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    What Is Monitoring and Evaluation?

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    Erika Peterson
    Monitoring involves tracking project outputs and outcomes as indicators of effectiveness, while evaluation assesses whether objectives were achieved. Project evaluation measures implementation against scope, while impact assessment analyzes whether objectives and impacts can be attributed to the project using a control group. A causal model shows the links between activities, outputs, outcomes and impacts underlying project design, and is important for monitoring and evaluation to articulate and evaluate these causal relationships.

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    What Is Monitoring and Evaluation?

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    Erika Peterson
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    Monitoring involves tracking project outputs and outcomes as indicators of effectiveness, while evaluation assesses whether objectives were achieved. Project evaluation measures implementation against scope, while impact assessment analyzes whether objectives and impacts can be attributed to the project using a control group. A causal model shows the links between activities, outputs, outcomes and impacts underlying project design, and is important for monitoring and evaluation to articulate and evaluate these causal relationships.

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    Monitoring involves tracking project outputs and outcomes as indicators of effectiveness, while evaluation assesses whether objectives were achieved. Project evaluation measures implementation against scope, while impact assessment analyzes whether objectives and impacts can be attributed to the project using a control group. A causal model shows the links between activities, outputs, outcomes and impacts underlying project design, and is important for monitoring and evaluation to articulate and evaluate these causal relationships.

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    20 views2 pages

    What Is Monitoring and Evaluation?

    Uploaded by

    Erika Peterson
    Monitoring involves tracking project outputs and outcomes as indicators of effectiveness, while evaluation assesses whether objectives were achieved. Project evaluation measures implementation against scope, while impact assessment analyzes whether objectives and impacts can be attributed to the project using a control group. A causal model shows the links between activities, outputs, outcomes and impacts underlying project design, and is important for monitoring and evaluation to articulate and evaluate these causal relationships.

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    of 2

    1.4.5.

    Monitoring and Evaluation--Overview

    1 of 2

    http://www.microlinks.org/print/447

    Published on USAID Microlinks (http://www.microlinks.org)


    Home > 1.4.5. Monitoring and Evaluation--Overview

    1.4.5. Monitoring and Evaluation--Overview


    What is Monitoring and Evaluation?
    Monitoring and evaluation (M&E)one of the five phases of the project cycleconsists of two basic components: performance monitoring and evaluation (see
    table below). Monitoring and evaluation serve distinct purposes.
    Performance monitoring involves the tracking of project outputs and outcomes as indicators of project effectiveness, or the extent to which the project achieves
    its stated objectives. Performance monitoring is primarily a management tool. It is akin to a roadmap that provides information indicating whether the project is on
    the right road to its intended destination (or intended impact) and, if not, how to get back on to the right road. Performance monitoring does not (indeed cannot) tell
    the project whether it has arrived at its final destination. For this, a statistically valid control group is required, and few performance monitoring systems include a
    valid control group. Performance monitoring tends to focus on outputs and outcomes (the left-hand side of the causal chain) and on those indicators that are easier
    to capture and measure on an on-going basis (see figure below).
    Components of Monitoring and Evaluation
    Monitoring

    Evaluation
    Project Evaluation: The evaluation of project implementation as measured against the project's scope of
    work, deliverables, personnel requirements, etc. Not intended to attribute impact to project operations.

    Performance Monitoring: The tracking of project outputs


    and outcomes as indicators of project effectiveness.

    Impact Assessment: Analysis of whether project objectives (outcomes and impacts) were achieved and
    can be attributed to project operations. Requires a counterfactual.

    Evaluation in turn consists of project evaluation and impact assessment. Project evaluation refers to an evaluation of project implementation, as measured
    against the projects scope of work, deliverables, personnel requirements, and so forth. Project evaluations may include a baseline and follow-up but typically include
    a single observation point, often at or near the end of the project.
    Project evaluations may also include an assessment of project effectiveness, but like performance monitoring, do not include a valid control group and thus cannot
    be used to attribute outcomes or impacts to project operations. Project evaluations, nonetheless, can produce useful findings on project operations, and if designed
    and timed appropriately, can be used to guide management decision-making. End (or near end)-of-project evaluations, however, tend to be useful primarily for
    external stakeholders.
    Like performance monitoring, project evaluation tends to focus on the left-hand side of the causal chain, although often with a heavier emphasis on project activities
    and the organizational structures, policies, systems, and day-to-day operations that drive project results. A specific type of project evaluation is the so-called
    "process evaluation," which assesses whether the project was implemented--including the procedures undertaken, the decisions made, and the services
    delivered--as intended. By documenting the project's development and operation, the process evaluation uncovers reasons for successful or unsuccessful
    performance, and provides information for potential replication.
    Impact assessment is an evaluation whose purpose is specifically to attribute outcomes and impacts to project operations.

    What is the Role of the Causal Model in Performance Monitoring and Impact Assessment?
    All value chain development projects are based on a causal model showing the causal (or logical) links between project activities and expected outputs, outcomes
    and impacts. Underlying the links in the causal model is a set of theorized causal relationships that project designers believe to be true. The importance of the causal
    model for performance monitoring and impact assessment is that it forces project administrators and evaluators to articulate the critical causal relationships
    underlying project design and evaluate the degree to which they make sense and/or are justified.
    Learn more about Monitoring and Evaluation

    5/27/2014 12:39 PM

    1.4.5. Monitoring and Evaluation--Overview

    2 of 2

    http://www.microlinks.org/print/447

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    5/27/2014 12:39 PM

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