Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning | A Guide for NHRIs in the Asia Pacific Module 2: Developing your MEAL Framework Defining questions Evaluation questions help to focus and provide structure to an evaluation, guide your data gathering and inform how the data will be used to implement and improve your activities. There are two types of evaluation questions: • Key evaluation questions: overarching questions that help guide your entire MEAL Framework. • Specific evaluation questions: questions that help you measure your indicators. For both types of questions, it is better to narrow it down to a select few, well-crafted questions to save time and effort. Key evaluation questions are high-level questions that guide your MEAL Framework and describe an intervention or a programme as a whole. Examples include: • How effective was the activity? • Did the activity produce or contribute to the intended short- medium and/or long-outcomes? For whom, in what ways and in what circumstances did the activity contribute? • What unintended outcomes (positive and negative) were produced? • To what extent can changes be attributed to the activity? • What were the features of the activity and context that made a difference? • What was the influence of other factors on the outcomes? Specific evaluation questions will depend on your indicators and what you are trying to measure. For example, if the long-term outcome of ‘Family violence is reduced,’ has the indicator ‘Women and girls in three surveyed communities are aware of where to access family violence support,’ examples of evaluation questions to ask women and girls in the communities could include: • Who can help if family violence occurs? • What prevents women and girls in your community from accessing this support, despite being aware that it is available? It is important to ensure that data collection is ethical and sensitive to the particular situation of the communities with whom you are interacting. This is especially important for NHRIs as your work may be politically sensitive— and involve criticising your government on specific issues—or deal with sensitive and/or personal experiences, such as measuring family violence. See Section 3.3 for more information on the ethics of data collection, analysis and storage. Brainstorm the evaluation questions with a group of colleagues and/or external stakeholders as relevant. Think about your outcomes and what you are trying to achieve. Many questions may be identified which can later be reduced, refined and prioritised. 48