ongoing.

Key findings

• Briefly describe what the research found and why this is important

• Be sure to include percentages in your statements, for example “Less than 1 in 5 (18%) beneficiaries…”

Key implications and/or recommendations

• List the implications of the research (i.e. conclusions and key recommendations)

TIP (REMOVE THIS BOX AFTER NOTING)

• The executive summary aims to provide a brief overview of the whole report.

• You should be able to read the executive summary, in isolation of the report, and still know what the research is about and what the key findings were.

• Write your executive summary last, after you have written the rest of the report.

• The executive summary is NOT an introduction. It merely summarises the report. It doesn’t introduce the reader to the topic.

• Length: 1-3 pages maximum.

Report title

6

PREFIXES

Contents

Prepared for Save the Children International by........................................................................................................... 2

Published by .................................................................................................................................................................. 2

Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................................................... 3

Project Summary (for evaluations only)............................................................................................................................ 4

Executive summary ........................................................................................................................................................... 5

About the study ............................................................................................................................................................. 5

Key findings .................................................................................................................................................................... 5

Key implications and/or recommendations .................................................................................................................. 5

Prefixes .............................................................................................................................................................................. 6

Contents ........................................................................................................................................................................ 6

List of Figures ................................................................................................................................................................. 8

List of Tables .................................................................................................................................................................. 8

Glossary of Terms .......................................................................................................................................................... 9

Acronyms ....................................................................................................................................................................... 9

Introduction and aims ..................................................................................................................................................... 10

Evaluation/Research aims and purpose ...................................................................................................................... 10

Project background (for evaluation reports) ............................................................................................................... 10

Project aims and activities....................................................................................................................................... 10

Project implementation .......................................................................................................................................... 10

Previous studies / literature review ........................................................................................................................ 10

Study background (for research reports) .................................................................................................................... 10

Context .................................................................................................................................................................... 10

Previous research / literature review ...................................................................................................................... 10

Research/Evaluation Framework .................................................................................................................................... 11

Research/Evaluation questions ................................................................................................................................... 11

Evaluation scope (for evaluations only) ...................................................................................................................... 11

Stakeholders ................................................................................................................................................................ 11

Governance.................................................................................................................................................................. 11

Study methods ................................................................................................................................................................ 12

Research design ........................................................................................................................................................... 12

Sampling ...................................................................................................................................................................... 12

Data sources ................................................................................................................................................................ 12

Secondary data and data linkage ............................................................................................................................ 12

Primary data ............................................................................................................................................................ 12

Child participation ................................................................................................................................................... 12

Ethical considerations .................................................................................................................................................. 13

Report title

7

Contextual sensitivities .......................................................................................................................................... 13`

Ethics approval ........................................................................................................................................................ 13

Consent ................................................................................................................................................................... 13

Indicators ..................................................................................................................................................................... 13

Analytical approach ..................................................................................................................................................... 13

Limitations ................................................................................................................................................................... 13

Results ............................................................................................................................................................................. 14

Descriptive statistics .................................................................................................................................................... 16

Analytical findings ........................................................................................................................................................ 16

Research/Evaluation question 1 ............................................................................................................................. 16



Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................................................... 17

Interpretation of results .............................................................................................................................................. 17

Lessons learned ........................................................................................................................................................... 17

Recommendations .......................................................................................................................................................... 17

SCI evaluation response plan ....................................................................................................................................... 18

References ....................................................................................................................................................................... 18

Annex, Appendix OR Appendices .................................................................................................................................... 19

Project logframe .......................................................................................................................................................... 19

Evaluation ToR ............................................................................................................................................................. 19

Supplementary methods ............................................................................................................................................. 19

Consent forms ......................................................................................................................................................... 19

Survey instruments ................................................................................................................................................. 19

Statistical approaches ............................................................................................................................................. 19

Supplementary results ................................................................................................................................................. 19

Report title

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List of Figures

Figure 1: Example Figure ................................................................................................................................................. 15

List of Tables

Table 1: Example table .................................................................................................................................................... 15

Report title

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Glossary of Terms

Term

Term

Term

Term

Term

Term

Definition

Definition

Definition

Definition

Definition

Definition

Acronyms

CRG

ECCD

MEAL

MELAG

M&E

PDQ

PLG

ROI

SC

child rights governance

early childhood care and development

monitoring, evaluation, accountability and

learning

monitoring and evaluation learning advisory

group

monitoring & evaluation

program development and quality

program learning group

return on investment

Save the Children

TIP

• This section is optional

• A glossary of terms is a brief dictionary, an alphabetical list of words with their definition that are related to the topic of the report.

• Include terms within the report that are newly introduced, uncommon or specialised.

