Making Monitoring And Evaluation Systems Work

This manual explains the skills and steps for making a monitoring and evaluation system that functions well, organizing the people, processes and partnershipsso that they collect and use good information that can be used by decision makers and other stakeholders.

After more than a decade of development investments in monitoring and evaluation few countries are able to regularly report on how effective their policies and programs are in achieving the results they desire. It is not through lack of good M & E design, n.

This Handbook provides a comprehensive ten-step model that will help guide development practitioners through the process of designing and building a results-based monitoring and evaluation system.

A growing number of governments are working to improve their performance by creating systems to measure and help them understand their performance. These systems for monitoring and evaluation (M & E) are used to measure the quantity, quality, and targeting of the goods and services--the outputs--that the state provides and to measure the outcomes and impacts resulting from these outputs. These systems are also a vehicle to facilitate understanding of the causes of good and poor performance.

Monitoring and Evaluation Training fills a gap in the literature by providing readers with a systematic approach to monitoring and evaluation (M&E) training for programs and projects. Bridging theoretical concepts with practical, how-to knowledge, authors Scott Chaplowe and J. Bradley Cousins draw upon the scholarly literature, applied resources, and over 50 years of combined experience to provide expert guidance for M&E training that can be tailored to different training needs and contexts, from training for professionals or non-professionals, to organization staff, community members, and other groups with a desire to learn and sustain sound M&E practices.

This volume has been developed as a step-by-step guide for professionals involved in designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating developmental interventions. It introduces and elucidates the key concepts and procedures involved, starting from the fundamentals of project design and management, the basics of monitoring and evaluation, and the development of a performance monitoring plan to different approaches to monitoring, choosing appropriate evaluation designs, approaches to evaluation, the analysis of monitoring and evaluation, and finally implementing this information in a project environment. In order to provide further context, the manual uses real project examples which help in buttressing the understanding of the readers and enable adoption of these practices in such projects.

This book will provide readers with an in-depth theoretical awareness and practical guidance on the implementation of an effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system to ensure construction projects meet approved quality, cost, time and social sustainability objectives. The authors discuss the drivers, challenges, determinants and benefits of effective M&E implementation together with the theories and models underpinning construction project M&E practices. Further, a comparative overview of M&E practices in developed and developing countries is presented to elucidate the best practices. The book first conceptualizes M&E as a five-factor model comprising stakeholder involvement, budgetary allocation and logistics, technical capacity and training, leadership, and communication. It then presents an M&E case study on the Ghanaian construction industry before expanding on the idea of M&E systems as an effective tool for project performance and in optimizing a project’s contribution to society and the environment. The book further provides guidance on M&E practice for construction project managers, investors, professionals, researchers and other stakeholders and is therefore of interest to those in architecture, construction engineering, planning, project management and development studies.

This blind peer reviewed book systematically records, analyses and assesses for the first time in a single volume the implications of the global development and management of professional evaluation for the African continent.The book deals with the most strategic contemporary evaluation themes. Each of these themes contains discussions of theoretical issues illustrated with one or more short case studies, while selected longer case studies and other relevant documentation are also taken up in annexures at the end of the book. The book therefore comprises a guide to best M&E practices for purposes of systematic policy, programme and project evaluations. It is suitable for both professional M&E institutionalisation and capacity-building projects as well as for evaluation information dissemination and education at different levels in the public, private and voluntary sectors in society, especially in a developmental context.