MONITORING AND EVALUATION

OUR APPROACH

1. What is monitoring and evaluation? Conceptual differences and terminologies.

2. Approaches to Monitoring and Evaluation. 3. Establishing M&E System.4. How to do Monitoring and Evaluation.

WHAT IS MONITORING?

Day-to-day follow up of activities during implementation to measure progress and identify deviations

Routine follow up to ensure activities are proceeding as planned and are on schedule

Routine assessment of activities and results Answers the question, “what are we doing?”

WHY TO MONITOR ACTIVITIES?

Tracks inputs and outputs and compares them to plan Identifies and addresses problems Ensures effective use of resources Ensures quality and learning to improve activities and

services Strengthens accountability Program management tool

WHAT IS EVALUATION?

It is a time-bound exercise that attempts to assess systematically and objectively the relevance, performance and success of ongoing and completed programmes and projects.

Designed specifically with intention to attribute changes to intervention itself

Answers the question, “what have we achieved and what impact have we made”

Evaluation commonly aims to determine the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability of a programme or project.

Relevance: The degree to which the outputs, outcomes or goals of a programme remain valid and pertinent as originally planned or as subsequently modified owing to changing circumstances within the immediate context and external environment of that programme.

Efficiency: A measure of how economically or optimally inputs (financial, human, technical and material resources) are used to produce outputs.

Effectiveness: A measure of the extent to which a programme achieves its planned results (outputs, outcomes and goals).

Impact: Positive and negative long term effects on identifiable population groups produced by a development intervention, directly or indirectly, intended or unintended. These effects can be economic, socio-cultural, institutional, environmental, technological or of other types.

Sustainability: Durability of programme results after the termination of the technical cooperation channelled through the programme.

Static sustainability – the continuous flow of the same benefits, set in motion by the completed programme, to the same target groups;

Dynamic sustainability – the use or adaptation of programme results to a different context or changing environment by the original target groups and/or other groups.

WHY EVALUATE ACTIVITIES

Determines program effectiveness Shows impact Strengthens financial responsibility and accountability Promotes a learning culture focused on service

improvement Promotes replication of successful interventions.

TYPES OF EVALUATION Ex-ante Evaluation: An evaluation that is

performed before implementation of a development. intervention. Related term: appraisal.

Ex-post Evaluation: A type of summative evaluation of an intervention usually conducted after it has been completed.

External Evaluation: An evaluation conducted by individuals or entities free of control by those responsible for the design and implementation of the development intervention to be evaluated (synonym: independent evaluation).

Internal Evaluation: Evaluation of a development intervention conducted by a unit and /or individual/s reporting to the donor, partner, or implementing organization for the intervention.

Formative Evaluation: A type of process evaluation undertaken during programme implementation to furnish information that will guide programme improvement.

Impact Evaluation: A type of outcome evaluation that focuses on the broad, longer-term impact or results of a programme.

Joint Evaluation: An evaluation conducted with other partners, bilateral donors or international development banks.

Meta-evaluation: A type of evaluation that aggregates findings from a series of evaluations.

Process Evaluation: A type of evaluation that examines the extent to which a programme is operating as intended by assessing ongoing programme operations. A process evaluation helps programme managers identify what changes are needed in design, strategies and operations to improve performance.

Qualitative Evaluation: A type of evaluation that is primarily descriptive and interpretative, and may or may not lend itself to quantification.

Quantitative Evaluation: A type of evaluation involving the use of numerical measurement and data analysis based on statistical methods.

Summative Evaluation: A type of outcome and impact evaluation that assesses the overall effectiveness of a programme.

Thematic Evaluation: Evaluation of selected aspects or cross-cutting issues in different types of interventions.

CONFUSING TERMS

Audit Appraisal Inspection

Approach Major Focus Typical Question Likely Methodology

Goal Based(Strategic Approach)

Assessingachievement of goalsand objectives.

Were the goalsachieved? Efficiently?Were they the rightgoals?

Comparing baseline and progressdata; finding ways to measure indicators.

Decision Making(System Approach)

Provide Information

Is the project effective?Should it continue?How might it bemodified?

Assessing range of options related to the project context, inputs, process, and product. Establishing some kindof decision-making consensus.

Goal Free(Inductive Approach)

Assessing full range of project impacts, intended and not intended

What are all theoutcomes? What value do they have?

Independent determination of needs and standards to judge project worth.Qualitative and quantitative techniques to uncover anypossible results.

Expert Use Expertise How does an outsideprofessional rate this project?

Critical review based on experience, informal surveying, and subjective insights.

Participatory Approach

Stakeholder Satisfaction

How do the stakeholders rate the project.

Participatory Workshops.

M&E TOOLS Evaluating programme strategy and direction:

Log-frames, Stakeholder Analysis Evaluating programme management: Horizontal

Evaluation; Appreciative Inquiry Evaluating programme outputs: Evaluating

academic articles and research reports; Evaluating websites; After Action Reviews

Evaluating outcomes and impacts: Outcome Mapping, Most Significant Change; Episode Studies.

