Open Access

10 Years of Evaluation Practice in Media Assistance: Who, When, Why and How?

Jessica Noske-Turner
Jessica Noske-Turner
   | Jul 07, 2020
Nordicom Review's Cover Image
About this article
Previous Article
Next Article
Cite
Published Online: Jul 07, 2020
Page range: 41 - 56
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/nor-2015-0028
Keywords
© 2015 Jessica Noske-Turner, published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Figure 1

Timing of Evaluation (no. years following implementation)
Timing of Evaluation (no. years following implementation)

Figure 2

Crude Split of Evaluation Reports by Methodology
Crude Split of Evaluation Reports by Methodology

Sample of Evaluation Reports (in order of publication)

Year Author Title
2003 De Luce Assessment of USAID media assistance in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1996–2002
2003 Rockwell & Kumar Journalism training and institution building in Central American countries
2003 Kumar & Randall Cooper Promoting independent media in Russia: an assessment of USAID's media assistance
2004 McClear & Koenig Mid-term assessment of IREX Media Innovations Program
2004 ARD Inc. Montenegro media assessment and evaluation of USAID media interventions: final report
2004 Lipuscek ERNO television news project for the Western Balkan region: assessment report for UNESCO-final
2005 Mytton Evaluation and Review of Hannu Daya in Jigawa State
2005 Kalathil & Kumar USAID's media assistance: strengthening independent radio in Indonesia
2005 Soloway & Saddigue USAID's assistance to the media sector in Afghanistan
2006 Creative Associates International Haiti media assistance and civic education program (RAMAK). Final report
2006 Jallov Journalism as a tool for the formation of a free, informed and participatory democratic development: Swedish support to a Palestinian journalist training project on the West Bank and Gaza for the period 1996–2005
2006 Jallov & Lwanga-Ntale Swedish Support to a Regional Environmental Journalism and Communication Programme in Eastern Africa for the Period 2002–2006
2006 Elmqvist & Bastian Promoting media professionalism, independence and accountability in Sri Lanka
2006 Intergovernmental Council of the IPDC Expanding PII Community Feature Network and Grassroots Publication
2006 Kessler & Faye INFORMO(T)RAC Programme – Joint Review Mission Report
2006 Intergovernmental Council of the IPDC Workshops on low cost digital production systems
2006 Intergovernmental Council of the IPDC AIDCOM: Sensitising and Educating the Rural Journalists on Press Freedom and Pluralistic Society
2006 Intergovernmental Council of the IPDC Diversifying Information and Improving Radio Programme Production through the Digitalisation of Radio Archives
2006 Cornell & Thielen Assessment of USAID/Bosnia and Herzegovina media interventions: final report
2006 Skjeseth, Hayat & Raphael Journalists as power brokers: review of the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) and the Free Media Foundation (FMF)
2006 Thompson Evaluation report on Medienhilfe network projects in Macedonia and Kosovo
2006 Sayagues Writing for Our Lives: How the Maisha Yetu Project Changed Health Coverage in Africa
2006 Stiles & Weeks Towards an improved strategy of support to public service broadcasting: evaluation of UNESCO's support to public service broadcasting
2007 Martinez-Cajas, Invernizzi, Schader, Ntemgwa & Wainberg The Impact of the J2J Program On Worldwide HIV Awareness
2007 Shrestha An evaluation report on “Building ICT opportunities for development communications” project: a part of the Building Communication Opportunities (BCO) programme
2007 Jallov & Lwanga-Ntale Impact Assessment of East African Community Media Project 2000 – 2006: Report from Orkonerei Radio Service (ORS) in Tanzania and Selected Communities
2007 Pradhan Tracer Study on Training Graduates of Media Centre Programme Panos South Asia
2008 Unknown Political Crisis, Mediated Deliberation and Citizen Engagement: A case study of Bangladesh and Nirbachoni Sanglap
2008 Intergovernmental Council of the IPDC Palestine: Empowering the Media Sector in Hebron
2008 Cohen, Zivetz &a Malan Training Journalists to Report on HIV/AIDS: Final Evaluation of a Global Program
2008 Taouti-Cherif Evaluation of Search for Common Ground-Talking Drum Studio Sierra Leone Election Strategy 2007
2008 Intergovernmental Council of the IPDC Creation of a Mayan Communication Network – REFCOMAYA
2008 Intergovernmental Council of the IPDC Palestine Studio for Children's Programmes at the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC)
2008 Intergovernmental Council of the IPDC Palestine: Giving Women a Voice
2008 Intergovernmental Council of the IPDC Training Journalists in Freedom of Expression and Indigenous Rights
2008 Intergovernmental Council of the IPDC Nepal (various projects)
2009 SNV Netherlands Development Organisation Engaging Media in Local Governance Processes: The Case of Radio Sibuka, Shinyanga Press Club, and Kagera Press Club
2009 Renneberg, Thompson, Taurakoto & Walliker Independent Evaluation of ‘Vois Blong Yumi’ Program, Vanuatu
2009 Graham WFSJ Peer-to-Peer Mentoring Project (SjCOOP): Evaluation and Recommendations
2009 Anonymous Final program report: core media support program for Armenia
2010 Renneberg, Green, Kapera & Manguy Papua New Guinea Media Development Initiative 2. Evaluation Report.
2011 ICFJ An evaluation of the Knight International Journalism Fellowships
2011 Warnock Driving Change Through Rural Radio Debate in Uganda
2011 Internews Communication in crisis: assessing the impact of Mayardit FM following the May 2011 Abyei emergency
2011 Development and Training Services Final report mid-term evaluation: Serbia Media Assessment Program
2011 Myers Mid-Term Review BBC World Trust Project ‘A National Conversation’ Funded under DFID's Governance and Transparency Fund
2012 O’Keefe Independent Evaluation of PNG Media for Development Initiative: Joint AusAID-NBC-ABC Management Response

