Introduction
Program evaluation is the application of the practical social science research technique to the method of judging the effectiveness of the organizational policies, programs, or projects as well as their management and implementation for decision making purposes (Langbein & Felbinger, 3). Therefore, the main aim of program evaluation is to assess the effectiveness of an organization’s internal management policies or/and programs.
Policies are the general rules set by organizations that frame specific acceptable programs or projects. Programs are ongoing activities or services while projects are one-time activities that are intended to have ongoing long-term effects. Programs and projects help carry out policies. Program evaluation reports of performance were collected from two nonprofit making organizations, as analyzed and presented below:
The Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) Performance Evaluation Report
The IEO was established in July 2001 to provide independent evaluation on issues relating to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Its goals are to strengthen the IMF’s external credibility, enhance the learning culture in the IMF, and support the executive board’s institutional governance and oversight responsibilities.
The evaluation assessed the performance of the IMF. It showed its observation in the accumulation of the global financial and economic crisis. It also offered recommendations on how to reinforce the IMF’s ability to distinguish risks and vulnerability and to caution the membership in the future.
The report showed that the IMF was unable to deliver on the key objective of cautioning member countries about global economic recessions and the upsurge of vulnerability in their own economies which began to manifest in the mid-2007.
The report stated that the IMF’s ability to identify the increasing risks was hindered by several factors, which include a high degree of optimistic thinking rather than realistic thinking and a general mindset that a financial crisis is unlikely to happen in large economies. The evaluation report stressed the need to modify institutional structures and incentives to strengthen accountability and enable better assessment of risks.
The scope of the evaluation was three years from 2004 to 2007 and it covered three areas, namely, the IMF surveillance, multilateral surveillance and bilateral surveillance. Sources of information for the evaluation were from IMF internal and external documents, member countries, other international organizations, academia and the private sector research (Lamdany & Wagner, 24-32).
The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation Human Capital Evaluation Report
This foundation was established by his Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice president and the United Arab Emirates’ Prime Minister. One of the foundation’s objectives is to evaluate the levels of education and as a result enhance the employability of the future generations of Arabs. The foundation spearheaded an assessment on the Arab Human Capital Challenge.
According to the report, human resources and the variance between supply and demand, both in terms of the quality and quantity of labor availability, are amongst the most pressing challenges. The report also recommended that quality education should be enhanced and teacher training should be improved to counter act the emerging labor problems.
The report also revealed the rising unemployment rates amongst nations as well as the requirement to raise the input of human capital within state workforce to national development. Information for the report was collected from national secondary sources and public and private sector corporations (Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation, 3).
The report evaluated the drivers of business confidence, drivers of business growth and the barriers to the growth.
Conclusion
Program evaluation is very important to an organization because it acts like a blueprint of the organizations activities, enabling it to maintain efficient and effective policies and projects. An organization can evaluate its performance or its human capital capacity which enables it to make appropriate policies, programs and projects.
Works Cited
Lamdany, Ruben and Wagner, Nancy. IMF performance in the run-up to the financial and economic crisis: IMF surveillance in 2004-07.Washington, D.C: IMF, 2011. Print.
Langbein, Irwin and Felbinger,Claire. Public program evaluation: a statistical guide. New York: M.E. Sharp.Inc. 2006. Print
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation. Reports, 28 Nov. 2011. Web. < www.mbrfoundation.ae/…/AHCC-%20English.pd. >.