Decoding process evaluation frameworks : lessons for the public sector in South Africa

The widespread service delivery protests in South Africa call for the effectiveness of the public sector in service delivery. Monitoring and evaluation are essential in ensuring such effectiveness is achieved. Process evaluation in the public sector could be an indispensable intervention for the attainment of service delivery goals. This article is an explication of process evaluation methods from studies involving several frameworks for process evaluations. The article reviews the methodologies and frameworks of several studies on process evaluation. These frameworks include the systematic structured observation technique, intervention driven framework, logic model and the key components profile. It is important to note that these frameworks are pivotal in the implementation of process evaluations. These frameworks depict process evaluation as a vital adjunct to outcome evaluation and it is argued that process evaluation is the prerequisite and a necessary ingredient for effective and efficient programming. A key lesson learnt is the adoption of a comprehensive evaluation methodology which is useful in process evaluation for cross validation purposes and also for ensuring the validity and reliability of process evaluation techniques, procedures and results. While several methodological challenges confront process evaluation these may be overcome by the employment of a comprehensive evaluation methodology

Varied impacts of compensation on employee performance in the public sector : a case of the Premier Medical Aid Society of Zimbabwe

Compensation administration in a highly inflationary environment has proved to be a major challenge to most organisations. While employees need reasonable amounts of disposable income on their side, organisations need super profits for their sustenance hence the paradoxical nature of compensation administration. This study is meant to ascertain the relationship between compensation and employees’ performance. The study hypothesises that satisfactory compensation enhances employee performance. A case study approach was used to ascertain this relationship. Interviews with key informants in a sample drawn from a population of the parastatal’s employees were administered. This article presents the following arguments. Compensation can only have a positive impact on employee performance if it is not only linked to employee performance but democratised to incorporate the input of employees, properly installed and maintained. The influence of compensation administration on employee performance can be applicable to those who derive their motivation from it. Therefore, to say that compensation drives employees to perform may be an overstatement and fictitious. Human needs are dynamic in nature let alone complex. For the sake of sustainability, a remuneration strategy should also clarify the relationship between salaries, wages and benefits to the key success factors of the organisations. Issues of equity and fairness of compensation should be adhered to for compensation to achieve desired results. For remuneration to drive the performance of employees it should clearly portray those behaviors that need to be rewarded

Independent and combined effects of improved water, sanitation, and hygiene, and improved complementary feeding, on child stunting and anaemia in rural Zimbabwe: a cluster-randomised trial.

BACKGROUND: Child stunting reduces survival and impairs neurodevelopment. We tested the independent and combined effects of improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), and improved infant and young child feeding (IYCF) on stunting and anaemia in in Zimbabwe. METHODS: We did a cluster-randomised, community-based, 2 × 2 factorial trial in two rural districts in Zimbabwe. Clusters were defined as the catchment area of between one and four village health workers employed by the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care. Women were eligible for inclusion if they permanently lived in clusters and were confirmed pregnant. Clusters were randomly assigned (1:1:1:1) to standard of care (52 clusters), IYCF (20 g of a small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplement per day from age 6 to 18 months plus complementary feeding counselling; 53 clusters), WASH (construction of a ventilated improved pit latrine, provision of two handwashing stations, liquid soap, chlorine, and play space plus hygiene counselling; 53 clusters), or IYCF plus WASH (53 clusters). A constrained randomisation technique was used to achieve balance across the groups for 14 variables related to geography, demography, water access, and community-level sanitation coverage. Masking of participants and fieldworkers was not possible. The primary outcomes were infant length-for-age Z score and haemoglobin concentrations at 18 months of age among children born to mothers who were HIV negative during pregnancy. These outcomes were analysed in the intention-to-treat population. We estimated the effects of the interventions by comparing the two IYCF groups with the two non-IYCF groups and the two WASH groups with the two non-WASH groups, except for outcomes that had an important statistical interaction between the interventions. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01824940. FINDINGS: Between Nov 22, 2012, and March 27, 2015, 5280 pregnant women were enrolled from 211 clusters. 3686 children born to HIV-negative mothers were assessed at age 18 months (884 in the standard of care group from 52 clusters, 893 in the IYCF group from 53 clusters, 918 in the WASH group from 53 clusters, and 991 in the IYCF plus WASH group from 51 clusters). In the IYCF intervention groups, the mean length-for-age Z score was 0·16 (95% CI 0·08-0·23) higher and the mean haemoglobin concentration was 2·03 g/L (1·28-2·79) higher than those in the non-IYCF intervention groups. The IYCF intervention reduced the number of stunted children from 620 (35%) of 1792 to 514 (27%) of 1879, and the number of children with anaemia from 245 (13·9%) of 1759 to 193 (10·5%) of 1845. The WASH intervention had no effect on either primary outcome. Neither intervention reduced the prevalence of diarrhoea at 12 or 18 months. No trial-related serious adverse events, and only three trial-related adverse events, were reported. INTERPRETATION: Household-level elementary WASH interventions implemented in rural areas in low-income countries are unlikely to reduce stunting or anaemia and might not reduce diarrhoea. Implementation of these WASH interventions in combination with IYCF interventions is unlikely to reduce stunting or anaemia more than implementation of IYCF alone. FUNDING: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UK Department for International Development, Wellcome Trust, Swiss Development Cooperation, UNICEF, and US National Institutes of Health.The SHINE trial is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1021542 and OPP113707); UK Department for International Development; Wellcome Trust, UK (093768/Z/10/Z, 108065/Z/15/Z and 203905/Z/16/Z); Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; US National Institutes of Health (2R01HD060338-06); and UNICEF (PCA-2017-0002)

Development Planning & Strategies: DEV 522

Development Planning & Strategies: DEV 522, honours examination November 2010

Development Management in the Developing World: DEV 513

Development Management in the Developing World: DEV 513, June 201