Paper, presentation, handout and related supporting documentation: Too many development efforts in sub-Saharan Africa are subjected to sub-standard program evaluations, with limited engagement from program staff, which add little to the existing knowledge base and fail to inform program planning. The USAID/Higa Ubeho program, initiated in 2010, is a five-year program emphasizing economic resiliency among the most vulnerable Rwandan households. In late 2010, the program engaged external consultants to evaluate prospectively the effectiveness of its efforts. A critical component of this program evaluation was continuous capacity building among program staff to ensure relevancy and enhance ownership of the evaluation results. Through a series of training workshops, all program staff contributed to the development of evaluation objectives, questionnaires, and analysis plans. Additionally, the M&E team leader received individual mentoring and training throughout the evaluation. The final product was an assessment well understood by program staff and responsive to the program’s information needs for planning and resource allocation.#2012Conference #OrganizationalLearningandEvalCapacityBuilding