DDevelopment evelopment RResearch to esearch to EEmpower mpower AAll ll MMongolians through ongolians through IInformation and nformation and Communications Communications TTechnologyechnology

DECI workshop Penang, Malaysia

11 June, 2009

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Outline of the presentationOutline of the presentation

• Brief introduction to DREAM IT project

• DREAM IT’s monitoring & evaluation framework

• Expected benefits from DECI

What is the DREAM IT project?What is the DREAM IT project?

DREAM IT is a program of projects, which has been developed to address policy, infrastructure, development, innovation, capacity building and other challenges faced by the country’s ICT sector as it deploys ICT-based activities and initiatives.

The project is designed to develop the capacities of researchers and research managers to achieve their stated proposal objectives, as well as to strengthen strategic linkages and knowledge sharing opportunities among the projects.

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Research questions:Research questions:

1. What are the strategies and processes needed to allow research findings from the project to influence the policy-making process?

2. What is the role of ICTs in achieving socio-economic outcomes that are sought by the development sectors (e.g., health, education, governance)?

3. In the Mongolian context, what specific technologies and systems would be appropriate to achieve developmental effects in the sectors of health, education, governance, environment, etc.?

4. How is the success of an ICT4D project defined? And how do we ensure that learning about success and failure is transferred and integrated for future ICT programming in the country?

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Two levels:Two levels:

Umbrella level: - Coordination - Cooperation- Networking- Research management - Capacity building - Monitoring and evaluation - Communicating for policy/practice influence

Sub-project level: - Sector-specific ICT problems and issues (health, education, government, environment and etc.) - Gaps in ICT research and development in these sectors

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Project team:Project team:

Umbrella level

Project Board: (i) CEO of Datacom, (ii) Project Director, (iii) Project Leader (iv) Project Administrator (v) 3 Board members.

Sub-project level

Six sub-projects involves: - 30 researchers- 9 ICT consultants (2 international consultants) - 18 sector-specific consultants (psychological counsellor statisticians, economists, lawyer, teachers, business analysts) - 10 technical staff (software developers, architects webmaster) - 18 support staff (data encoding and inputting, research assistants)

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Sub-projects:Sub-projects:

1) Online psychological service for health professionals - Health Sciences University of Mongolia (January 2009 – June 2010)

2) Blended Technology Education Project (BTEP): Using Technology to Level the Education Playing Field in Mongolia – Education channel TV (January 2009 – December 2009)

3) Curriculum development of University Computing and ICT Education in Mongolia - National University of Mongolia (January 2009 – December 2010)

4) GES Information System to motivate reliable business relation for Gobi eco-system – JEMR Co. Ltd. (January 2009 – December 2009)

5) Improving the Responsiveness and Efficiency of Public Sector’s Information Services Provision in Mongolia - Cabinet Secretariat of the Government of Mongolia (January 2009 – December 2009)

6) Engaging citizen participation in the Parliamentary legislative process - Secretariat of the Parliament of Mongolia (January 2009 – December 2009)

Training programs:Training programs:

◦ Project management and Financial administration (22-23 April, 2009)

◦ Social science research methods (26-30 May, 2009)◦ Online collaboration tool (dotProject) and Web 2.0

technologies (5 June, 2009)

◦ Communications for influence on policy and practice◦ Research writing and publication ◦ Evaluation methods

Utilization focus evaluation (UFE) Outcome mapping (OM) Gender analysis (GEM)

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Current phase:Current phase:

First six months:

The project is kicked off and into its sixth month. Three training workshops held. Sub-projects submitted inception reports. Q2 technical

reports to be submitted. Research design of sub-projects revised. Literature

review and baseline study. The project portal www.dreamit.mn is launched. Online collaboration tool dotProject is used.

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Current phase cont...Current phase cont...

Next six months:

Call for New Proposal abstracts and selection of new sub-projects.

Case study and best practices study/contest. National seminar and official launch of the project for

public and media. Monitoring and Evaluation plan. Three more training workshops.

Monitoring & evaluation frameworkMonitoring & evaluation framework

Themes:

The project umbrella will monitor the subprojects based on the three pillars of “policy”, “technology” and “effects”. Cross-cutting themes (such as gender equity, environmental stewardship) will be included in monitoring and evaluating these three pillars.

Indicators:Project monitoring indicators will measure how well or badly a project is being run: - Inputs or resources used- Outputs or results achieved- Impacts on a selected population

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Monitoring & evaluation framework Monitoring & evaluation framework cont…cont…

Data sources and monitoring strategies:

The project umbrella will tap three sources of data or use three monitoring strategies:

Review of subproject documents, including the beneficiary/client profiles from the baseline data, work plans, progress and activity reports, monitoring sheets or formats

Individual or group interviews and/or personal communication with subproject team leaders, field implementers and advisers, and individual or group interviews with a sample of beneficiaries

Direct observation, by attending or participating in project activities

Monitoring & evaluation framework Monitoring & evaluation framework cont…cont…

Utilization of the monitoring data:

◦ It will offer useful data to the IDRC/PAN Asia, Project Board, subproject implementers, and the beneficiary/client population

◦ It will help gauge the level of commitment of the team to the goals of the Project and to social development

◦ It will also measure the efficiency of the use of resources in terms of project goals

◦ Assess the progress of the projects and the problems and challenges facing the project.

What benefits we are expecting from What benefits we are expecting from DECI?DECI?

Revise current evaluation plan and improve it with assistance of DECI according to U-FE scheme

Help answer our priority evaluation questions both at umbrella and subproject levels:◦ “Are we getting the expected results?” ◦ “What should be improved, how?”, ◦ “What decisions need to be made?”◦ “What are other applicable uses (beyond DREAM IT)

of our evaluation results? etc.,

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What benefits we are expecting from What benefits we are expecting from DECI?DECI?

Identify and undertake improvement steps to Umbrella program and as well as subprojects in terms of:

◦ PAN’s three pillar (policies, technologies and effects)

◦ Project research question(s) and objective(s)◦ Capacity building for researchers◦ Results disseminations (facilitation for use) and

policy influence◦ Outputs and expected outcomes

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Thanks for your attentionAny questions?

DREAM IT Mega Mongolia project:

Z. Batbold, Project leader

batbold@npi.mn

B. Batpurev, Board member

batpurev@gmail.com

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