Monitoring and evaluation

Introduction

Page contents

• The Changing Context of M&E
• Common Tools and Approaches
• Terms and Definitions
• Where is a good place to start?

How can the impact of development programmes be assessed with a view to improving their efficiency and effectiveness? What particular challenges are involved in monitoring and evaluating development interventions, and how can these be addressed?

Monitoring and evaluation is vital to ensuring that lessons are learned in terms of what works and what doesn’t in development. Understanding how and why programmes lead to desired (or undesired) outcomes can provide an evidence base for future policymaking and project planning. M&E also supports the need for aid agencies to be accountable for and demonstrate the results of their programmes.

Nevertheless, monitoring and evaluation has historically suffered from underinvestment, weak commitment to evidence-based policymaking, lack of incentives to carry out evaluations and a relative shortage of professional expertise. Even when methodologically sound evaluations are conducted, they are often under-utilized. Significant criticism has subsequently been levelled against the development community for failing to adopt a rigorous approach to understanding, and in turn being accountable for, the impact of their interventions.

This guide introduces some of the core debates and considerations for development practitioners involved in designing and managing monitoring and evaluation (M&E) activities. It provides case studies of applying different methodological approaches, tools for step by step planning, and lessons learned from international experience of M&E in a range of developing country contexts.

The Changing Context of M&E

The international context for M&E is changing, with increasing focus on measuring results and critically analysing aid effectiveness (see the Managing for Development Results initiative). Several international initiatives and agreements over the past decade have implications for development evaluation:

• The HIPC and PRSP Initiatives intend to integrate M&E better into funding decisions, and establish national M&E systems aligned to Poverty Reduction Strategies.
• The Millennium Development Goals now form the basis of progress indicators at the national level, and have meant much greater interagency cooperation around data collection.
• The Monterrey Declaration (2002) is often seen as the major impulse towards results-based monitoring and evaluation and the promotion of the allocation of aid based on the development of measures of effectiveness and results.
• The Paris Declaration (2004) committed OECD countries to increasing the country ownership of programmes, encouraging donors to harmonize and align with country monitoring and results frameworks.

Whilst conventional M&E has typically been dominated by donors, conducted at the project level without meaningful participation from government or civil society, the above initiatives have ushered in notable new trends:

• From monitoring and evaluating project processes, inputs and outputs to an emphasis on measuring results, outcomes and impact.
• From monitoring and evaluating projects, to new emphasis on evaluating the combined effects of aid - in part prompted by the increase in multi-donor programmes and sector-wide approaches.
• From M&E being predominately donor-led to increased interest in country-led approaches, with evaluations increasingly conducted in partnership with a broader range of stakeholders, including the programmes' intended beneficiaries.
• Culminating in renewed emphasis on sharing and using the results of evaluations effectively.

Crucially, however, new aid modalities such as budget support and country-led approaches present potential contradictions for the development community, requiring them to reconcile their need for accountability and a more rigorous focus on results with a “hands-off” approach to aid.

Common Tools and Approaches

Monitoring and Evaluation can take place at the project, programme, sector, or policy level. It can be undertaken by programme managers or external consultants and will usually involve local stakeholders. It is broadly considered good practice to develop an M&E Framework (the strategy for planning and organising the vital M&E activities) during the design phase of projects or programmes.

Most projects or programmes now formulate a ‘logical framework’ (or results framework), which hypothesises the causal link between a project/programmes inputs and outcomes. Nevertheless, there is no universal approach to designing or implementing M&E, and a wide range of tools are used in practice.  

World Bank Operations Evaluation Department, 2002, 'Monitoring & Evaluation: Some Tools, Methods and Approaches', The World Bank, Washington, D.C.
Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is an area of growing importance for the development community. It allows those involved in development activities to learn from experience, to achieve better results and to be more accountable. This report from the World Bank Operations Evaluation Department provides an overview of some of the M&E tools, methods and approaches on offer to development practitioners.
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Terms and Definitions

Aid agencies use their own distinct terminology to describe their M&E systems and processes. Nevertheless, the OECD DACs definitions of key terms are widely accepted:

OECD-DAC, 2002, ‘Glossary of Key Terms in Evaluation and Results-based Management’, Working Party on Aid Evaluation, OECD-DAC, Paris
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Monitoring
Monitoring is the ongoing, systematic collection of information to assess progress towards the achievement of objectives, outcomes and impacts. It can signal potential weaknesses in programme design, allowing adjustments to be made. It is vital for checking any changes (positive or negative) to the target group that may be resulting from programme activities. It is usually an internal management activity conducted by the implementing agency.

Evaluation
Evaluation is defined by the OECD-DAC as:

“The systematic and objective assessment of an on-going or completed project, programme or policy, its design, implementation and results. The aim is to determine the relevance and fulfilment of objectives, development efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability.” (OECD-DAC, 2002)

Evaluations tend to look at project impact and sustainability. They can be periodic/formative - conducted to review progress, predict a project’s likely impact and highlight any necessary adjustments in project design; or terminal/summative -carried out at the end of a project to assess project performance and overall impacts. They can be conducted internally, externally by independent consultants (particularly in the case of impact evaluations), or as a joint internal/external partnership.

Where is a good place to start?

For an introduction to both the context and application of M&E in development, see:

Kusek, J., and Rist, R., 2004, ‘Ten Steps to a Results-based Monitoring and Evaluation System’, World Bank, Washington
Governments and organisations face increasing internal and external pressures to demonstrate accountability, transparency and results. Results-based monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems are a powerful public management tool to achieve these objectives. This handbook from the World Bank presents a ten-step model that provides extensive detail on building, maintaining and sustaining a results-based M&E system.    
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