Date and time: Thursday 31 August, 1.00pm - 2.30pm AEST
Topic: The new DFAT Design, Monitoring, and Evaluation Guidance
Presenters: Sofia Ericsson - DFAT, Dave Green - Clear Horizon
Facilitator: Kim Vesely, Co-convenor of the AES QLD Regional Committee 
Venue: Via Zoom. Details will be emailed to registrants just prior to the start time
Register: online by: Wednesday 30 August 2023

Event overview

The Australian Government’s new International Development Policy, Performance and Delivery Framework commits to continued improvements in monitoring, evaluation, and learning practice, underpinned by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Design and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Standards. The Standards set detailed expectations for key products in the program cycle – such as theories of change, MEL plans and systems, and evaluation Terms of Reference, plans, and reports.

This session will explore the role DFAT’s standards have played in efforts to improve the quality and use of monitoring, evaluation and learning in the Australian Development Program over the last decade. The session will explain how the standards came about, how they are used on a day-to-day basis, and their strengths and limitations as a tool for evaluation capacity building. The session will be co-presented by Sofia Ericsson, DFAT’s internal MEL Advisor, and Dave Green, an external MEL practitioner working on DFAT programs, and facilitated by Kim Vesely, Co-Convenor of the AES Queensland Regional Committee.

Presenters details

Sofia Ericsson is the MEL Advisor in DFAT. She has worked in international development for around 30 years, the last decade with a focus on monitoring, evaluation and learning. She has worked for both Australia and Sweden’s bilateral development agencies, at headquarters and on postings including China and Papua New Guinea. She was an integral part of the Evaluation Capacity Building Program delivered to staff in the Indonesia program in AusAID. This program developed and piloted the Design and MEL Standards that are still used. Most recently she was involved in the refresh of the Standards and is now building up internal DFAT capacity to use them. She is passionate about getting staff involved in the use of MEL.

Dave Green is a Lead Principal Consultant at Clear Horizon. He has worked on Australia’s Aid Program in the Pacific and Southeast Asian regions for over 15 years, across the public, not-for-profit and private sectors. He has a deep understanding of DFAT approaches to aid design and delivery. His experience spans investment design, monitoring, and evaluation experience across diverse sectors – including education, WASH, health, governance, community driven development, civil society strengthening, impact investing, gender-based violence and women’s economic empowerment. At the country portfolio level, he has developed strategies; MEL systems and performance reports; as well as driven systematic efforts to institutionalise portfolio-wide MEL capacity. He is passionate about improving international development practice by providing credible and useful insights to policy makers and practitioners. 

Kim Vesely is the Co-convenor of the AES QLD Regional Committee. She is a utilisation focused evaluator with a strong emphasis on ethical standards. Kim has postgraduate qualifications in evaluation, gender mainstreaming and international relations. She has worked on evaluations for USAID, DFAT and MFAT in Asia, Africa, and the Pacific.

This is a free event organised & hosted by the Queensland Regional Network of the AES. Our seminar series provides an opportunity for you to meet with AES members and others in the evaluation community and to share and learn from the experiences of fellow evaluators.

This session will added to our YouTube channel approximately 4 weeks after it's recorded. Please subscribe to ensure you are notified when a new video is added.  

Seminar start times

• VIC, NSW, ACT, TAS, QLD: 1.00pm

• SA, NT: 12.30pm

• WA: 11.00am

• New Zealand: 3.00pm

For other time zones please go to https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

Please ensure you have access to your email address just prior to the start time to access Zoom details. Please also check your email address is correct on your registration form before submitting. Thanks.