Monitoring and Evaluation Boost – Details, episodes &amp; analysis

Twitter: https://x.com/senkaba_g

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/godfrey-senkaba-32452428/

Godfrey Senkaba, M&E Boost Podcast.

Ep29 - Evaluation Just Got Smarter: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Awards & What’s Ahead

Season 10 · Episode 29

vendredi 30 mai 2025 • Duration 24:02

In this episode of the Monitoring and Evaluation Boost Podcast, host Godfrey Senkaba dives deep into the big ideas and latest updates shaping the world of evaluation.

This week’s focus? Artificial Intelligence. Specifically, how Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Claude can support - not replace - evaluators in doing faster, more efficient, and still rigorous work.

He unpacks the World Bank and IFAD’s guidance note on integrating AI thoughtfully in evaluations, spotlighting practical use cases from text summarization to data extraction. He also discusses potential risks- like bias and hallucinated insights - and how to mitigate them with smart workflows and strong human judgment.

But that’s not all — Godfrey rounds up what’s happening across the M&E world:

AfrEA launches the National Evaluation Capacities Index (INCE) - a bold move to measure and grow national readiness.
UNDP’s Evaluation Excellence Awards 2025 - with lessons from award-winning evaluations across Morocco, Costa Rica, Indonesia, and more.
gLOCAL Evaluation Week 2025 - coming this June with 300+ free events worldwide.
Claremont Graduate University’s info session - explore doctoral programs that can elevate your evaluator journey.

🎓 Whether you’re early in your M&E career or a seasoned professional, this episode will leave you energized and equipped for what’s next.

🔗 Links mentioned:

World Bank/IFAD AI Guidance Note: https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/099136005132515321
AfrEA INCE Announcement: https://afrea.org/actualites/the-ince-is-introduced-in-africa-launched-at-the-afrea-head-office/
gLOCAL Evaluation Week: https://www.globalevaluationinitiative.org/glocal-home
UNDP Evaluation Awards: https://www.undp.org/evaluation/news/evaluation-excellence-awards-2025
Claremont Graduate University doctoral programs https://www.cgu.edu/school/ssspe/programs/

Connect with Godfrey Senkaba:

Twitter: https://x.com/senkaba_g

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/godfrey-senkaba-32452428/

Godfrey Senkaba, M&E Boost Podcast.

E20 - Exploring Sajilu Kamwendo's Evaluation Career: Curiosity, Patterns, and the "Made in Africa" Narratives

Season 6 · Episode 20

jeudi 8 février 2024 • Duration 45:40

Godfrey Senkaba chats with Sajilu Kamwendo, the Director, Outcome, and Impact Evaluation at Mastercard Foundation. Sajilu has over 20 years of experience in program evaluation which includes work with international organizations, implementing or funding relief and development programs.

Sajilu elaborates on how his passion for curiosity and patterns propelled his journey in evaluation, ultimately leading him from a novice to the position of directing impact evaluation at the MasterCard Foundation. He discusses the significance of his current role and how it has shaped his evaluative priorities. For instance, he underscores MasterCard's evaluation approach, which is rooted in the belief that "Africa Works."

He also emphasizes the ongoing campaign at the Africa Evaluation Association, advocating for "Made in Africa evaluation." Sajilu encourages evaluators of all levels—whether young, mid-career, or experienced—to join this movement, emphasizing the importance of supporting Africans in narrating their own stories of change using indigenous language, style, and approaches.

Below is the discussion outline:

[00:34] Hello, everyone!

[02:00] Introducing Sajilu Kamwendo.

[03:03] A ‘youthful’ Sajilu and career dreams before his first professional job?

[8:18] How working different evaluation jobs shaped Sajilu’s evaluation perspective, and interests and shared her career goals.

[12:50] The uniqueness of MasterCard Foundation’s approach to Evaluation and how it is shaping Sajilu’s evaluative approach.

[15:18] How to raise the indigenous voice in evaluation.

[18:34] Top 2-3 skills every evaluation professional should have. Key soft skills include curiosity, point of view, and pragmatism.

[22:06] Biggest challenges Sajilu has faced as an evaluator and how she overcame them.

[25:08] Top monitoring and evaluation tools and/or methods Sajilu uses to improve her work.

[29:02] Sajilu’s career growth strategies and recommendations to evaluators.

[33:58] Evaluation in the post-COVID-19 evaluation era.

[37:05] Sajilu’s best moment as an evaluator

[39:07] Sajilu’s plans.

