Monitoring, Evaluation & Technical Assistance

Overview
Firelight Foundation uses a variety of strategies to ensure that funds are used responsibly and effectively. Our approach to monitoring, evaluation and technical assistance strives to remain practical, relevant, and respectful, while providing information to guide our decision-making and describe our impact. During 2005, Firelight took steps to further develop an Monitoring, Evaluation, and Technical Assistance (META) Program that will help Firelight and our partners to respond more effectively to the needs of children affected by AIDS. It is our belief that Firelight’s impact is enhanced when we invest in the organizational and programmatic capacity of our African grantee-partners to assess, document, and build upon their own work.

Building the META Program in 2005
Staff attended the African Evaluation Association Conference in Cape Town, South Africa in December 2004 to learn more about Africa-relevant evaluation issues and techniques. Staff also connected with evaluation networks and consultants that work in Firelight focus countries. Upon our return, Firelight put out a call for African-based consultants to help us further our META efforts.

Firelight Foundation sponsored a “Think Tank” on Monitoring and Evaluation from 15-17 September 2005 in London. Firelight initiated the meeting, which was organized by Advisory Board member Natasha Martin, to draw on existing knowledge of monitoring and evaluation of programs for children and to develop a new understanding of how Firelight could move forward with the META Program. The meeting pulled together the expertise of seventeen researchers, specialists and practitioners, including representatives of community-based organizations. Participants shared their diverse experience and ideas of how monitoring & evaluation (M&E) can be carried out, highlighting as well the potential pitfalls and struggles that many organizations face. The Think Tank succeeded in creating a shared dialogue, which allowed Firelight to consider a broad range of perspectives and to better articulate our own approach to META. The meeting also solidified Firelight’s commitment to playing a leadership role in piloting innovative M&E strategies that are empowering and build the capacity of grantee partners.

In 2005, Firelight created the position of META Coordinator in recognition of the growing need within the Foundation to devote focused time and energy to the further development of the META Program. In addition to working as part of the grantmaking team, the META Coordinator will support the foundation to assess not only the outcomes of individual grants, but also the effectiveness of our overall operations in fulfilling our mission.

Linking Grantee-Partner Organizations
In 2005 Firelight supported grantee-partner networking meetings in Malawi, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, benefiting 48 grantee-partners. Providing opportunities for organizations to come together to share their work and lessons learned reduces their sense of isolation, increases learning, and facilitates collaboration on many levels. Total financial support for these meetings was $28,300.

Firelight also supported two partner exchange events in Tanzania in 2005. Teens Against AIDS in Dar Es Salaam held two workshops for 97 youth from areas where 14 Firelight grantee-partners operate. The workshop focused on youth participation, leadership skills, volunteerism, and cross-cultural communication. With Firelight’s support, the Lake Nyanza Environmental and Sanitation Organization also facilitated two 3-day exchange visits among nine of Firelight’s grantee-partners in Mwanza and Musoma, Tanzania. Total financial support for these activities was $25,000.

Supporting Partners to Document & Disseminate their Work
Many of the community-based groups we work with, especially those located in rural areas, have never had the opportunity to network with other organizations. Providing opportunities for different organizations to come together and share their work reduces isolation, increases learning, and enables collaboration on many levels. During staff country visits, Firelight sponsors national and regional Grantee-Partner Meetings in which participants share lessons learned and exchange ideas about programmatic and operational issues. In 2004, meetings were held in Lesotho and Rwanda. Topics addressed during these meetings include documentation, privacy and confidentiality in reporting, and strategies for effective networking.

The Firelight Foundation provides additional opportunities for networking through sponsoring grantee-partner participation in regional and international conferences. Firelight sponsored the participation of Siphelile Kaseke (see page 69), founder of Youth for a Child in Christ (YOCIC), as a youth representative at the XVth International Conference on HIV/AIDS held in Bangkok in July 2004. The Global Health Council chose Beatrice Chola, Executive Director of Bwafwano Community Home-Based Care Organization also a Firelight grantee, to present a paper on Bwafwano’s community mobilization work. Firelight sponsored Beatrice’s travel to Washington D.C. for this conference.

Sponsoring Organizational Workshops
In late 2004 Firelight funded discretionary grants to support nine grantee-partners to devote resources to document and disseminate their work. Groups were invited to apply for the Documentation and Dissemination (D&D) grants based on expressed need or their potential to share innovative approaches in a meaningful way. In a wide range of written, audio, visual, and web-based formats, partners used the D&D grants to develop materials to reach a wider audience for outreach, awareness raising, advocacy, and fundraising. Total financial support for D&D grants was $35,400.