Jan Van Ongevalle

Dealing with complexity through actor-focused planning, monitoring and evaluation (PME):

This article reports on the results of a collaborative action research project (2010–12) in which 10 development organizations (nine Dutch and one Belgian), together with their southern partners, explored different actor-focused Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) approaches with the aim of dealing more effectively with complex processes of social change. A major challenge that organizations were trying to address during this action research pertained to the demonstration of observable results in complex contexts where such results are not always easy to measure or to quantify and where causal links between cause and effect cannot always be predicted. Drawing from recent literature, the article presents an analytic framework to assess the effectiveness of a PME approach in dealing with complex social change. This framework is then used to explore how actor-focused PME approaches can help international development programmes to manage complex processes of social change by stimulating processes of real-time results-based learning.

Learning about the Effects of Development Education Programmes: Strengthening Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation (PME) through Reflective Practice.

This article reports on the results of an action research project (2010–13) in which ten Belgian organizations who implement development education programmes explored different planning, monitoring, and evaluation (PME) approaches with the aim of learning more effectively about their results. PME approaches piloted included outcome mapping, most significant change, and scoring tools. This article seeks to further the debate about the implications of the complexity of development education programmes for their PME. Such debate is needed in view of a growing call for results-based management of externally funded development education programmes. Based on the literature from the fields of international development cooperation and development education, and supported by our study results, we argue that there is a need for alternative results-based management approaches that promote learning and help actors involved in development education deal with unpredictability and non-linearity.

Participatory planning for project sustainability of environmental education projects: a case study of the Secondary Teacher Training Environmental Education Project (St2eep) in Zimbabwe

Within the first year of the Secondary Teacher Training Environmental Education Project (St2eep) in Zimbabwe, project stakeholders, including lecturers, college administrators, local project coordinators, and donor representatives, expressed concern about the non‐sustainability of the project due to its over‐reliance on its international donor. In response to this challenge, a process of critical self‐reflection through self‐assessment workshops was started to give an opportunity for key project stakeholders to explore the challenge of project sustainability. Applying the principles of expansive learning theory to St2eep’s reflection processes, this paper shows how the contradictions that emerge from the interaction between different project stakeholders can be powerful sources for learning. This has resulted in new forms of activity to address the challenge of project sustainability in St2eep. The insights of this paper may be useful for other donor‐funded environmental education projects that are confronted with the challenge of project sustainability.