- What has Room to Read done to date around monitoring and evaluation (M&E)? What are your future plans in regards to M&E?
- Can I get a copy of your most recent external evaluation?
- How have you improved your work based on the feedback that you have received?
- How do you know, over time, that one of your facilities (school, library, or lab) is still being used by a community?
- What impact are you having on overall literacy rates in the countries where you work?
What has Room to Read done to date around monitoring and evaluation (M&E)? What are your future plans in regards to M&E?
Please visit our Monitoring & Evaluation page for detailed information on our internal and external monitoring and evaluation initiatives.
Can I get a copy of your most recent external evaluation?
For information regarding our most recent external evaluation and to download a copy of the summary report, please visit our Monitoring & Evaluation page and scroll down to the section entitled "External Evaluation".
How have you improved your work based on the feedback that you have received?
To date, our in-country teams have improved their work based on feedback they have collected from both teachers and students. Examples of such improvements include: the implementation of our Local Language Publishing program to increase in the number and quality of children's books in various language; increased training in our libraries and computer & language labs; and mentoring for our girls' scholarship recipients.
For further information on these developments, please visit our Monitoring & Evaluation page.
How do you know, over time, that one of your facilities (school, library, or lab) is still being used by a community?
In the first few years of program inception, we monitor our facilities and help beneficiaries find ways for improvement. Given that Room to Read feels that it is important that the community has complete ownership of the school, library or lab, we have a strict selection process so that schools are likely to maintain the facility and sustain it over time on their own. After the first few years, we perform random visits of a select numbers or projects annually.
With the new M&E system that we are designing, we will be exploring additional ways in which we can track progress and impact over time for each program.
What impact are you having on overall literacy rates in the countries where you work?
Many factors determine literacy rates, making it difficult for Room to Read to claim that we are changing rates in each country. At this point in Room to Read's life, we are focused on providing access and then measuring how our programs are being used. But we do hope that by giving children the opportunity to explore books and share them with their parents and the community, that we are fostering a culture of reading.