TIP


• Include a list of acronyms/abbreviations in your report if you think this will assist the reader.

• If you do include this list, you still need to place the acronym/abbreviation in brackets following the first time the full name is used, e.g. Save the Children (SC)

• Please ensure acronyms are in alphabetical order

Report title

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INTRODUCTION/ BACKGROUND

Project background

Project aims and activities • Include a description of:

• The program/project being evaluated and its key activities

• The original problem or challenge the program is designed to address

• The program objectives, outcomes and indicators, with reference to the program logic model in an appendix

• The program beneficiaries or target groups

• Outline the program’s stage of development (planning, implementation, maintenance) and duration

Project implementation • Indicate who the project donors are

• Describe the organizational arrangements for implementing the project, including roles of donors and partners

Previous studies / literature review • Summarise lessons learnt from other evaluations of the program in similar contexts and refer to relevant

external sources of literature

• Summarise lessons learnt from existing Save the Children documents (evaluations, lessons learnt documents, donor reports, etc)

Evaluation/Research aims and purpose

• Summarise the above, briefly stating the purpose of the research / explaining why the study was needed and how the results will be used

• For research, outline the original hypothesis the research is designed to test

Study background (for research reports)

Context • Outline the research context and need, clearly indicating why the topic of interest is important

Previous research / literature review • Summarise previous research and findings on this topic, referring to external sources of literature

• Summarise lessons learnt from existing Save the Children documents (evaluations, lessons learnt documents, donor reports, etc)

• Clearly indicate the gaps in the research evidence body of knowledge

Report title

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RESEARCH/EVALUATION FRAMEWORK

Research/Evaluation questions

• State or list the research question(s)

Evaluation scope (for evaluations only)

• Refer to OECD/DAC criteria and explain which criteria have been chosen and why (Relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, sustainability plus the additional three criteria of coverage, coherence and coordination). If either the OECD/DAC criteria were not used or another framework was used, the report clearly states what was used

• Specify whether the evaluation was limited to a certain timeframe, target group/s, geographical region/s, service providers and stakeholder groups. State was not in scope and why.

• Outline the study duration

• Report makes reference/comparison with baseline and/or midline studies if applicable

Stakeholders

• Explain for whom the evaluation is being conducted

• Outline the main stakeholders / audiences for this report

Governance

• Specify the governance arrangements of the study including roles and responsibilities for evaluation activities

Report title

12

STUDY METHODOLOGY

Research design

• Describe the overall study design, indicating whether it is experimental, quasi-experimental or non-experimental (e.g. correlational)

• Indicate whether the study uses quantitative methods, qualitative methods or mixed methods

• Explain why this method was chosen over other options

Sampling

• Describe the study population, sample and sampling approach

• Describe the sample recruitment process

• Indicate whether the sample is representative of the study population

• Explain why this method was chosen over other options

Data sources

• Describe the sources of data used in the study

• Describe how the Report uses relevant MEAL data from the program (especially for Evaluations)

• To show the relationship between the evaluation questions and methods, it could be useful to include a table that lists each evaluation question, the corresponding evaluation method to be used for data collection and analysis, data sources, sample sizes, and limitations

Secondary data and data linkage • Describe the sources of secondary data, for example country administrative data sources

Primary data • Consider having sub-headings for this section, particularly if no secondary data was used in the study

• Describe the sources of primary data, for example observations, interviews, surveys

• Describe the key data collection tools and survey instruments used

• If required, refer to data collection tools and survey instruments in the appendix

• Describe the data collection procedures

• Describe the approach to data triangulation

• Describe the data ownership and storage responsibilities

Child participation • Explains how child participation was incorporated in the method

• If child participation was not used, explain why not

Report title

13

Ethical considerations

Contextual sensitivities • Describe how the study design considers and accounts for contexts concerning child rights, gender equality,

minority groups, ethnicity, religion and so forth

• Identify any possible ethical concerns of the chosen method and explain how they were tackled

Ethics approval • State the name of the Human Research Ethics Committee that provided approval for the study

• Indicate the date of approval and approval number

• If ethics approval has not been obtained, explain why not

Consent • Explain how consent was obtained from study participants

• Consider providing the consent form/s or procedures in an appendix

Indicators

• Outline the validity (internal and external) and reliability of the indicators used

• Report clearly identifies all indicators mentioned in evaluation plan and ToR, if applicable

Analytical approach

• Describe how the data was analysed

• Outline the statistical tests that were performed

• Refer to appendices if additional information is required

• Ensure any complex technical terms are in the glossary

Limitations

• Note any issues with data availability and quality

• Note any limitations of the method (sampling, data collection and analysis) that could result in bias

