Life Skills Education Toolkit

56 • PART TWO: FACILITATOR’S GUIDE

Evaluating a Life Skills Education Program

A well-planned program, with clear objectives and

indicators is easy to monitor and evaluate. In

other words, evaluation begins with planning.

When measuring progress, the question is: Has

the program achieved what it set out to do?

Evaluation also reviews the implementation

process (process indicators) and asks the

question: How well has the program been

implemented?

For example, our SMART objective stated that 40

percent of the children would complete 12 life

skills sessions. We can evaluate this objective by

reviewing the attendance records of the children

and the life skills records of sessions.

TOOLS FOR EVALUATION

A number of tools can be used for evaluation

purposes:

• Observation of behavior;


• Demonstration of skills;


• Using a checklist while observing role plays;


• Reports from parents, teachers, caretakers,
  others;


• Reports of training sessions and follow-up,
  monthly reports;


• Documented self-reports of behavior and
  attitude change;


• Case studies;


• Interviews with stakeholders;


• Focus group discussions with the community
  to determine what changes have taken place
  and explore why the changes have occurred
  with experts and stakeholders;


• Records of condom distribution and STI
  treatment completion; and
  
  
  • Other measures such as records of
    utilization of health services, attendance, and
    performance in schools.
  
  
  
  

Segregation of data for girls and boys gives an

idea of how gender issues have been impacted by

Life Skills Education Programs.

It is best to use a number of tools and to

triangulate or confirm data from multiple sources

and use multiple tools to do so.

Any instrument that is used must be simple and

not too long to get maximum cooperation and

good results.

WHO EVALUATES?

Some programs use outside evaluators and

experts. Program staff can also evaluate—which

can be an empowering process. Who evaluates is

often determined by the purpose of the

evaluation. Sometimes donors or NGOs would

like to have an objective opinion from outsiders.

WHAT SHOULD BE EVALUATED?

It is important to evaluate inputs, process and

outputs. If the project has been well planned, as

mentioned earlier, all of this will be in place.

For inputs, measure what has been put into the

program to make it function:

• Were funds allocated on time, and were they
  sufficient?


• Was staff appointed, and were they
  trained well?


• Were materials/facilities available to
  facilitators and children and of the quality
  desired?