SECTION A

BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION TO MONITORING & EVALUATION

DEFINITION OF A PROJECT

The United Nation center for Regional Development (UNCRD) (2000) defines a project as a
complex set of activities where resources are used in expectation of returns and which lends
itself to planning, financing and implementing as a unit. A project usually has a specific starting
point and a specific ending point, intending to accomplish specific objectives. It usually has a
well defined sequence of investment and production activities and a specific group of benefits
that can be identified, quantified and valued, either socially or monetarily.

A project has also been defined by International Standards of Organization (ISO) as a unique
process consisting of a set of coordinated and controlled activities with start and finish dates
undertaken to achieve specified objectives that usually conform to specific requirements that
include constraints of time, cost and resources.

Singh and Nyandemo (2004) saw a project as an endeavor in which human, material and
financial resources are organized in a novel way to undertake a unique scope of work, of a given
specification within constraints of cost, time and the prevailing environment, so as to achieve
beneficial changes defined by quantitative and qualitative objectives. This view is also shared
by Cleland and Ireland, (2007) who look at a project as a combination of organizational
resources pulled together to create something that did not previously exist.

Further, a project may originate from an opportunity that needs to be exploited. Such an
opportunity may be identified through environmental scanning of an organization or any
situation. Further still, a project may arise from the need to complement other existing
investments. Generally, a project is meant to bring about beneficial socio-economic change as
judged by the beneficiaries. It can therefore be observed that:

Activities that comprise a project are intentionally designed to achieve certain ends in
consideration of available resources and time.
 Project objectives therefore become the major target of each and every project activity.
 Monitoring of project activities is therefore very important to ensure that they are
implemented as planned.
 It is important to ensure that the project activities produce the intended results at the end
of the project cycle.
 It is also important to ascertain the changes brought to the project beneficiaries in terms
of quantitative and qualitative data.

Evaluation of projects is therefore not only important to projects but it is part and parcel of
project design. It is only when this is achieved that we can conclude that the project has fulfilled
its objectives.
 PROJECT CYCLE
A project cycle is a sequence of continuous events which a project follows. In 1970 the World Bank
identified the following five stages which a project undergoes:
 Project identification,
 Project formulation,
 Project appraisal,
 Project implementation
 Project evaluation.

Ogula in 2002 also developed a Project cycle model which was designed as shown below:

Problem
identification/
Conceptualization

Feedback Project design

Monitoring &
evaluation

Project
implementation

Conversely, the European Union in 2004 developed another project cycle Model which comprises
six stages or phases as outlined below:

PROGRAM

EVALUATION IDENTIFICATION

IMPLEMENTATION APPRAISAL

FINANCING
 PROJECT MONITORING
Project monitoring is defined as a continuous and periodic review, and overseeing of the project
to ensure that input deliveries, work schedules, target outputs and other required actions proceed
according to the project plan. This is a continuous process of collecting information at regular
intervals about ongoing projects or programs concerning the nature and level of their
performance. It is an on-going activity for tracking a project’s progress against planned tasks to
ensure that the project is moving towards the right direction and at the right speed, in order to
achieve its initial set objectives.

Monitoring is simply the routine tracking of information about a program or project and its
intended outputs, outcomes and impacts. The major aim of monitoring is to measure progress
towards achieving program or project objectives. Most often, monitoring involves counting what
we are doing. It also tracks cost and how the program or project is functioning. Monitoring is an
internal activity and is usually done by those responsible for project implementation. It should
be carried out regularly such as monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annually.

Efficiency monitoring on the other hand aims to determine whether optimal use of resources is
being made to achieve a program’s objectives. Programs can be efficient yet inefficient. For
example, a project may have reached the target number of expectant mothers but used an
excessive number of field workers. Monitoring should also be distinguished from supervision.
A supervisor carries out daily supervision of project inputs and operational processes and reports
to the operational manager. Monitoring on the other hand, aims to assess the overall
implementation of the project at different levels and focuses not only on inputs and processes,
but also on project outputs.