• Describe how these limitations have been minimised or accounted for in the analysis and/or interpretation of findings

Report title

14

FINDINGS /RESULTS

• The research/evaluation findings answer the research/evaluation question

• Discuss what the study found and why this is important

• Use charts and graphs to illustrate the findings (see below for examples)

• Refer to additional data tables in an appendix

• Use sub-headings to separate sub-topics

TIP

• To add additional captions (tables, figures and other headings linked to your table of contents) either copy and paste this heading OR click the ‘References’ tab in Microsoft Word and select ‘insert caption’

Report title

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Table 1: Example table

Variable Catchment area Non-catchment area

2014 2018 % change 2014 2018 % change

Response A 178 145 -19% 758 819 8%

Response B 224 174 -22% 1,097 1,044 -5%

Response C 289 241 -17% 1,359 1,247 -8%

Total 691 560 -19% 3,214 3,110 -3%

Source: Data source and date extracted

Figure 1: Example stacked bar chart

Figure 2: Example Bar chart

Figure 3: Example pie chart

Report title

16

Descriptive statistics

• Present the descriptive data relevant to the study, for example sample statistics

• Be sure to include percentages in your statements, for example “Less than 1 in 5 (18%) beneficiaries…”

• Use 0 or 1 decimal place, unless precision in the document is needed. Regardless, keep the number of decimal places consistent throughout the report.

Analytical findings

• For reader convenience, present findings separately for research question

• Findings should include any additional limitations, for example, for example small numbers of respondents for certain groups or indicators and the implications for effect sizes, statistical analyses or generalisations

• Relevance of findings for programming is clear

• Attribution, contribution/confounding factors addressed sufficiently (especially for Evaluations)

• Findings should substantiate the conclusions and recommendations

Research/Evaluation question 1



Report title

17

CONCLUSION

Interpretation of results

• This section should synthesise and interpret findings in consideration of the context

• Judgements should be supported by one or more specific findings

• Conclusions must draw on the findings through a clear line of evidence / logical chain of arguments

• Conclusions should add value to the findings and be relevant for programming

• Attribution/contribution and confounding factors should be addressed sufficiently

• The conclusion must relate directly to the aims of the project

• Briefly acknowledge limitations of the research

Lessons learned

• Lessons learned and are vital for the continuous improvement and adaptive programing

• Indicate the extent to which the study aims have been achieved and the research question(s) have been answered

• Outline the lesson learned and how the research could be improved/built on in future

• With regards to the project, lesson learned should highlight strengths or weaknesses in preparation, design, and implementation that affect performance, outcome, and impact (in accordance with the research questions)

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Provide recommendations based on the study conclusions

• Ensure recommendations cover:

• how the findings could be used to inform policy and/or practice

• further research that could be/needs to be conducted

• Recommendations should be framed as realistic and implementable actions rather than aspirational goals or objectives

• Each recommendation should clearly indicate the action to be undertaken or the decision to be made, as well as the specific group of stakeholders to which the recommendation is addressed

• Recommendations should easily allow the responsible stakeholder to address the recommendation in a management response and follow up action plan

• Where appropriate, recommendations should be:

• Prioritised

• Framed using the SMART framework (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Results-oriented, Time-bound)

• Note any/all dependencies

Report title

18

SCI EVALUATION RESPONSE PLAN

Recommendation Planned action Timeline Responsible

[copied from above section] Action that SCI decides to answer this recommendation. If nothing is being planned, then info why so.

REFERENCES

• All SC research and evaluation reports should follow the Harvard referencing style and have in-text citations as well as a reference list.

• Present the full reference list here. This should be a complete list of references for all sources cited in the text.

• Do not include references that are not cited in the text. The list of references can be followed by a “Further reading” section should it be of interest to include background information or related works not specifically cited in the text.

• Refer to the Save the Children Technical Writing Style Guide for referencing guidance

As a general rule, every bibliographical entry in the list of references should contain:

✓ author’s surname, initials ✓ year of publication (in parentheses, followed by a comma) ✓ title of the work: - in italics and initial caps for books, journal titles or databases - in roman text,

sentence case and quotation marks for parts within a larger work ✓ title of the series and edition (as appropriate) ✓ publisher ✓ place of publication (city) ✓ DOI or URL

Report title

19

ANNEX, APPENDIX OR APPENDICES

Project logframe

Evaluation matrix

Study TOR

Supplementary methods

Consent forms

Survey instruments

Statistical approaches

Supplementary results

• Include any additional results (e.g., full statistical tables).

TIP


• If you only have one appendix, make the title ‘Appendix’. If you have more than one appendix, make the title Appendices and include sub-headings (Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C and so on, in the order they are mentioned in text)

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