Khulisa’s most recent blog post describes our process for designing and conducting a large, complex performance audit (PA) for the Scaling Up Nutrition Learning and Evaluation (SUN LE) project, a multisectoral nutrition program evaluation in Zambia.
Our first challenge when developing the PA was determining what a PA is, especially in the public–sector context. Private sector PAs tend to be “overwhelmingly financially focused”, according to Khulisa evaluator Mary Pat Selvaggio, and hence weren’t appropriate examples to follow. “So we aimed to build on existing and proven PA guidance and tools that were used in public sector programs.”
Ultimately, Khulisa defined a PA as: “an independent examination of a program’s functions, operations, management systems, and procedures against defined standards, criteria, benchmarks, or expectations, which determines whether the program is meeting its established performance criteria and standards.” The team used three internationally recognized frameworks to design the SUN LE PA: the Primary Healthcare Performance Initiative Framework, the Guide to Evaluating Collective Impact, and the Scaling Up Nutrition Global Strategy Standards.
For more on how Khulisa designed and implemented the SUN LE performance audit, check out the full blog post.
We’ll share another #EvalTuesdayTip from our PA blog post next week.
