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    Partner, Innovate, Evaluate: Increasing Rotary’s Impact
    Partner, Innovate, Evaluate: Increasing Rotary’s Impact
    Partner, Innovate, Evaluate: Increasing Rotary’s Impact
    Ebook88 pages1 hour

    Partner, Innovate, Evaluate: Increasing Rotary’s Impact

    By Quentin Wodon

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    If Rotary clubs, districts and the organization as a whole are to have a larger impact, they need to put together more projects that rely on partnerships, are innovative, and are evaluated properly. Not all Rotary projects need to include partnerships, innovation, and evaluation. But the organization and the communities it serves would be better off if more projects did. This is because partnerships, innovation, and evaluation can increase the quality, scope, and reach of our work, thereby helping clubs, districts, and Rotary as a whole to achieve its mission of service above self.

    Partnerships help to implement larger projects and benefit from the expertise of organizations that are among the best in their field. Partnerships also generate visibility and media coverage. Partnerships have a cost, since efforts are required for collaborations to work. But if partnerships deliver scale, expertise, or visibility, the gains often outweigh the costs. This is the case for the organization as a whole, but it is also the case at the level of Rotary clubs and districts.

    Innovation is even more important than partnerships to achieve larger impacts and discover better ways to serve communities. If Rotary experiments and innovates, pilot projects that prove successful can be scaled up by other organizations with deeper pockets, thereby achieving much larger impact.

    Without in-depth monitoring and evaluation, innovation does not help as much to achieve impact because results on the ground must first be demonstrated at the pilot stage for a promising intervention to be scaled up. Innovation and evaluation are like twins: they work best as a pair. Monitoring and evaluation are also needed for Rotary International as well as clubs and districts to learn internally from both highly successful and less successful projects.

    All three ingredients, namely partnerships, innovation, and evaluation, are important to increase the impact of Rotary's work. In order to encourage clubs and districts as well as Rotary International to move in that direction, this book suggests with case studies how increasing impact through partnerships, innovation, and evaluation can be done. Together the case studies provided in the book cover polio eradication as well as the six areas of focus of the Rotary Foundation.

    It is hoped that the book and its case studies will prove useful to Rotarians and others interested in those topics. They are meant to inspire Rotary and other service organizations to harness the promise of partnerships, innovation, and evaluation.

    The book is published as part of the Rotarian Economist Short Books series. The series provides rapid and practical introductions to topics related among others to volunteer work, service clubs, nonprofits, and the areas of focus of the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International (promoting peace, fighting disease, providing clean water, saving mothers and children, supporting education, and growing local economies). The book series is associated with the Rotarian Economist blog.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherQuentin Wodon
    Release dateFeb 15, 2017
    ISBN9781946819017
    Partner, Innovate, Evaluate: Increasing Rotary’s Impact
    Author

    Quentin Wodon

    Quentin Wodon is a Lead Economist in the Education Global Practice at the World Bank where he leads work programs among others on equity and inclusion in education, child marriage, out-of-school children, and the wealth of nations. Previously, he managed the World Bank unit on values and development, served as Lead Poverty Specialist for West and Central Africa, and as Economist/Senior Economist in the Latin America region. Before joining the World Bank, he worked among others as Assistant Brand Manager with Procter & Gamble, volunteer corps member with the International Movement ATD Fourth World, and (tenured) Assistant Professor of Economics with the University of Namur. He has also taught at American University and Georgetown University. A lifelong learner, he holds graduate degrees in Business Engineering, Economics, and Philosophy, as well as PhDs in Economics, Environmental Science, Health Sciences, and Theology and Religious Studies. Quentin has more than 500 publications on a wide range of topics. Books published since 2014 include Water and Sanitation in Uganda (World Bank), The Economics of Faith-based Service Delivery (Palgrave Macmillan), Climate Change Adaptation and Social Resilience in the Sundarbans (Routledge), Investing in Early Childhood Development (World Bank), Infrastructure and Poverty in sub-Saharan Africa (Palgrave Macmillan), Education in sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank), Faith-Based Schools in Latin America (World Bank), Climate Change and Migration (World Bank), and Membership in Service Clubs (Palgrave Macmillan). A recipient of the Prize of Belgium’s Secretary of Foreign Trade, a Fulbright grant, and the Dudley Seers Prize, Quentin has served on several advisory boards for non-profit organizations and university programs, and as Associate Editor for academic journals. A past President of the Society of Government Economists, he is currently serving as President of the Association for Social Economics. Quentin is actively involved in Rotary with his club (currently serving as President), District (former Evaluation Adviser and Interact Chair, among others), and Rotary International (committee member for the Rotary Foundation and other roles). His father was a Rotarian. His daughters founded the Interact Club of their High School. Quentin launched the Rotarian Economist blog in 2014 on World Polio Day and the Rotarian Economist Short Books series in 2017.

