The six-sphere framework: A practical tool for assessing monitoring and evaluation systems

Abstract

Background: Successful evaluation capacity development (ECD) at regional, national and institutional levels has been built on a sound understanding of the opportunities and constraints in establishing and sustaining a monitoring and evaluation system. Diagnostics are one of the tools that ECD agents can use to better understand the nature of the ECD environment. Conventional diagnostics have typically focused on issues related to technical capacity and the ‘bridging of the gap’ between evaluation supply and demand. In so doing, they risk overlooking the more subtle organisational and environmental factors that lie outside the conventional diagnostic lens.Method: As a result of programming and dialogue carried out by the Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results Anglophone Africa engaging with government planners, evaluators, civil society groups and voluntary organisations, the author has developed a modified diagnostic tool that extends the scope of conventional analysis.Results: This article outlines the six-sphere framework that can be used to extend the scope of such diagnostics to include considerations of the political environment, trust and collaboration between key stakeholders and the principles and values that underpin the whole system. The framework employs a graphic device that allows the capture and organisation of structural knowledge relating to the ECD environment.Conclusion: The article describes the framework in relation to other organisational development tools and gives some examples of how it can be used to make sense of the ECD environment. It highlights the potential of the framework to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the ECD environment using a structured diagnostic approach and to move beyond conventional supply and demand models.

Diagnosing monitoring and evaluation capacity in Africa

“…The six sphere framework has been used and discussed by Crawley (2017) and used by CLEAR-AA. The tool has been used widely in the centre's East African dialogues as a discussion tool to understand the challenges that legislators face with regard to using evidence for oversight.…”

From evidence to values-based decision making in African parliaments

“…Data collection was iterative, drawing first on a series of diagnostic and capacity-building activities, and iteratively responding to emergent research questions through interviews, expert panels and focus groups. During a series of workshops, the Six-Sphere Framework (Crawley, 2017) and the parliamentary compass diagnostic tools were used, described in more detail below. Thematic analysis was carried out, and these data were then supplemented by semi-structured interviews, participant observation of certain parliamentary activities and structured learning sessions by parliamentary capacity development organizations to develop the vignettes (Kandemir & Budd, 2018).…”

“…Crawley’s (2017) Six-Sphere framework, depicted in Figure 1, was used to facilitate discussions on the enablers and constraints to parliamentarians’ engagement with evaluation evidence. It worked as a facilitation tool that provoked engaged discussion, as well as a participant-led coding frame that systematically categorized data from respondents.…”

The search for a method to unpack urban complexity: Case study of the City of Johannesburg

“…Given that the participants of the survey were middle management, these figures could suggest a system that is burdened with reporting requirements. Of the time spent on reporting, the majority of this time is spent on reporting to internal finance and audit, mayoral committees, boards of entities (water, waste and electricity) and lastly Source: Crawley (2017) FIGURE 3: CLEAR's six-sphere framework.…”