Through such routine data gathering, analysis and reporting, project monitoring aims at
providing project management staff and other stakeholders with information on whether
progress is being made towards achieving project objectives. We can therefore say that
monitoring is a continuous assessment of project implementation in relation to the project plans,
resources, infrastructure and use of services by project beneficiaries. The purpose of carrying
out project monitoring is to:
 Provide regular feedback for enhancing the ongoing learning experience
 Increase project accountability with donors and project stakeholders
 Enable managers and staff to identify and reinforce initial positive project results,
strengths and successes
 Alert the project managers to actual and potential project weaknesses, problems and
shortcomings before it is too late.
 Provide the managers with the opportunity to make timely adjustments and corrective
actions to improve on the program/project design, work plan and implementation
strategies.
 Check on conditions or situations of a target group and changes brought about by project
activities among other factors; monitoring assists project management to check whether
the project continues to be relevant to the target group and/or geographical area and
whether project assumptions are still valid.
 PROJECT EVALUATION
Project evaluation on the other hand is a process that involves systematic collection; analysis
and interpretation of project related data that can be used to understand how the project is
functioning in relation to the project objectives. It is a process of ascertaining decision areas of
concern, selecting appropriate information, and collecting and analyzing information in order to
report summary data useful to decision-makers in selecting among alternatives. Project
evaluation is a necessary component that must be included in the project design.

Comprehensive evaluation is based on research and analysis covering the conceptualization and
design of programs, the monitoring of program interventions and the assessment of program
utility. It focuses on why project results are or are not being achieved and on unintended
consequences or issues of interpretation, relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact or
sustainability. It is usually rigorous and is based on scientific analysis of information about a
program’s activities, characteristics and outcomes to determine the merit or worth of a specific
program.

As in monitoring, evaluation activities must be planned at the program/project level. Baseline

data and appropriate indicators of performance and results must be established. Project strengths
and weaknesses might not be interpreted fairly when data and results are analyzed by project
staff members that are responsible for ensuring that the project is successful. It is preferred
therefore, that the management recruits an external evaluation consultant to lead the evaluation
process. If management does not have an expert to carry out the evaluation and cannot afford to
hire an external evaluator or prefers to use its own resources in carrying out the evaluation,
expert to advice on developing the evaluation plan, selecting evaluation methods and analyzing
and reporting results.

Project evaluation provides managers with information on a project’s performance. In the course
of project implementation, project plans may change. Evaluation in this case may come in handy
to verify if the program is running as originally planned. In addition, evaluations provide signs
of project strengths and weaknesses and therefore, enable managers to improve future planning,
delivery of services and decision-making.

Project evaluation assists project managers, staff and other stakeholders to determine in a
systematic and objective manner the relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of activities
(expected and unexpected) in light of specific objectives.

Mid-term evaluations may serve as a means of validating the results of initial assessments
obtained from project monitoring activities. If conducted after the termination of a program/
project, an evaluation determines the extent to which the interventions were successful in terms
of their impact and sustainability of results. Evaluations assist managers to carry out a thorough
review and rethinking about projects in terms of their goals and objectives and means to achieve
them.

Evaluation can be used to generate detailed information about a project’s implementation

process and results. Such information can be used for public relations, fund-raising and
promotion of services in the community as well as identifying possibilities for project
replication. Evaluation should be documented and should explain the causes as to why a project’s
activities succeeded or failed. Such documentation can help in making future project activities
more relevant and effective.
 NEED FOR PROJECT MONITORING AND EVALUATION
Project M&E-is important to different people for various reasons. It is therefore important that
project staff, project managers of civil society organizations and even project stakeholders
should know about M&E.
 M&E is important to project managers and their shareholders (including donors) because
they need to know the extent to which their projects are meeting the set objectives and
attaining their desired effects.
 M&E promotes greater transparency and accountability in terms of use of project
resources, which is particularly required by the funders or development partners.
 Information generated through M&E provides project staff with a clear basis for
decision-making.
 From the information obtained through M&E, future project planning and development
is improved when guided by lessons learned from project experience.
 M&E allows the project manager to maintain control of the project by providing him/her
with information on the project status at all times.
 M&E can strengthen project design, enrich quality of project interventions’ and enhance
learning.
 Knowledge of M&E helps project staff to improve on their ability to effectively monitor
and evaluate the progress of projects.
 M&E also enables project staff to strengthen the performance of their projects thus
increasing the impact of project results to beneficiaries.
 With basic orientation and training in monitoring and evaluation, project staff can
implement appropriate techniques to carry out a functional evaluation of their projects.
 Project staff with knowledge in monitoring and evaluation can be in a good position to
evaluate external evaluators’ capacity to evaluate their projects. Project evaluations
carried out by inexperienced persons might be time consuming, costly and could generate
impractical or irrelevant information.
 Checking for projects’ strengths and weaknesses. Any credible project, manager will
want to get feedback on the project being implemented. This feedback is very important
in ascertaining the strength and weaknesses of the project being implemented. This is
done through monitoring and evaluation.
 See where the project is and if there is need to change direction. Monitoring and
evaluation provides a full picture of the project performance as per that particular time.
These give full indication of what should be expected at the end of the project cycle.
M&E therefore enables project managers to put strategies that can redirect the project
towards desired results.
 Collect more information. Monitoring and evaluation is a deliberate process that involves
systematic collection and analysis of information. The process can be designed in a way
to capture more data that will lead to completely understand the project.
 M&E provides information that helps in ascertaining whether the key milestones were
made and thus measuring the progress of the project.
 Helps in comparing cost of work to what has been achieved; necessitates sharing of
experiences; helps us compare our projects with other projects; helps us see what has
been achieved; makes work more effective arid finally, M&E helps us approve
evaluation methods.
 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MONITORING AND EVALUATION

