Why did the chicken cross the road? And other stories on development evaluation...

This week, we finalized the proofs for this book which contains 11 short articles on development evaluation. I think it's a really nice book and the title's really fun too. I'm looking forward, with a mixture of excitement and trepidation, to its appearance in two weeks time. The cover is very nice too - I've tried to post a copy of the front cover here but without any luck! The book is being published by KIT Publishers and it is a co-publication with IOB, Euforic and KIT.

The title comes from one of the chapters, written by Rob van den Berg, which compares collaboration in evaluation with the joke 'Why did the chicken cross the road?' He argues:

The debate on collaboration within evaluation is reminiscent of the question: ‘why did the chicken cross the road?’ The simple answer is that it wanted to get to the other side. But the evaluator wants to know:

whether the chicken took the shortest path across the road, and whether it crossed the road in the quickest possible way;

whether it can be established whether the chicken in actual fact reached the other side, and remains there, and is expected to remain there in the future; and

whether the needs of the chicken have been met by crossing the road.

To answer these questions, the evaluator will enter into a participatory process with the chicken, establish an intervention logic, logframe or theory of ‘how chickens cross roads’ and ‘intended short-term and long-term results of the chicken crossing the road’ which will lead to the gathering and analysis of relevant data. A full discussion of chickens and roads, and all the ramifications and possible benefits of future cooperation, is needed.

Joitske's 4x6 challenge

Yesterday Joitske sent me an e-mail, setting a 4x6 challenge to me and three other bloggers on her blog. This challenge is answering 4 questions: jobs you've had; places you've lived, places you have visited and liked; websites that you visit every day; and films... Well, to tell the truth, I think I'm not a real blogger in the sense that I'm not really planning to say anything personal-personal here on this blog, instead I'm concentrating of personal opinions of professional things. So, although I'm avoiding the personal-personal questions, I'm very happy to list my three favourite websites:

• KM4Dev is by far my favourite website. Well, perhaps I'm cheating here because it is an online community with a web platform. The discussion list is really terrific. Although I'm a bit of a lurker, deliberations on the discussion list inspire me every day.... I adore it!
• My next favourite is iManagement, a Dgroup facilitated Tilly Minnee and myself which we use to keep in touch - and provide information to - KIT partner individuals and individuals in the South. I can't show this to you because it's a closed group but it's great and getting better.
• I also really enjoy LEAP IMPACT, a community or practice also on Dgroups, which has been going since 2002 and is the platform of the community of practice behind the Smart Toolkit.

Well, I now see that I don't have favourite websites, only favourite communities. All three include members who are known colleagues and even friends. Strange discovery in a way... Next time, I'll try to review favourite websites and favourite blogs!

And favourite films (I can't resist adding this)...All about Eve, The last picture show, Rear window and Notting Hill.