[40:39] How to contact Sajilu Kamwendo

[44:58] Thank you, Sajilu. Thank you everyone for listening!

I would like to hear your feedback on this episode, and your suggestions for future episodes. Use the comment box below or send me an email. Thank you for your feedback.

Connect with Godfrey Senkaba:

X (formerly, Twitter): https://twitter.com/senkaba_g

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/godfrey-senkaba-32452428/

Connect with Sajilu Kamwendo:

E-mail: sajilu_kamwendo@yahoo.com

X (formerly, Twitter): https://twitter.com/sajilu

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sajilu-kamwendo-b5705276/

Godfrey Senkaba, M&E Boost Podcast.

E19 - From Evaluation Volunteer to Chief Executive Officer. The Katherine Haugh Evaluation Career Path Story

Season 6 · Episode 19

lundi 26 juin 2023 • Duration 32:04

Godfrey Senkaba chats with Katherine Haugh, the CEO, and founder of The Convive Collective. Katherine has over 10 years of experience in program evaluation which includes work with both local and international development organizations including USAID and United Nations.

Katherine’s story is interesting, and motivating, particularly in how she turned complexity into clarity, setting forth a successful evaluation career. From doing intern and volunteer roles to monitoring and evaluation specialist and to starting how own organization. She also shares her passion for visual storytelling, particularly illustrations, and how to facilitate learning and dialogue around evaluation data. Below is the discussion outline:

[00:31] Hello, everyone! Introducing Katherine Haugh.

[04:18] A ‘youthful’ Katherine and career dreams before his first professional job?

[6:40] How working different evaluation jobs shaped Katherine’s evaluation perspective, and interests and shared her career goals.

[8:42] How Katherine founded and became CEO of The Convive Collective. What is special about this Business and how is she using her evaluative skills?

[12:47] Top 2-3 skills every evaluation professional should have. For example, powerful synthesis (how to curate the right information and synthesize it for the right audience); facilitation; and creative communication.

[15:03] Biggest challenges Katherine has faced as an evaluator and how she overcame them.

[17:42] Top monitoring and evaluation tools and/or methods Katherine uses to improve her work.

[21:09] Katherine’s career growth strategies and recommendations to evaluators.

[26:27] Katherine’s big plans self and The Convive Collective, over the next several months.

[28:14] Why Katherine believes the young and emerging evaluators should choose the evaluation profession over any other.

[31:05] How to contact Katherine Haugh.

[31:22] Thank you, Katherine. Thank you, everyone, for listening!

I would like to hear your feedback on this episode, and your suggestions for future episodes. Use the comment box below or send me an email. Thank you for your feedback. Remember to subscribe to this Podcast.

Connect with Godfrey Senkaba:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/godfrey-senkaba-32452428/

Connect with Katherine Haugh:

E-mail: kat@convivecollective.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/katherine_Haugh

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherinehaugh/

Godfrey Senkaba, M&E Boost Podcast.

E18 - Professional Development of M&E Staff. 10 Factors Every Manager Should Know

Season 5 · Episode 18

vendredi 13 janvier 2023 • Duration 28:49

Godfrey Senkaba discusses his personal strategy for supporting the professional development of the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) employees. Based on his nearly 20 years of experience in the M&E field, Godfrey has developed the 3-10 Framework for M&E Staff Professional Development. This framework identifies three key focal areas and 10 factors to consider in supporting M&E staff professional development. They include:

External M&E environment which impacts the M&E work of your organization. Specifically, be aware of, and leverage:

M&E professional associations,
M&E field trends and emerging issues, and
The M&E policies and requirements by donors, governments, and other bodies impact the setting where you work.

The organization. An M&E manager should have a good understanding of:

The organization's strategy,
Team mandate and structure,
Own (manager’s) priorities, and the
Teamwork plan.

The individual. The M&E staff is a critical player in their professional development. As a Manager, be sure you understand and leverage:

Job nature and competencies needed, and
Job performances, before you finalize discussions and approval of the M&E staff’s
Professional development plan.

The above factors can be applied logically or as relevant to the organization, job, and individual staff context. The bottom line is to empower yourself as an M&E Manager to support your staff from the point of knowledge and interest. Always aim to best represent the staff, self, team, and organization in keeping your staff’s professional development.

Remember, professional development plans are often effectively implemented if are developed and owned by the staff. Your role is and should always be to support the staff with the correct information, tools, and resources and be their dependable cheerleader.

