Monitoring and evaluation

1
Monitoring and evaluation
2
Our Approach

1. What is monitoring and evaluation? Conceptual
   differences and terminologies.
2. Approaches to Monitoring and Evaluation.
3. Establishing ME System.
4. How to do Monitoring and Evaluation.

3
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?

4
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

5
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.

6

• 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).

7

• 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.

8
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.

9
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.

10

• 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.

11

• 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.

12

• 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.

13
Confusing terms

• Audit
• Appraisal
• Inspection

14
(No Transcript)
15
Approach Major Focus Typical Question Likely Methodology
Goal Based (Strategic Approach) Assessing achievement of goals and objectives. Were the goals achieved? Efficiently? Were they the right goals? Comparing baseline and progress data finding ways to measure indicators.
Decision Making (System Approach) Provide Information Is the project effective? Should it continue? How might it be modified? Assessing range of options related to the project context, inputs, process, and product. Establishing some kind of decision-making consensus.
Goal Free (Inductive Approach) Assessing full range of project impacts, intended and not intended What are all the outcomes? What value do they have? Independent determination of needs and standards to judge project worth. Qualitative and quantitative techniques to uncover any possible results.
Expert Use Expertise How does an outside professional 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.
16
ME 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.

17
ME Tools

• Following is a non exhaustive list of ME
  Tools
• Performance indicators
• Formal surveys
• Rapid appraisal methods
• Participatory methods
• Cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis
• Impact evaluation

18
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.

19
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 .

20
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.

21
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.

22
Different types of survey

1. Multi-Topic Household Survey (also known as
   Living Standards Measurement SurveyLSMS).
2. Core Welfare Indicators Questionnaire (CWIQ).
3. Client Satisfaction (or Service Delivery) Survey.
4. Citizen Report Card.

23
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 peoples values, motivations, and
  reactions.
• Providing context and interpretation for
  quantitative data collected by more formal
  methods.

24
3- Rapid appraisal methods

• Problems
• Findings usually relate to specific communities
  or localitiesthus difficult to generalize from
  findings.
• Less valid, reliable, and credible than formal
  surveys.

25
4- Rapid appraisal methods

1. Key informant interview
2. Community group interview
3. Focus group discussion
4. Direct Observation
5. Mini surveys

26
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 ME results and
  recommendations.
• Uses
• Learning about local conditions and local
  peoples perspectives and priorities to design
  more responsive and sustainable interventions.
• Evaluating a project, program, or policy.
• Providing knowledge and skills to empower poor
  people.

27
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.

28
4- Participatory methods

1. Participatory rural appraisal
2. Participatory monitoring and evaluation

29
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.

30
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.

31
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.

32

• Problems
• Some approaches are very expensive and
  time-consuming
• Reduced utility when decision-makers need
  information quickly.
• Difficulties in identifying an appropriate
  counter-factual.