Measuring Agency-Level Results: Lessons Learned from Catholic Relief Services’ Beneficiary and Service Delivery Indicators Initiative

Background: Many NGOs have less success documenting their results at the agency level than at the program or project level. Little has been published on the challenges NGOs face in developing and measuring agency-level results. To address this issue, InterAction, an alliance of NGOs, commissioned a comparative study that drew on the existing grey literature, and a sample of 17 InterAction member organizations through case studies and interviews. Purpose: This paper builds on that InterAction study by presenting one of the first published case studies of a successful agency-level measurement (ALM) system – Catholic Relief Services’ (CRS’) Beneficiary and Service Delivery Indicators (BSDI) initiative. Setting: A faith-based multi-national relief and development NGO. Intervention: N/A Research Design:  A case study approach was used to describe and document the development of the CRS ALM. Data Collection and Analysis: The information in this study is derived primarily from CRS files and documents. Data reflecting ALM practices in other NGOs were derived from the 17 InterAction member NGOs. Data reflecting the ALM practices developed by specific NGOs and presented in tabular form in the paper were derived from official documents published by those NGOs. Findings: The authors discuss key lessons for other large and small organizations to consider when developing their own ALM systems. Keywords: agency-level results (ALR); agency-level measurement (ALM); monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning (MEAL); monitoring and evaluation; non-governmental organization (NGO); agency-wide metrics; results-based planning and reporting; Catholic Relief Services (CRS

We Don\u27t Want The Bacon

Illustration of soldierhttps://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/cht-sheet-music/5629/thumbnail.jp

Web and Philosophy, Why and What For?: Proceedings of the WWW2012 conference workshop PhiloWeb 2012

ISSN: 1613-0073International audienceProceedings of PhiloWeb 2012, workshop at WWW 2012, on the philosophy of the Web

Relating gravitational wave constraints from primordial nucleosynthesis, pulsar timing, laser interferometers, and the CMB: implications for the early universe

We derive a general master equation relating the gravitational-wave observables r and Omega_gw(f). Here r is the tensor-to-scalar ratio, constrained by cosmic-microwave-background (CMB) experiments; and Omega_gw(f) is the energy spectrum of primordial gravitational-waves, constrained e.g. by pulsar-timing measurements, laser-interferometer experiments, and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN). Differentiating the master equation yields a new expression for the tilt d(ln Omega_gw(f))/d(ln f). The relationship between r and Omega_gw(f) depends sensitively on the uncertain physics of the early universe, and we show that this uncertainty may be encapsulated (in a model-independent way) by two quantities: w_hat(f) and nt_hat(f), where nt_hat(f) is a certain logarithmic average over nt(k) (the primordial tensor spectral index); and w_hat(f) is a certain logarithmic average over w_tilde(a) (the effective equation-of-state in the early universe, after horizon re-entry). Here the effective equation-of-state parameter w_tilde(a) is a combination of the ordinary equation-of-state parameter w(a) and the bulk viscosity zeta(a). Thus, by comparing constraints on r and Omega_gw(f), one can obtain (remarkably tight) constraints in the [w_hat(f), nt_hat(f)] plane. In particular, this is the best way to constrain (or detect) the presence of a ``stiff'' energy component (with w > 1/3) in the early universe, prior to BBN. Finally, although most of our analysis does not assume inflation, we point out that if CMB experiments detect a non-zero value for r, then we will immediately obtain (as a free by-product) a new upper bound w_hat < 0.55 on the logarithmically averaged effective equation-of-state parameter during the ``primordial dark age'' between the end of inflation and the start of BBN.Comment: v1: 12 + 6 pages (main text + appendices), 7 figures; v2: fonts fixed in figure

Cdc5 influences phosphorylation of Net1 and disassembly of the RENT complex

BACKGROUND: In S. cerevisiae, the mitotic exit network (MEN) proteins, including the Polo-like protein kinase Cdc5 and the protein phosphatase Cdc14, are required for exit from mitosis. In pre-anaphase cells, Cdc14 is sequestered to the nucleolus by Net1 as a part of the RENT complex. When cells are primed to exit mitosis, the RENT complex is disassembled and Cdc14 is released from the nucleolus. RESULTS: Here, we show that Cdc5 is necessary to free nucleolar Cdc14 in late mitosis, that elevated Cdc5 activity provokes ectopic release of Cdc14 in pre-anaphase cells, and that the phosphorylation state of Net1 is regulated by Cdc5 during anaphase. Furthermore, recombinant Cdc5 and Xenopus Polo-like kinase can disassemble the RENT complex in vitro by phosphorylating Net1 and thereby reducing its affinity for Cdc14. Surprisingly, although RENT complexes containing Net1 mutants (Net1(7m) and Net1(19m') lacking sites phosphorylated by Cdc5 in vitro are refractory to disassembly by Polo-like kinases in vitro, net1(7m) and net1(19m') cells grow normally and exhibit only minor defects in releasing Cdc14 during anaphase. However, net1(19m') cells exhibit a synergistic growth defect when combined with mutations in CDC5 or DBF2 (another MEN gene). CONCLUSIONS: We propose that although Cdc5 potentially disassembles RENT by directly phosphorylating Net1, Cdc5 mediates exit from mitosis primarily by phosphorylating other targets. Our study suggests that Cdc5/Polo is unusually promiscuous and highlights the need to validate Cdc5/Polo in vitro phosphorylation sites by direct in vivo mapping experiments