Though project monitoring and evaluation serve as two different management tools, they are
closely related, interactive and mutually supportive. The relationship between project
monitoring and evaluation is manifested in the following ways.

Through routine tracking of project progress, monitoring can provide quantitative and qualitative
data which are useful for designing and implementing project evaluation exercises. Through the
results of periodic evaluation, monitoring tools and strategies can be refined and further
developed.

The main objective of M&E is to obtain information to improve the process of implementation
of an ongoing project. However, when a final judgment regarding project results, impact,
sustainability and future development is needed, an evaluation must be conducted.

Project evaluations are less frequent than monitoring activities, considering their costs.

Comparison between Monitoring and Evaluation

Item Monitoring Evaluation

Frequency Periodic regular Episodic
Main action Keeping track/oversight Assessment
Basic purpose Improving efficiency, Improving effectiveness,
adjusting work plan relevance impact, cost-
effectiveness
Focus Inputs/outputs, process Effectiveness, relevance
outcomes work plans impact, cost-effectiveness
Information sources Routine systems, field Same plus surveys and studies
observations, progress
reports, rapid assessments
Undertaken by Project managers, Program managers, superiors,
community workers, funders, external evaluators,
community (beneficiaries), community (beneficiaries)
supervisors, funders

LEVELS OF MONITORING AND EVALUATION

FORMS OF PROJECT EVALUATORS

There are three forms of project evaluators that a project manager may want to utilize: internal
evaluators, external evaluators and internal evaluators with an external consultant. It is the
work of the project manager to determine the type of evaluator that would be most beneficial
to their project.

INTERNAL EVALUATOR
Internal evaluation involves assigning the responsibility for evaluation to one of the staff
members or hiring an evaluator to join your project as staff. An internal evaluator could serve
as both an evaluator and as a staff member with other responsibilities. Because an internal
evaluator works within the project, he or she may be more familiar with the project and its staff
and community members, have access to organizational resources, and have more
opportunities for informal feedback with project stakeholders.

Internal evaluation involves an organization or project holding up a mirror to itself and

assessing how it is doing, as a way of learning and improving practice. It takes a very self-
reflective and honest organization to do this effectively, but it can be an important learning
experience. However, an internal evaluator may lack the outside perspective and technical
skills of an external evaluator.

Advantages of Internal Evaluation

Internal evaluation is beneficial to the organization m the following ways:
Internal evaluators are very familiar with the work, the organizational culture, aims and
objectives.
 Sometimes people are willing to speak to insiders than to outsiders.
 Internal evaluation is clearly a management tool.
 Internal evaluation is a way of self-correcting.
 Internal evaluation is less threatening than an external evaluation.
 It is easier for those involved in an external evaluation to accept findings and criticisms of a self-
evaluation than of an external evaluation.
 Internal evaluation is cheaper than external evaluation.