How are you helping your M&E staff’s professional development? What is your experience on this topic? I am happy to hear from you. Use the comment box below or send me an email. Thank you for your feedback.

Connect with Godfrey Senkaba:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/godfrey-senkaba-32452428/

Godfrey Senkaba, M&E Boost Podcast.

E17 - Onboarding New M&E Staff: 10 Things to Do in the First 2 Weeks

Season 4 · Episode 17

samedi 31 décembre 2022 • Duration 23:03

Godfrey Senkaba discusses 10 must-dos for every hiring manager to successfully onboard new employees, particularly those who will perform monitoring and evaluation jobs. The tips are intended to improve the onboarding practices of hiring managers. Already 9 in 10 employees disagree that their organization does a good job onboarding new employees (Gallup.com).

Tip #1. Develop and complete a pre-onboarding checklist

Tip #2. Scope the issues to address during onboarding

Tip #3. Develop and execute a Technical Onboarding Plan.

Tip #4. Don’t Skip Orientation. Just Ensure it is meaningful.

Tip #5. Have clear targets and outcomes for the onboarding.

Tip #6. Have a shared understanding of the Job, roles, and expectations.

Tip #7. Confirm the new employee’s portfolio

Tip #8. Formalize performance goals and expectations.

Tip #9. Discuss and agree on a professional development plan, and

Tip #10. Be available to answer questions and concerns from the employee.

Have you hired new staff recently? What is your experience? I am happy to hear from you and just as ready to work with you to improve the job experience of new employees. Use the comment box below or send me an email. Thank you for your feedback.

Connect with Godfrey Senkaba:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/godfrey-senkaba-32452428/

Godfrey Senkaba, M&E Boost Podcast.

E16 - Hiring M&E Staff. Top 10 Tips for Managers - Part 2

Season 4 · Episode 16

samedi 29 janvier 2022 • Duration 21:55

Godfrey Senkaba discusses the last five of the top ten tips every manager should know to hire the best monitoring and evaluation, staff. Whether you are a monitoring and evaluation manager or a generalist project manager, we often must deal with organizational processes, systems, practices, and own individual choices in any hiring decisions. The following is the last set of tips to help you make a good M&E Staff hire.

Tip #6. A good oral interview by an M&E candidate may not translate into good M&E job performance. Be aware and address the excesses of this M&E job assessment method.

Tip #7. To offer a good and strong job start, the technical onboarding plan for the new M&E hire should be developed earlier than when they start work.

Tip #8. Do not focus all your M&E job assessment on the candidate’s knowledge of monitoring and evaluation alone. Rather, test the M&E candidate’s overall fit to the M&E role you advertised.

Tip #9. Never let your personal interests and fears override your objective assessment of the M&E job candidate’s capability and fit for the M&E role.

Tip #10. Aim for diversity on the M&E Team for better results. For example, beyond demographics-based diversity, aim for diversity in terms of background training and professional experience of the M&E Staff.

In addition, check out Episode 15 for Tips 1 to 5. These tips will help you to improve how you assess M&E job needs, justify M&E roles and responsibilities, M&E job recruitment process including M&E Job interviews, and how to help M&E Staff start their new jobs strong. Have you ever hired M&E Staff? What is your experience? What have you learned? I will be happy to hear from you. Use the comment box below or send me an email. Thank you for your feedback.

Connect with Godfrey Senkaba:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/godfrey-senkaba-32452428/

Godfrey Senkaba, M&E Boost Podcast.

E15 - Hiring M&E Staff. Top 10 Tips for Managers - Part 1

Season 4 · Episode 15

jeudi 20 janvier 2022 • Duration 20:21

Godfrey Senkaba discusses five of the top ten tips every manager should know in order to hire the best monitoring and evaluation staff. Whether you are a monitoring and evaluation manager or a generalist project manager, we often must deal with organizational processes, systems, practices, and our own individual choices in any hiring decision. The following tips will help you make a good M&E Staff hire:

Tip #1. Never hire a monitoring and evaluation staff without first confirming the need/s the job will address.

Tip #2. It is always good to socialize the roles and responsibilities of the monitoring and evaluation job with the teams it will serve, for clarity and buy-in. Do this before and after hire.

Tip #3. Know the possible career path and growth opportunity for monitoring and evaluation staff before you hire them.

Tip #4. Never undermine the human resource role before and after hiring monitoring and evaluation staff, but don't suffocate under its weight.

