EVALUATION

The Singapore Internet Research Centre (SiRC) committed in establishing SIRCA as one of the best ICTD research grant programmes in Asia, commissioned an external consultant to conduct two evaluations during its pioneer round. Given the ambitious objectives of the programme — to enhance research capacity in the region, to create a space for dialogue on ICTD social science research issues, to connect emerging and senior ICTD researchers through a mentorship scheme, and to raise the profile of ICTD work coming from Asia — SIRCA's management was ready to grasp the lessons learned and to implement relevant recommendations that the evaluations proposed. It was also an opportunity for the staff, entrenched in the day-to-day administration of the Programme, to get a big picture of their work.

The first evaluation was formative — it focused on improving the programme — and covered a period of two years and four months, from the programme's inception and conceptualization in March 2008 to July 2010 after SIRCA's second workshop, which brought together mentors and investigators from all countries and serendipitously provided an opportunity to collect data for the evaluation. The evaluator worked with SIRCA's management to select the areas of study, to articulate the uses of the evaluation, to identify the primary users of the evaluation, and to define the key evaluation questions. The Grant Review Process was one area for evaluation because SIRCA's management received feedback about the short review time of proposals which may have affected the application screening process. The Mentorship Programme was the second evaluation area as it was a unique component of SIRCA that went beyond a typical research grant programme. SIRCA embraced a vision of professional support and career formation for emerging ICTD researchers.

The Principal Investigator (PI) was linked to a senior researcher (Mentor) who would provide continuous guidance, support, and direction throughout the project. It was hoped that the Mentee benefited from this interaction with an experienced researcher while gaining confidence and skills to contribute to the field of ICTD through rigorous research, publications, dissemination, and collaboration with the Mentor.