List of Evaluators Interviewed

Name Affiliation Sector Nationality Gender Date of interview Communication type
Robyn Patricia Renneberg Consultant Development evaluation Australian Female 26/02/2013 Skype (video)
John Cohn Consultant (once only) Media assistance evaluation American Male 27/02/2013 Skype (video)
Birgitte Jallov Consultant Media assistance (and C4D) evaluation Danish Female 6/03/2013 Skype (audio)
Scott Herrling, MS Consultant – Philliber Research Associates General evaluation American Male 13/03/2013 Skype (audio)
Dr Mary Myers Consultant Media assistance evaluation British Female 20/03/2013 Skype (video)
Kitty Warnock Consultant (formerly internal for Panos) Media assistance evaluation British Female 9/04/2013 Skype (audio)
Tara Susman-Peña Internews Internal media assistance research management (not an evaluator) American Female 24/07/2013 Skype (video)
Susan Abbott Internews (/academic) Internal media assistance research management American Female 26/07/2013 Skype (video)
Maureen Taylor Consultant (/academic) (formerly internal at IREX) Media assistance evaluation American Female 28/08/2013 Brisbane
Adrienne Testa BBC Media Action Internal research management British Female 18/09/2013 Skype (audio)

Authorship of the Sample of Media Assistance Evaluation Reports

Authored by Total Commissioned (/ required) by donor Commissioned (/ required) by project
External consultant 27 19 8
Donor 5 5 0
Project 5 2 3
Consultant + Donor 2 2 0
Consultant + Project 1 0 1
Donor + Project 1 1 0
Unknown 6 6 0
Total 47 35 12

Participatory Approaches in the Sample of Evaluation Reports

Participatory decision-making in evaluation priorities and methods Participatory/consultative data collection Participatory data analysis Stated purposes for participation
(Jallov & Lwange-Ntale, 2006) “Evaluation launch meetings” with all relevant stakeholders to “articulate their needs, interests and expectations”. Not indicated. “Debriefing meetings” to confront “all relevant stakeholders” with intermediary results to hear and include their reactions. Encourage ownership, evaluation not as control but as interactive learning process.
(Shresta, 2007) Project managers (does not use the term ‘participation’). Workshop to collect ‘change stories’ (with reference to the MSC technique). Vote on the most significant change stories. Reason not stated.
(Thompson, 2006) Not indicated. Partner staff (radio/TV stations) (does not use the term ‘participation’). Not indicated. Reason not stated, implies efficient data collection method.
(Renneberg, Green, Kapera, & Manguy, 2010) Not indicated. Partner staff (radio stations) (does not use the term ‘participation’). Not indicated. Reasons not stated, implies efficient data collection method.
(Jallov & Lwanga-Ntale, 2007) Not indicated. Communities involved in collecting change stories. Evaluator consolidated and verified. Partner staff (radio station) were involved in prioritisation. Useful when no indicators. Implies that purpose is to reflect local perspectives.
(Jallov, 2006) Not indicated. Not indicated. Confronted them with intermediary results to hear and include their reactions. Encourage ownership, evaluation as interactive learning process.
(Taouti-Cherif, 2008) Project managers (does not use the term ‘participation’). Not indicated. Not indicated. Reason not stated.
(Cohen, Zivetz, & Malan, 2008) Not indicated. Not indicated. Allowed staff to comment, no direct say over final report. Incorporate staff input.
(Stiles, 2006) Program managers. Not indicated. Not indicated. For utilisation approach, participation to focus evaluation on improvement.
(Cornell, 2006) Not indicated. Not indicated. Presented initial findings to donors, program staff. Comments were included. Purpose not given.
eISSN:
2001-5119
Language:
English
Publication timeframe:
2 times per year
Journal Subjects:
Social Sciences, Communication Science, Mass Communication, Public and Political Communication
Journal RSS Feed