Tip #5. It’s a good practice to keep all those with high influence and impact on your hiring choice for a monitoring and evaluation job, but level the expectations.

If you need to get a complete understanding of how to make the most out of a monitoring and evaluation job hiring process and output, check out Episode 16 for the rest of the top 10 tips. Certainly, this is not an exhaustive list. Share with me any additional tips you have by using the comment box below. I also welcome your questions or comment on this podcast episode. Thank you for your feedback.

Connect with Godfrey Senkaba:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/godfrey-senkaba-32452428/

Godfrey Senkaba, M&E Boost Podcast.

E14 - Proposal Quality Review: 4 Key Issues and 15 Simple Tips You Must Know

Season 3 · Episode 14

samedi 4 décembre 2021 • Duration 20:29

Godfrey Senkaba discusses 4 key issues and over 15 Tips you must know to conduct a value-add quality review of a project proposal before submission to the funder. Whether you are internal staff or external consultants, taking a holistic approach to project proposal quality review will help you add value to both the process and product.

Here are the four issues you must consider:

Issue #1 Rationale. You should the why a quality review of the project proposal is needed and be sure to align your choice of methods and tools to complete the task. Remember, there will always be assumptions made by the proposal team about your fitness to perform the quality review. For example, that you are familiar with the project proposal subject matter; have a working knowledge of the potential donor/funder; and can provide an objective review.

Issue #2 Conditions that motivated the quality review. You need to know which, or combination of the following conditions necessitated this quality review and plan accordingly. The conditions include the need to complete a required business process step before proposal approval; absence of monitoring and evaluation technical expertise during proposal design; proposal design is complex; and independent reviewer (external to proposal design team) is needed, and response to donor feedback on draft among others.

Issue #3 Expectations on scope and nature of feedback. You may be required to focus a quality review on the entire proposal; individual sections or components like conceptual framework, management, and staffing or indicator matrix; or the entire proposal but with respect to a specific theme like partnerships, sustainability, or gender equality and social inclusion. In addition, your proposal quality review feedback may be presented in any of the four formats: summary of key issues that needed to be addressed; detailed narrative including a justification for the needed adjustments and tracked changes; oral feedback; and mixed format feedback (summary/detailed plus oral feedback).

Issue #4. The focus of the proposal quality review. Use my 7 “Cs” framework for quality review of programmatic documents. I developed this framework following several years of experience in international development programming, and understanding the nature, scope, and context within which project management cycle processes and activities are designed, implemented monitored, and evaluated. The 7 “Cs” are Checklist; Compliance; Consistency; Connectedness; Clarity; Compelling evidence; and Cost.

Check out this episode to learn about how to conduct a quality review of a project proposal more effectively. A value-add quality review of a draft proposal goes beyond reading the proposal documents. The process and choices you must make are as good as the feedback you aim to provide to the Project Design Team.

For more insights on how to add value to the proposal development process as a development professional, or monitoring and evaluation specialist, check out my earlier episodes:

Episodes 11 – The 7 Best Ways that Monitoring and Evaluation Specialists Can Preposition for Grant Project Proposals.

Episode 12 – The 12 ways to review grants donor solicitation documents using monitoring, evaluation, and learning lens.

Episode 13 – Proposal Development: 5 Things You Must Consider Before Developing a Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan.

Please share your feedback.

Connect with Godfrey Senkaba:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/godfrey-senkab

Godfrey Senkaba, M&E Boost Podcast.

E13 - Proposal Development: 5 Things You Must Consider Before Development a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan

Season 3 · Episode 13

lundi 11 octobre 2021 • Duration 22:18

Godfrey Senkaba discusses the 5 most important issues a monitoring and evaluation specialist must consider before they develop the different monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) sections, and related annexes of a project proposal. A typical project proposal requires an M&E plan or MEL Plan narrative and an Indicator Tracking Table. These should complete after gaining a full understanding of the following issues:

· Role and Responsibilities,

· Technical design,

· Stakeholders and partnerships,

· Donor MEL requirements, and

· Budget for MEL

So, you get a complete understanding of how to add value to the proposal development process as a monitoring and evaluation specialist or officer, check out episodes 11 – prepositioning; episode 12 – 12 ways to review grants donor solicitation documents using monitoring, evaluation, and learning lens; 14 – submission, and 15 – post submission. Be sure to share your feedback.

Connect with Godfrey Senkaba: