What is a Monitoring and Evaluation Plan?

A monitoring and evaluation (M&E) plan is a document that helps to track and assess the
results of the interventions throughout the life of a program. It is a living document that should
be referred to and updated on a regular basis. While the specifics of each program’s M&E plan
will look different, they should all follow the same basic structure and include the same key
elements.

An M&E plan will include some documents that may have been created during the program
planning process, and some that will need to be created new. For example, elements such as
the logic model/logical framework, theory of change, and monitoring indicators may have
already been developed with input from key stakeholders and/or the program donor. The
M&E plan takes those documents and develops a further plan for their implementation.

Why develop a Monitoring and Evaluation Plan?

It is important to develop an M&E plan before beginning any monitoring activities so that there
is a clear plan for what questions about the program need to be answered. It will help program
staff decide how they are going to collect data to track indicators, how monitoring data will be
analyzed, and how the results of data collection will be disseminated both to the donor and
internally among staff members for program improvement. Remember, M&E data alone is not
useful until someone puts it to use! An M&E plan will help make sure data is being used
efficiently to make programs as effective as possible and to be able to report on results at the
end of the program.

Who should develop a Monitoring and Evaluation Plan?

An M&E plan should be developed by the research team or staff with research experience, with
inputs from program staff involved in designing and implementing the program.

When should a Monitoring and Evaluation Plan be

developed?
An M&E plan should be developed at the beginning of the program when the interventions are
being designed. This will ensure there is a system in place to monitor the program and evaluate
success.
Who is this guide for?
This guide is designed primarily for program managers or personnel who are not trained
researchers themselves but who need to understand the rationale and process of conducting
research. This guide can help managers to support the need for research and ensure that
research staff have adequate resources to conduct the research that is needed to be certain
that the program is evidence based and that results can be tracked over time and measured at
the end of the program.

Learning Objectives
After completing the steps for developing an M&E plan, the team will:

1. Identify the elements and steps of an M&E plan

2. Explain how to create an M&E plan for an upcoming program
3. Describe how to advocate for the creation and use of M&E plans for a
program/organization

Estimated Time Needed

Developing an M&E plan can take up to a week, depending on the size of the team available to
develop the plan, and whether a logic model and theory of change have already been designed.

Prerequisites
How to Develop a Logic Model

Steps
Step 1: Identify Program Goals and Objectives
The first step to creating an M&E plan is to identify the program goals and objectives. If the
program already has a logic model or theory of change, then the program goals are most
likely already defined. However, if not, the M&E plan is a great place to start. Identify the
program goals and objectives.
Defining program goals starts with answering three questions:
 1. What problem is the program trying to solve?
2. What steps are being taken to solve that problem?
3. How will program staff know when the program has been successful in solving
the problem?
Answering these questions will help identify what the program is expected to do, and how
staff will know whether or not it worked. For example, if the program is starting a condom
distribution program for adolescents, the answers might look like this:

High rates of unintended pregnancy and sexually

Problem transmitted infections (STIs) transmission among youth
ages 15-19

Promote and distribute free condoms in the community

Solution
at youth-friendly locations

Lowered rates of unintended pregnancy and STI

Success transmission among youth 15-19. Higher percentage of
condom use among sexually active youth.

From these answers, it can be seen that the overall program goal is to reduce the rates of
unintended pregnancy and STI transmission in the community.

It is also necessary to develop intermediate outputs and objectives for the program to help
track successful steps on the way to the overall program goal. More information about
identifying these objectives can be found in the logic model guide.
Step 2: Define Indicators
Once the program’s goals and objectives are defined, it is time to define indicators for
tracking progress towards achieving those goals. Program indicators should be a mix of
those that measure process, or what is being done in the program, and those that measure
outcomes.

Process indicators track the progress of the program. They help to answer the question,
“Are activities being implemented as planned?” Some examples of process indicators are:
• Number of trainings held with health providers
• Number of outreach activities conducted at youth-friendly locations
• Number of condoms distributed at youth-friendly locations
• Percent of youth reached with condom use messages through the media
Outcome indicators track how successful program activities have been at achieving
program objectives. They help to answer the question, “Have program activities made a
difference?” Some examples of outcome indicators are:
• Percent of youth using condoms during first intercourse
 • Number and percent of trained health providers offering family planning
services to youth
• Number and percent of new STI infections among youth.
These are just a few examples of indicators that can be created to track a program’s
success. More information about creating indicators can be found in the How to Develop
Indicators guide.
Step 3: Define Data Collection Methods and TImeline
After creating monitoring indicators, it is time to decide on methods for gathering data
and how often various data will be recorded to track indicators. This should be a
conversation between program staff, stakeholders, and donors. These methods will have
important implications for what data collection methods will be used and how the results
will be reported.
The source of monitoring data depends largely on what each indicator is trying to measure.
The program will likely need multiple data sources to answer all of the programming
questions. Below is a table that represents some examples of what data can be collected
and how.

Information to be collected Data source(s)

Implementation process and

Program-specific M&E tools
progress

Service statistics Facility logs, referral cards

Reach and success of the Small surveys with primary

program intervention within audience(s), such as provider
audience subgroups or interviews or client exit
communities interviews

The reach of media Media ratings data, brodcaster

interventions involved in the logs, Google analytics, omnibus
program surveys

Reach and success of the

Nationally-representative surveys,
program intervention at the
Omnibus surveys, DHS data
population level

Focus groups, in-depth interviews,

Qualitative data about the listener/viewer group
outcomes of the intervention discussions, individual media
diaries, case studies
Once it is determined how data will be collected, it is also necessary to decide how often it
will be collected. This will be affected by donor requirements, available resources, and the
timeline of the intervention. Some data will be continuously gathered by the program (such
as the number of trainings), but these will be recorded every six months or once a year,
depending on the M&E plan. Other types of data depend on outside sources, such as clinic
and DHS data.
After all of these questions have been answered, a table like the one below can be made to
include in the M&E plan. This table can be printed out and all staff working on the program
can refer to it so that everyone knows what data is needed and when.

Indicator Data source(s) Timing

Number of trainings held with health Training attendance Every 6

providers sheets months

Number of outreach activities conducted at Every 6

Activity sheet
youth-friendly locations months

Number of condoms distributed at youth- Condom distribution Every 6

friendly locations sheet months

Percent of youth receiving condom use Population-based

Annually
messages through the media surveys

DHS or other
Percent of adolescents reporting condom
population-based Annually
use during first intercourse
survey

Number and percent of trained health

Every 6
providers offering family planning services Facility logs
months
to adolescents

DHS or other
Number and percent of new STI infections
population-based Annually
among adolescents
survey

Step 4: Identify M&E Roles and Responsibilities

The next element of the M&E plan is a section on roles and responsibilities. It is important
to decide from the early planning stages who is responsible for collecting the data for each
indicator. This will probably be a mix of M&E staff, research staff, and program staff.
Everyone will need to work together to get data collected accurately and in a timely
fashion.

Data management roles should be decided with input from all team members so everyone
is on the same page and knows which indicators they are assigned. This way when it is time
for reporting there are no surprises.

An easy way to put this into the M&E plan is to expand the indicators table with additional
columns for who is responsible for each indicator, as shown below.

Data
Indicator Data source(s) Timing
manager

Number of trainings held with health Training attendance Every 6 Activity

providers sheets months manager

Number of outreach activities conducted Every 6 Activity

Activity sheet
at youth-friendly locations months manager

Number of condoms distributed at youth- Condom distribution Every 6 Activity

friendly locations sheet months manager

Percent of youth receiving condom use Population-based Research

Annually
messages through the media survey assistant

DHS or other
Percent of adolescents reporting condom Research
population-based Annually
use during first intercourse assistant
survey

Number and percent of trained health

Every 6 Field M&E
providers offering family planning Facility logs
months officer
services to adolescents

DHS or other
Number and percent of new STI infections Research
population-based Annually
among adolescents assistant
survey
Step 5: Create an Analysis Plan and Reporting
Templates
Once all of the data have been collected, someone will need to compile and analyze it to fill
in a results table for internal review and external reporting. This is likely to be an in-house
M&E manager or research assistant for the program.

The M&E plan should include a section with details about what data will be analyzed and
how the results will be presented. Do research staff need to perform any statistical tests to
get the needed answers? If so, what tests are they and what data will be used in them?
What software program will be used to analyze data and make reporting tables? Excel?
SPSS? These are important considerations.

Another good thing to include in the plan is a blank table for indicator reporting. These
tables should outline the indicators, data, and time period of reporting. They can also
include things like the indicator target, and how far the program has progressed towards
that target. An example of a reporting table is below.

Lifetime % of target
Indicator Baseline Year 1
target achieved

Number of trainings held with

0 5 10 50%
health providers

Number of outreach activities

conducted at youth-friendly 0 2 6 33%
locations

Number of condoms distributed at

0 25,000 50,000 50%
youth-friendly locations

Percent of youth receiving condom

5% 35% 75% 47%
use messages through the media.

Percent of adolescents reporting

condom use during first 20% 30% 80% 38%
intercourse

Number and percent of trained

health providers offering family 20 106 250 80%
planning services to adolescents
 Lifetime % of target
Indicator Baseline Year 1
target achieved

11,000 10,000
10%
Number and percent of new STI
reduction 5 20%
infections among adolescents 22% 20%
years

Step 6: Plan for Dissemination and Donor Reporting

The last element of the M&E plan describes how and to whom data will be
disseminated. Data for data’s sake should not be the ultimate goal of M&E efforts. Data
should always be collected for particular purposes.

Consider the following:

• How will M&E data be used to inform staff and stakeholders about the success
and progress of the program?
• How will it be used to help staff make modifications and course corrections, as
necessary?
• How will the data be used to move the field forward and make program
practices more effective?
The M&E plan should include plans for internal dissemination among the program team, as
well as wider dissemination among stakeholders and donors. For example, a program team
may want to review data on a monthly basis to make programmatic decisions and develop
future workplans, while meetings with the donor to review data and program progress
might occur quarterly or annually. Dissemination of printed or digital materials might
occur at more frequent intervals. These options should be discussed with stakeholders and
your team to determine reasonable expectations for data review and to develop plans for
dissemination early in the program. If these plans are in place from the beginning and
become routine for the project, meetings and other kinds of periodic review have a much
better chance of being productive ones that everyone looks forward to.

Conclusion
After following these 6 steps, the outline of the M&E plan should look something like this:

1. Introduction to program
• Program goals and objectives
• Logic model/Logical Framework/Theory of change
2. Indicators
 • Table with data sources, collection timing, and staff member
responsible
3. Roles and Responsibilities
• Description of each staff member’s role in M&E data collection,
analysis, and/or reporting
4. Reporting
• Analysis plan
• Reporting template table
5. Dissemination plan
• Description of how and when M&E data will be disseminated
internally and externally