Empty rituals? A qualitative study of users’ experience of monitoring & evaluation systems in HIV interventions in western India

In global health initiatives, particularly in the context of private philanthropy and its ‘business minded’ approach, detailed programme data plays an increasing role in informing assessments, improvements, evaluations, and ultimately continuation or discontinuation of funds for individual programmes. The HIV/AIDS literature predominantly treats monitoring as unproblematic. However, the social science of audit and indicators emphasises the constitutive power of indicators, noting that their effects at a grassroots level are often at odds with the goals specified in policy. This paper investigates users' experiences of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) systems in the context of HIV interventions in western India. Six focus groups (totalling 51 participants) were held with employees of 6 different NGOs working for government or philanthropy-funded HIV interventions for sex workers in western India. Ten donor employees were interviewed. Thematic analysis was conducted. NGO employees described a major gap between what they considered their “real work” and the indicators used to monitor it. They could explain the official purposes of M&E systems in terms of programme improvement and financial accountability. More cynically, they valued M&E experience on their CVs and the rhetorical role of data in demonstrating their achievements. They believed that inappropriate and unethical means were being used to meet targets, including incentives and coercion, and criticised indicators for being misleading and inflexible. Donor employees valued the role of M&E in programme improvement, financial accountability, and professionalising NGO-donor relationships. However, they were suspicious that NGOs might be falsifying data, criticised the insensitivity of indicators, and complained that data were under-used. For its users, M& E appears an ‘empty ritual’, enacted because donors require it, but not put to local use. In this context, monitoring is constituted as an instrument of performance management rather than as a means of rational programme improvement

The Value of Knowledge for Colour Design

Colour is not one single kind of “thing.” Here I propose a way of categorizing the different kinds of thing that colours are variously understood to be. I further propose that the means used to identify a colour determine what kind of thing it is that is being identified. My proposed categories are conventional colour, substance colour, formula colour, spectral profile colour, psychophysical colour, inherent colour, and perceived colour. I show how these different kinds of colour are the concern of people working in different disciplines and that these different disciplines all contribute knowledge that can be of value in colour design. I also show how recognition of the different kinds of colour can help designers to a clearer understanding of concepts that they use in their own discipline

The Colour Card Game

This paper is the outcome of a dialogue between two lecturers in the visual arts from universities in Queensland and Western Australia. The Colour Card Game is a tool for teaching creative colour exploration to a wide variety of students from different educational disciplines and from different cultural backgrounds. The aim is to engage students in a way that is not intimidating, requires no special skills or preparation, and with any value judgments coming from the students rather than from the teacher. The game is played with the commercial paint sample cards that are freely available from paint and hardware stores. The object of the game is to produce unusual colour combinations that ‘work’ (are considered creatively harmonious). There is an element of chance in the distribution of colour cards and opportunities for players to exchange cards that they find unworkable. At the conclusion of play the colour combinations are displayed and players vote for the ones they consider most successful. The game provides the opportunity to discuss different approaches to colour combination: reliance on one’s own judgment, application of established theories of colour harmony, making use of the findings of research and using chance processes to open up a wider range of possibilities. Students learn to look at colours with fresh eyes and to escape from personal limitations, prejudices, rules and the dictates of fashion. They explore unfamiliar areas of colour space and discover how colours actually interact. The game has been played successfully in the classroom and in social situations. Players enjoy the game; they find it challenging, stimulating and often revealing of personal tastes in colour. The paper describes the game’s development, purposes and applications within teaching context, variation of play and possible future developments

Feedback sheets as a form of assessment to support learning

Assessment has been a problem area in the School of Design for a long time. Issues include: the diversity of things to be addressed, the degree of precision that is possible/desirable, the amount of time that can/should be devoted to assessment, questions of subjectivity and objectivity, fairness, competition and cooperation and the contribution that assessment, as a form of feedback, can make to the learning process. Following our recent programme review, and in the context of Quality Assurance, the School had prepared a strategic plan with the help of an external facilitator. A high priority has been given to the development of standard assessment processes. This task has been undertaken by a team of staff and students. Of all the systems used in the school the ones which seem most promising are those based on feedback sheets. These sheets list all the criteria relevant for a given project. A student's performance according to each criterion in recorded on a scale. It is then possible to derive from these records an overall grade or mark for each student. Team members are looking at variations on the theme of feedback sheets and preparing an inventory of criteria. Our underlying objective is establishment of a process which is manageable while being clearly focussed on support for learning. We will present our conclusions at the Forum and are looking forward to feedback which may help us finalise our proposals for adoption by the School