ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the major elements of an approach being used to help judge the effectiveness of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) in poverty-alleviating projects in developing countries in a four-country study undertaken by the London-based Overseas Development Institute Overseas Development Institute in Bangladesh and Zimbabwe during the course of 1990–91. The challenge has been to design a method of evaluating the impact of complex NGO projects and programmes on the basis of limited time, limited financial resources and limited skills, and in a manner which is able to incorporate qualitative indicators of performance into the assessment. Professionals trained in economic techniques and evaluators skilled in cost-benefit analysis and in constructing quantitative rates of return and net present value estimates for projects might well argue that there is little to inspire confidence. The project assessment begins with initial background reading of project files and discussion with key project personnel which will provide a fairly comprehensive, and ‘first impressions’ view of the project.
