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A Step by Step Guide To Monitoring and Evaluation: Section 1: Explanatory Notes

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) involves collecting and analyzing information about ongoing projects and periodically assessing projects or programs through retrospective evaluation. A broader approach is action research, which uses cycles of planning, action, and reflection to integrate M&E into ongoing activities. Done well, M&E can become a powerful tool for social change by helping clarify why it is being done, offering benefits like improving project or program effectiveness, and ensuring accountability.

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222 views1 page

A Step by Step Guide To Monitoring and Evaluation: Section 1: Explanatory Notes

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) involves collecting and analyzing information about ongoing projects and periodically assessing projects or programs through retrospective evaluation. A broader approach is action research, which uses cycles of planning, action, and reflection to integrate M&E into ongoing activities. Done well, M&E can become a powerful tool for social change by helping clarify why it is being done, offering benefits like improving project or program effectiveness, and ensuring accountability.

Uploaded by

romwama
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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A step by step guide to Monitoring and Evaluation

Section 1: Explanatory notes

What is Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)?


Monitoring is the collection and analysis of information about a project or programme, undertaken
while the project/programme is ongoing.
Evaluation is the periodic, retrospective assessment of an organisation, project or programme that
might be conducted internally or by external independent evaluators.

A broader way of thinking about M&E is Action Research


Action Research is a term for a variety of
methodologies that at their core are cycles of
planning, action and reflection. This is a useful
approach when thinking about how to integrate
your M&E into on-going plans and activities.
There are many Action Research methodologies
which could be used as part of your M&E. A good
overview and resources can be found at the
Ashridge Centre for Action Research1 Particular
methods that you may find useful are Cooperative Inquiry2 and Appreciative Inquiry3.

1. Why do M&E?
The first step is to be clear about why you want to do M&E and the benefits it can offer.
Community volunteers and activists often want to make the world a better place, making them
action-orientated and often under-resourced. Monitoring and evaluation can sometimes seem
like an unaffordable luxury, an administrative burden, or an unwelcome instrument of external
oversight. But if used well, M&E can become a powerful tool for social and political change.
1
2
3

http://www.ashridge.org.uk/Website/Content.nsf/wFARACAR/Ashridge+Centre+for+Action+Research?opendocument
http://www.human-inquiry.com/cishortg.htm
http://appreciativeinquiry.case.edu/intro/default.cfm

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