M&E TOOLS

Following is a non – exhaustive list of M&E Tools:

1. Performance indicators2. Formal surveys3. Rapid appraisal methods4. Participatory methods5. Cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis6. Impact evaluation

1. PERFORMANCE INDICATORS Performance indicators are measures of inputs, processes,

outputs, outcomes, and impacts for development projects, programs, or strategies.

Uses: Setting performance targets and assessing progress toward

achieving them. Identifying problems via an early warning system to allow

corrective action to be taken. Problems:

Poorly defined indicators are not good measures of success. Tendency to define too many indicators, or those without

accessible data sources, Often a trade-off between picking the optimal or desired indicators

and having to accept the indicators which can be measured using existing data.

HOW TO MAKE INDICATORS

1. Identify the problem situation you are trying to address.

2. Develop a vision for how you would like the problem areas to be/look. This will give you impact indicators.

3. Develop a process vision for how you want things to be achieved. This will give you process indicators.

4. Develop indicators for effectiveness.5. Develop indicators for efficiency .

2- FORMAL SURVEYS

Formal surveys can be used to collect standardized information from a carefully selected sample of people or households.

Uses: Providing baseline data against which the performance of the

strategy, program, or project can be compared. Comparing different groups at a given point in time. Comparing changes over time in the same group. Comparing actual conditions with the targets established in a

program or project design.

2- FORMAL SURVEYS

Problems: With the exception of CWIQ, results are often not available for

a long period of time. The processing and analysis of data can be a major

bottleneck for the larger surveys even where computers are available.

LSMS & household surveys are expensive & time-consuming. Many kinds of information are difficult to obtain through

formal interviews.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF SURVEY

1. Multi-Topic Household Survey (also known as Living Standards Measurement Survey—LSMS).

2. Core Welfare Indicators Questionnaire (CWIQ).3. Client Satisfaction (or Service Delivery) Survey.4. Citizen Report Card.

3- RAPID APPRAISAL METHODS

Rapid appraisal methods are quick, low-cost ways to gather the views and feedback of beneficiaries and other stakeholders, in order to respond to decision-makers’ needs for information.

Uses: Providing rapid information for management decision-making,

especially at the project or program level. Providing qualitative understanding of complex

socioeconomic changes, highly interactive social situations, or people’s values, motivations, and reactions.

Providing context and interpretation for quantitative data collected by more formal methods.

3- RAPID APPRAISAL METHODS

Problems: Findings usually relate to specific communities or localities

—thus difficult to generalize from findings. Less valid, reliable, and credible than formal surveys.

4- RAPID APPRAISAL METHODS

1. Key informant interview2. Community group interview3. Focus group discussion4. Direct Observation5. Mini surveys

4- PARTICIPATORY METHODS

Participatory methods provide active involvement in decision-making for those with a stake in a project, program, or strategy and generate a sense of ownership in the M&E results and recommendations.

Uses: Learning about local conditions and local people’s

perspectives and priorities to design more responsive and sustainable interventions.

Evaluating a project, program, or policy. Providing knowledge and skills to empower poor people.

4- PARTICIPATORY METHODS

Problems: Sometimes regarded as less objective. Time-consuming if key stakeholders are involved in a

meaningful way. Potential for domination and misuse by some stakeholders

to further their own interests.

4- PARTICIPATORY METHODS

1. Participatory rural appraisal2. Participatory monitoring and

evaluation

5- COST-BENEFIT & COST-EFFECTIVENESS ANALYSIS

Cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis are tools for assessing whether or not the costs of an activity can be justified by the outcomes and impacts. Cost-benefit analysis measures both inputs and outputs in monetary terms. Cost-effectiveness analysis estimates inputs in monetary terms and outcomes in non-monetary quantitative terms.

Uses: Informing decisions about the most efficient allocation of

resources. Identifying projects that offer the highest rate of return on

investment.

5- COST-BENEFIT & COST-EFFECTIVENESS ANALYSIS

Problems: Fairly technical, requiring adequate financial and human

resources available. Requisite data for cost-benefit calculations may not be

available, and projected results may be highly dependent on assumptions made.

Results must be interpreted with care, particularly in projects where benefits are difficult to quantify.

6 – IMPACT EVALUATION

Impact evaluation is the systematic identification of the effects – positive or negative, intended or not – on individual households, institutions, and the environment caused by a given development activity such as a program or project.

Uses: Measuring outcomes and impacts of an activity and

distinguishing these from the influence of other, external factors.

Helping to clarify whether costs for an activity are justified. Informing decisions on whether to expand, modify or

eliminate projects, programs or policies.

Problems:1. Some approaches are very expensive and time-

consuming2. Reduced utility when decision-makers need information

quickly.3. Difficulties in identifying an appropriate counter-factual.