A quick pre-read: The Executive Summary

The case study we are using for this e-course is the Retrospective Impact Evaluation (RIE) we completed for Save the Children in 2019.

To give you a quick overview, please read the Executive Summary below.

Key points to note:

• The Executive Summary is deliberately laid out using the 6 high-level Key Evaluation Questions (KEQs) used to guide the entire evaluation. In this course, you will learn how to write good KEQs for any RIE.
• Each KEQ is a heading within the Executive Summary. Under that, you will see the key findings and conclusions laid out underneath.
• The findings detail not just the key evidence, but explicitly evaluative interpretations of it (i.e., stating clearly what is good and what is not). This helps generate curiosity about how those conclusions were arrived at. Note that each section of the Executive Summary contains a hyperlink to the same section of the full report.
• Take note, also, of the structure of the report, as outlined in the Table of Contents. Findings have been laid out by programmatic area, to help support utilization by teams overseeing each of these areas. Overarching conclusions are organized by Key Evaluation Question, which is designed to be most useful for those leading Save the Children's community development work across multiple domains. Later in the course, we will be providing advice on how to structure reporting for maximum use and influence.