Disadvantages of Internal Evaluation

Internal evaluation has the following limitations:

 The evaluation team may have a vested interest in reaching positive conclusions about the work
or organization. For this reason, other stakeholders, such as donors, may prefer an external
evaluation.
 The evaluating team may not be specifically skilled or trained in evaluation.
 The evaluation consumes a considerable amount of organizational time.
 While it may cost less than an external evaluation, the opportunity costs may be more for internal
evaluation
 EXTERNAL EVALUATOR
External evaluators are contracted from an outside agency or organization to conduct the
evaluation. These evaluators are often found at universities, colleges, hospitals, consulting
firms, or within the home institution of the project. Because external evaluators maintain their
positions with their organizations, they generally have access to more resources than internal
evaluators (i.e. computer equipment, support staff, library materials, etc.). In addition, they
may have broader evaluation expertise than internal evaluators, particularly if they specialize
in program evaluation or have conducted extensive research on the project’s target population.
External evaluators may also bring a different perspective to the evaluation because they are
not directly affiliated with your project. However, this lack of affiliation can be a drawback.
External evaluators are not staff members; they may be detached from the daily operations of
the project, and thus have limited knowledge of the project’s needs and goals, as well as limited
knowledge to project activities.

Advantages of External Evaluation

External evaluation is beneficial to an organization in the following ways:
 External evaluation is likely to be more objective than internal evaluation since the
evaluators have some distance from the project.
 The evaluators sometimes have a broad range of evaluation skills and experience.
 Sometimes people are more willing to speak to outsiders than to insiders.
 Using an outside evaluator gives greater credibility to findings, particularly positive
findings and especially to the donor community.

Disadvantages of External Evaluation

Internal evaluation has the following limitations:
 Someone from outside the organization or project may not understand the
organizational culture or even what the project is trying to achieve.
 Those directly involved in the project may feel threatened by outsiders.
 Those directly involved are less likely to talk openly and to cooperate with the external
evaluators.
 External evaluation is quite costly in terms of time and resources.
 An external evaluator may fail to understand the reason for the evaluation.
 An external evaluator may generate irrelevant information which is not relevant for the
program.

INTERNAL EVALUATOR WITH AN EXTERNAL CONSULTANT

The final option for evaluation combines the qualities of both internal and external evaluator
types. An internal staff person with the technical aspects of the evaluation and helps gather
specialized information. With this combination, the evaluation can provide an external
viewpoint without losing the benefit of the internal evaluator’s first-hand knowledge of the
project.

CHOOSING BETWEEN INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL EVALUATION

A self-evaluation is where an organization carries out its own evaluation, using the time and
skills of those within the organization to make judgments about its own progress. Consequently,
an external evaluation is where an external person or organization carries out the evaluation.
Usually, an external evaluator will use information collected by the organization itself, but
he/she will then carry out his/her own evaluation of this information to make judgments on it.
The external evaluator may also supplement this information he/she collects themselves.

Choosing between external and self-evaluation depends on several factors such as; time-frame,
costs, internal expertise and capacity, funders’ requirements, etc. The following questions act as
a guide in deciding on whether to use self or external evaluation;

i. Why is the evaluation being done?

ii. For whom is the evaluation being done?
iii. What does the evaluation seek to achieve?
iv. What information is being sought through the evaluation?
v. How will the information gathered be used?
vi. What resources are intended for use in the evaluations?
vii. When will the resources be needed?
Self-evaluation can be particularly useful for helping an organization to learn and
develop on an ongoing basis. Staff and others involved in the process will gain new
skills and knowledge as a result. Some organizations feel that an external evaluation
will give them more credibility with stakeholders and will bring an independent
perspective.

CRITERIA FOR SELECTING AN EXTERNAL EVALUATOR/ EVALUATION

TEAM
A good external evaluator should be judged on the basis of the extent to which he/she meets
the following criteria:
i. An understanding of development issues.
ii. Adequate understanding of organizational issues.
iii. Relevant experience in evaluating development projects, programs
or organizations.
iv. Have a good track record with previous clients.
v. Competence in research skills.
vi. Commitment to quality.
vii. Demonstrate high degree of objectivity, honesty and fairness.
viii. Ability to meet deadlines.
ix. Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing.
x. Adoption of a style and approach that fits those of the organization.
xi. Ability to operate logically and systematica1ly.
xii. Reasonable rate in relation to the market rates.

THE PROCESS OF SELECTING AN EXTERNAL EVALUATOR

When selecting an external evaluator, the first thing the project manager should do is to
study the references of the evaluator. The manager should make an effort to meet the
evaluator before making the final decision. The manager should communicate what he/she
wants clearly in Terms of References (ToRs) because good terms of reference are the
foundation of a good contractual relationship. The next thing to do is to negotiate a contract
that makes provision for what will happen if periods and output expectations are not met.
The manager should ask for a work plan that should be accompanied by output and time-
lines.
THE EVALUATOR’S ROLE
Whether you decide on an external or internal evaluator or some combination of both, it is
important to think through what the evaluator’s role will be. As the goals and practices of
the field of project evaluation have diversified, so too have evaluators’ roles and
relationships with the project they evaluate. It is important to note that the idea of multiple
evaluator roles is a controversial one. Those operating within the traditional project
evaluation tenets still view an evaluator’s role as narrowly confined to judging the merit or
worth of a program.

