Page 89 - AERC Strategic Plan 2 July2020

THE AERC 2020–2025 STRATEGIC PLAN

Suggested frequency: at least six-monthly (as an input for sense-
making and reporting)

The implementation of episode studies or other case studies. In key instances of
significant policy change, AERC should conduct or commission an episode study, which is
a specific form of case study that starts from a clear policy change and works backward to
understand the confluence of processes and factors that led to the change (both related
to AERC and external to AERC). For other cases of interest (not related to policy change),
AERC should conduct or commission a case study. Considerations for the commissioning
of case studies include: instances of significant influence over attitudes or practice;
indications of significant leverage; indications of interesting gender- or social-inclusion
related outcomes; opportunities for demonstrating effects or significant learning.

Annual reflection sessions with the AERC team (potentially including other AERC
stakeholders as well, e.g. funders). These sessions are intended to enable the
participative discussion and collaborative analysis of various performance-monitoring
data (including at the activity level). Facilitated by the team responsible for MEF, these
sessions should (a) validate and reflect on performance indicator achievements and the
emergent answers to the AERC-wide strategic monitoring questions; (b) ‘make sense’ of
the indicator achievements and emergent answers by identifying key factors (including
implicit assumptions) that have contributed to the AERC’s performance (and under-
performance); and (c) identifying the implications of performance information for the
ToC and strategic plan.

Implementing Activity-Level Monitoring and Assessment

As outlined in Table A4, activity-level monitoring focuses on the selection and design of
activities, and data on their performance.

There are two modalities for conducting activity-level performance monitoring
and assessment:

» Internal modality: to be conducted by the party responsible for implementing
the activity (with support from the team responsible for the ME team). The
internal modality will be predominantly used for performance monitoring, with a
primary focus on the progress and outputs/immediate results of the activity.

» External modality: to be conducted by the team responsible for MEF and/
or an external third party (such as an MEF advisor). The external modality will
be predominantly used for assessment, and especially to focus on the quality
of key activity outputs and the effectiveness of the activity in achieving its
targeted outcomes.

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