NEWS

19.04.2007.

Presentation of MCA-Armenia Monitoring and Evaluation Component for the professional audience in Armenia

On April 19, 2007 the MCA-Armenia Monitoring and Evaluation component presentation was held in the Armenian Office of the Caucasus Research Resource Centre. The main objective of the meeting was to present to Armenia's leading researchers, economists, sociologists and other interested professional community the unique approach adapted by the MCA-Armenia to monitoring and evaluation of its Program to solicit expert opinions and to provide an update of upcoming opportunities.

Ester Hakobyan, MCA-Armenia Monitoring and Evaluation Officer who was the key speaker of the meeting first presented the MCA Program in Armenia and the main indicators of the Program, then the component of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) was introduced, particularly the main principles, structure and components of M&E, the index structure of Monitoring, as well as the tools of M&E and quality supervision of the Project were presented in detail. It was mentioned that the MCC views monitoring and evaluation as one of the key components of its programs and emphasizes the importance of analyzing the long-lasting impact of MCC funded interventions to inform future investment decisions. A key to impact evaluation of the MCC-funded initiatives is the detailed analyses of the economic benefits anticipated from the program that underlie some of the estimated targets and assumptions in the program.

After the presentation E. Hakobyan answered the questions of the meeting participants which were mainly related to the program outcome data reliability in the framework of the NSS activities as the M&E Implementing Entity. In this regard Ester assured the participants that the MCA-Armenia would use all the possible mechanisms to insure the trustworthiness of the data provided from different sources.

Ester also presented the opportunities of cooperation with MCA-Armenia for all the interested parties, in particular she mentioned that within the Program M&E component several surveys and studies to inform the impact evaluation of the program have been planned and would be contracted out in the upcoming year.

At the end of the meeting the Country Director of CRRS Heghine Manasyan thanked all the participants and expressed her willingness to facilitate the organization of the MCA-Armenia Monitoring and Evaluation component new and interesting information presentation and sharing.