The primary goals of evaluation are; ensuring that stakeholders are engaged as active
participants in the evaluation process and making the evaluation process and findings
meaningful and useful to those ultimately responsible for improving and assessing the
program. There is no specific way of making an evaluation undertaking successful.

However, an effective evaluator must have the following skills which are critical for his/her
work. These include: the ability to listen; negotiate; bring together multiple perspectives;
analyze the specific situation; and assist in developing a design with the evaluation team
that will lead to the most useful and important information and final products. The manager,
together with his/her staff and stakeholders, should carefully think through all of the
potential evaluator’s roles and relationships and determine which configuration makes the
most sense to a particular project, the purpose of the evaluation, and the questions that will
be addressed. One important role to think through is the relationship between the evaluator
and primary stakeholders or the evaluation team. Similarly, some of the questions to
consider include:

 Should this relationship be distant or highly interactive?

 How much control should the evaluator have over the evaluation process as compared
to the stakeholders/evaluation team?
 How actively involved should -key staff and stakeholders be in the evaluation process?

The role of the evaluator depends on the primary purpose of the evaluation and with whom
the evaluator is working most closely (funders versus program, staff versus program
participants or community members). Thus, an evaluator might be considered as:
- A consultant for program improvement,
- A team member with evaluation expertise,
- A collaborator,
- An evaluation facilitator, an advocate for a cause or a sympathizer.

For instance, if the purpose for evaluation is to determine the worth or merit of a program,
you might look for an evaluator with methodological expertise and experience. If the
evaluation is focused on facilitating program improvements, you might look for someone
who has a good based on what works, an effective evaluator would need to be a strong team
player with analytical skills.

Experience tells us, however, that the most important overall characteristics to look for in
an evaluator are the ability to remain flexible, and to problem solve.
CORE CONCERNS OF PROJECT EVALUATORS

Project evaluators need to be concerned with the following factors when assessing the
performance of a project. These include: -

1) Project progress. The project evaluator will be concerned with continual

development of the project towards the achievement of the planned objectives.
2) Project adequacy. Project adequacy means that the project objectives, inputs or
activities are enough for the purpose intended.
3) Project relevance. Relevancy is related to how the project’s objectives and
activities respond to the needs of intended beneficiaries.
4) Validity of the project design. Validity of project design assesses the extent to
which the project design:
 Sets out clear immediate objectives and indicators of their achievement,
 Focuses on the identified problems and needs and clearly spell out the strategies,
to be followed for solving the problems and meeting identified needs,
 Describes the main inputs, outputs and activities needed to achieve the objectives,
 States the means of verification of achievements of objectives and valid
assumptions about the major external factors affecting the project.
5) Project effectiveness. This is the extent to which a project produces the desired
result. Effectiveness measures the degree of attainment of the pre-determined
objectives of the project. A project is effective if its results are worthwhile.
6) Project efficiency. This is an expression of the extent to which the methods used by
the project or activities are the best in terms of their cost, resources used, time
required and appropriateness of the task. It examines whether there was an adequate
justification for the resource used and identifies alternative strategies to achieve
better results with the same inputs.
7) Project impact. Measurement of impact is concerned with determining the overall
effect of a project’s activities in terms of socio-economic and other aspects of the
target community.
8) Project cost-effective analysis. This refers to evaluation of alternatives according
to both their costs and their effect with regard to producing an outcome or a set of
outcomes.
9) Project sustainability. Sustainability examines the extent to which the project’s
strategies and activities are likely to continue to be implemented after the
termination of the project and the withdrawal of external assistance.
10) Project unintended outcomes. Unintended outcomes are unforeseen negative or
positive effects of a project. For example, an adjacent community benefiting as a
result of a project implemented in the neighboring community.
11) Project alternative strategies. Alternative strategies to solving the identified needs
or problems are analyzed and recommended for the next phase of the project,
normally if the original strategy is found inappropriate.
12) Project cost benefits. Cost benefit analysis compares the financial costs of a project
to the financial benefits of that project. It is normally conducted on more than one
project.