Monitoring & Evaluation

CAMRIS International, since its early days as Clapp and Mayne (founded in 1955), has had an outstanding reputation for developing and implementing monitoring and evaluation strategies for numerous projects, programs and institutions. We have extensive experience with a variety of Results Management Systems that are used by our US Government clients, and we are currently working with the new US Foreign Assistance Performance Indicators and PEPFAR Indicators in our role as a major subcontractor for the $100 million Global Health Technical Assistance Project (GH Tech) for USAID. Overall, our evaluation assignments have ranged from quick-turnaround assessments to multi-year, complex evaluations of major programs. CAMRIS has worked in every region, including conflict and post-conflict situations and priority countries for US assistance. CAMRIS has performed over 1300 assignments in nearly 40 countries.

The CAMRIS Approach

Using best practices, innovative approaches and cutting-edge information technology, CAMRIS provides effective technical services ranging from research and planning, to training and development, to implementation of all phases of monitoring and evaluation. We believe that results-oriented monitoring and evaluation are integral elements of good programming, and that donors need real-time feedback on the impact of their programming and the expenditure of their funds. Our staff and consultants are experienced with multiple categories of indicators; parameters for setting targets; both practical and technical considerations of data collection; methods for accommodating data limitations and constraints; and advanced analytical techniques, including multiple levels of aggregated and disaggregated data. We work with clients and counterparts, in all sectors, to use data in a formative way and to foster evidence-based decision making. We also build local capacity and develop stakeholder support to further monitoring and evaluation.

Selected CAMRIS Experience

The GH Tech Project provides the USAID Global Health Bureau, Regional Bureaus, and USAID field missions with program assessment, design, monitoring and evaluation, and program support. CAMRIS staff members include the Deputy Director/Technical Director for the project, and we implement assignments and field consultant teams for up to a $32 million portfolio of work on this project. CAMRIS staff and consultants work with government staff to develop and refine scopes of work and to develop indicators and methods for a wide range of program evaluations. We implement the evaluations, often in conflict-impacted or resource-poor countries, we train local staff and data collectors when needed, and we produce reports that address the needs of our government clients. Our past and current GH Tech assignments include the following:

• Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance (FANTA) Project Assessment
• Access, Quality and Use in Reproductive Health (ACQUIRE) Participatory Assessment
• Survey and Census Information Leadership and Self-Sufficiency (SCILS) Evaluation
• Banking On Health Mid-Term Evaluation
• Malawi Data Quality Assessment
• Avian Flu Report to Congress Assistance
• Support Services Contract Evaluation
• Indonesia PEPFAR Assessment and Planning
• Pakistan Maternal, Neonatal, Child Health Assessment and Design
• Bangladesh Safe Motherhood and Newborn Care Assessmen
• Capacity Project Evaluation
• Zimbabwe AIDS Partnership Assessment
• Azerbaijan Reproductive Health Evaluation
• El Salvador Health Sector Needs Assessment
• Afghanistan HR Support

Global Health Support Initiative II (GHSI-II)

CAMRIS provides senior-level consultants who perform consulting services at USAID’s offices worldwide. These offices include the USAID Bureau for Global Health (GH) and its offices in Washington, DC; Regional Bureaus (Africa, Asia, Middle East, Europe, Eurasia, Latin America and the Caribbean);and Regional Missions and Country Missions overseas. CAMRIS (in partnership with subcontractor IAP World Services) provides 90 senior program and technical consultants to support USAID’s global health activities around the world. Efforts include managing and supporting highly qualified professionals in around the globe who support USAID. Other support areas include: health communications, infectious diseases, laboratory management, monitoring and evaluation, orphans and vulnerable children, policy, preventive care, reproductive health, supply chain management, and training.

CAMRIS provides all necessary logistical support, including travel arrangement (with required USAID clearances), computer support, team planning facilitation, report editing and dissemination. Results achieved have included providing CAMRIS consultants to support long-term assistance programs in such countries as: Armenia, Botswana, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Nepal, Nigeria, and Rwanda. The Senior Technical Advisor in Monitoring & Evaluation and Malaria M&E Advisor for USAID are CAMRIS M&E specialists deployed full time to USAID.

Other CAMRIS Evaluation activities

Highlights of additional projects carried out in the last few years include:

• Technical Assistance Support IDIQ Contract (TASC3) with evaluations such as the MCC Threshold Compliance Evaluation in Peru focusing on the quality of the MCC data, and whether they meet the established MCC country level thresholds.

• In Iraq, CAMRIS completed the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) evaluation assessment of USDA capacity building projects in Iraq. Under this contract CAMRIS analyzed and assessed programs, processes and data; developed assessment tools; and provided training to USDA personnel to bolster Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) practices.

• For the Regional Assistance Mission for the Solomon Islands (RAMSI), CAMRIS implemented annual performance assessments and related monitoring and assessment tasks for the Australian foreign aid agency for a major $350 million program to restore peace and order, revitalize the public sector, and improve economic governance and accountability. CAMRIS supported RAMSI through development and implementation of performance management systems that enable a high level of transparency and accountability for all aspects of the program.

• In Peru, CAMRIS provided evaluation, operations research and knowledge management to USAID’s $300 million Alternative Development Program to identify better ways to achieve sustainable impact in promoting licit economic activities, strengthening agricultural research, livestock, agricultural cooperatives, sugar diversification, regional development, and housing. CAMRIS’ work included a thorough review of the government indicators, development of an improved set of indicators to assess impact and return on investment, and workshops to promote stakeholder participation and support.

• In Sudan, CAMRIS recently led an evaluation of USAID support to Sudanese political parties and the Southern Sudanese Legislative Assembly. The team identified evidence of successes, lessons learned and obstacles to progress, provided recommendations to increase program effectiveness, and advised on the adequacy of program input and performance data to enable robust end-of-program evaluations.

• On behalf of the World Bank, CAMRIS assembled a team of 22 experts in diverse areas and carried out a highly complex evaluation of a comprehensive $725 million health sector modernization project in Mexico.

• For USAID in the Philippines, CAMRIS conducted the evaluation of a local government family planning project and designed a new $45 million health sector project that was approved and funded by the Mission with minimal modification from the CAMRIS design. CAMRIS’ work included assessment of a matching grant program, as well as training and public information activities.

• On behalf of CARE International, CAMRIS carried out an evaluation of the CARE health sector portfolio throughout Latin America and developed a new regional strategy to better align CARE efforts with health sector and donor trends in the region.

In addition to the wide range of international monitoring and evaluation experience at CAMRIS International, individual CAMRIS staff members and consultants have decades of experience managing and performing evaluations for Federal clients, both domestically and internationally.