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      Book preview

      Partner, Innovate, Evaluate - Quentin Wodon

      Partner, Innovate, Evaluate:

      Increasing Rotary’s Impact

      By Quentin Wodon

      Copyright 2017 Quentin Wodon

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book is available for free through Smashwords but it remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends, colleagues, or students to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer or at Smashwords. Thank you for your support.

      *

      Table of Contents

      Foreword to the Series

      Introduction

      Case Study 1: Eradicating Polio in Nigeria

      Case Study 2: Fighting Malaria and Ebola in Mali

      Case Study 3: Providing Water and Sanitation in Uganda

      Case Study 4: Saving Mothers and Children in Nigeria

      Case Study 5: Transforming Teaching and Learning in Nepal

      Case Study 6: Investing in Disadvantaged Youths in the United States

      Case Study 7: Promoting Peace through Peace Fellows

      Conclusion

      References

      Acknowledgment

      About the Author

      Connect with the Author

      FOREWORD to the series

      This book is published as part of the Rotarian Economist Short Books series. The books in the series are short, typically at 15,000 words or less. They provide rapid and practical introductions to topics related to volunteer work, service clubs, nonprofits, and the six areas of focus of the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. These areas of focus are promoting peace, fighting disease, providing clean water, saving mothers and children, supporting education, and growing local economies. Other topics will be considered as well.

      The book series is associated with the Rotarian Economist Blog launched in October 2014 on World Polio Day. The aim of the blog and its book series is to provide analysis that can help readers make a positive difference in the life of the less fortunate. If you would like to receive email alerts of new posts and resources made available on the blog, please provide your email through the widget at https://rotarianeconomist.com/.

      The editor and main author for the book series works at the World Bank. Although some of the books in the series may relate to topics that the author and co-author(s) may occasionally work on at the World Bank, the opinions expressed in the books are solely those of the individual author(s) of each book in the series and do not represent the views of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. This book series is not associated in any formal or informal way with the World Bank.

      If you would like to contact the author(s) of books in the series for a question or to provide feedback, please do not hesitate to send an email to the editor of the series through the Contact Me page of the Rotarian Economist blog.

      INTRODUCTION

      Service work through volunteering or projects is at the heart of what Rotary and other service club organizations are all about. Membership surveys suggest that the main reason why members join and remain in Rotary is the opportunity to serve. Fellowship and networking are also very important, but service is first (Wodon et al., 2014).

      Rotary is highly decentralized with at its core the club, or rather 35,000 of them. Rotarians come in many shapes and forms, beliefs and passions. There is amazing diversity in the types of service work that Rotarians engage in. This is a strength as members choose to contribute to the causes they are passionate about.

      Most of the service work that Rotarians engage in is done through volunteering, not through projects that benefit from financial support from the Rotary Foundation. In addition, many projects implemented with support from the Rotary Foundation are small. These projects may not rely on partnerships, be especially innovative, or be evaluated in-depth. As long as it is clear to clubs and local communities that the projects are helpful, lack of partnership, innovation or evaluation may not be a major drawback.

      At the same time, if Rotary is to have a larger impact globally, there is also a need to put together more projects that rely on partnerships, are innovative, and are evaluated properly.

      Partnerships help to implement larger projects and benefit from the expertise of organizations that are among the best in their field. Partnerships also generate visibility and media coverage for Rotary (polio is probably the best example). Partnerships have a cost, since efforts are required for collaborations to work. But if partnerships deliver scale, expertise, or visibility, the gains often outweigh the costs. This is the case for the organization as a whole, but it is also the case at the level of Rotary clubs and districts.

      Innovation is even more important than partnerships to achieve larger impacts and discover better ways to serve communities. Without innovation, the contribution of the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International, while significant, is still only a drop in the large bucket of development assistance. The Foundation has a respectable size,

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