What is Monitoring?

• Looking into the process, going towards the

target, right selection of beneficiaries
• Procedures are being followed according to the
work plan
• Meeting our target or not (target monitoring),
activity monitoring
• Continuous info collection/analysis/reporting for
decision making
• Program is going in right direction as planned in
the project document
 One line definition
• Monitoring is the recording

“Whether right thing is being delivered to the

right people at the right time in a right way
(process)”
 Monitoring

Systematic recording of :

• Observations
• Information gathering
• Analysis
• Documentation
• Reflection and
• Action………..re-planning
 What is not Monitoring
• Policing/imposing
• Pointing out (but it is highlighting)
 The Need for Monitoring and Evaluation

There are many reasons for carrying out project M&E.

• Project managers and other stakeholders need to

know the extent to which their projects are meeting their
objectives and leading to their desired effects.

• M&E build greater transparency and accountability in

terms of use of project resources.

• Information generated through M&E provide project

staff with a clearer basis for decision-making.

• Future project planning and development is improved

when guided by lessons learned from project
experience.
Salih
Project Monitoring

Monitoring represents an on-going

activity to track project progress against
planned tasks.
It aims at providing regular oversight of
the implementation of an activity in terms
of input delivery, work schedules,
targeted outputs etc.
Through such processes, project
monitoring aims at:
1) Providing project management, staff and other
stakeholders with information on whether progress
is being made towards achieving project
objectives. In this regard, monitoring represents a
continuous assessment of project implementation
in relation to project plans, resources,
infrastructure, and use of services by project
beneficiaries.

2) Providing regular feedback to enhance the

ongoing learning experience and to improve the
planning process and effectiveness of
interventions.

3) Increasing project accountability with donors

and other stakeholders.
4) Enabling managers and staff to identify and
reinforce initial positive project results, strengths
and successes. As well, monitoring alerts
managers to actual and potential project
weaknesses, problems and shortcomings before
it is too late. This would provide managers with
the opportunity to make timely adjustments and
corrective actions to improve the
program/project design, work plan and
implementation strategies.

5) Checking on conditions or situations of a

target group, and changes brought about by
project activities. In this regard, 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.
Rasna
What monitoring should be doing ?
Monitoring actions must be undertaken throughout
the lifetime of the project. Evaluation researches
might be needed when unexpected problems arise
for which planned monitoring activities cannot
generate sufficient information, or when socio
economic or environmental conditions change
drastically in the target area.

Effective monitoring needs adequate planning,

baseline data, indicators of performance, and
results and practical implementation mechanisms
that include actions such as field visits, stakeholder
meetings, documentation of project activities,
regular reporting, etc. Project monitoring is
normally carried out by project management, staff
and other stakeholders.
 Monitoring Tools
• Staff meetings – Weekly, Monthly, Annual
• Partners meeting/Learning Forums (FGD,
Surveys)/Retreat
• Participatory Reviews – Stakeholders
• Monitoring and Supervision Mission
(Self/Donors/Joint)
• Progress reports/Statistics
 Goals of Monitoring
• To ensure that inputs, activities and outputs proceed
according to plan
• Determine whether the inputs are optimally utilized
• Ensuring all activities are carried out by the right people
and in time
• To provide record of inputs, activities, and outputs
• To warn of deviations from objectives
• To assist managers in making decisions
• Monitoring should take place at and be integrated into all
stages of the project cycle
Shiga
Project Evaluation

Program/project evaluation represents a

systematic and objective assessment of ongoing
or completed projects or programs in terms of
their design, implementation and results.

In addition, evaluations usually deal with strategic

issues such as program/project relevance,
effectiveness, efficiency (expected and
unexpected), in the light of specified objectives,
as well as program/project impact and
sustainability.
 Project Evaluation

Periodic evaluations of ongoing projects are

conducted to review implementation progress,
predict project's likely effects and highlight
necessary adjustments in project design. Terminal
evaluations (or final evaluations) are evaluations
carried out at the end of a project to provide an
overall assessment of project performance and
effects/impact, as well as to assess the extent to
which the project has succeeded in meeting their
objectives and their potential sustainability.
Reasons for Project Evaluation
There are many reasons for conducting an evaluation,
including:

1) Providing managers with information regarding

project performance. Project plans might change
during the implementation process. Evaluations can
verify if the program is really running as originally
planned. In addition, they provide signs of project
strengths and weaknesses, and therefore, enable
managers to improve future planning, delivery of
services and decision-making.

2) Assisting 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 specified objectives.
Project Evaluation

3) Mid-term evaluations may serve as a means of

validating the results of initial assessments
obtained from project monitoring activities.

4) If conducted after the termination of a

program/project, an evaluation determines the
extent to which the interventions are successful in
terms of their impact and sustainability of results.

5) Assisting managers to carry out a thorough review

and re-thinking about their projects in terms of their
goals and objectives, and means to achieve them.
Project Evaluation

6) Generating detailed information about project

implementation process and results. Such
information can be used for public relations,
fundraising, promotion of services in the
community, as well as identifying possibilities
for project replication.

7) Improving the learning process. Evaluations

often document and explain the causes as to
why activities succeeded or failed. Such
documentation can help in making future
activities more relevant and effective.
Sherin
 Steps in Evaluation
• Phase A: Planning the Evaluation

• Phase B: Selecting Appropriate Evaluation Methods

• Phase C: Collecting and Analyzing Information

• Phase D: Reporting/disseminating Findings

• Phase E: Implementing Evaluation Recommendations

 Phase A: Planning the Evaluation

• Determine the purpose of the evaluation.

• Decide on type of evaluation.
• Review existing information of programme
documents including monitoring information.
• Describe the programme.
• Develop/refine conceptual framework.
• Assess your own strengths and limitations.
• Put together an evaluation team including
stakeholders.
 Phase B: Selecting Appropriate
Evaluation Methods

• Identify evaluation goals and objectives

• Formulate evaluation questions and sub-
questions
• Decide on the appropriate evaluation
design.
• Develop an evaluation schedule
• Develop a budget for the evaluation.
 Phase C: Collecting and Analyzing
Information

• Develop data collection instruments.

• Pre-test data collection instruments.
• Undertake data collection activities.
• Analyze data.
• Interpret the data.
 Phase D: Reporting/disseminating
Findings
• Write the evaluation report.
• Decide on the method of sharing the evaluation
results.
• Decide on communication strategies.
• Share the draft report with stakeholders and
revise as needed.
• Disseminate evaluation report.
• Meet with project stakeholders to discuss and
follow-up on findings once they have accepted
the findings.
 Phase E: Implementing Evaluation
Recommendations
• Develop a new/revised implementation
plan in partnership with stakeholders.
• Monitor the implementation of evaluation
recommendations and report regularly on
the implementation progress.
• Plan the next evaluation.
Wafa
 Some Evaluation Methods
• Theory-based evaluation
• Formal surveys
• Rapid appraisal methods
• Cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness
analysis
• Participatory methods
• Public expenditure tracking surveys
• Impact evaluation
Relationship between Monitoring and
Evaluation

Monitoring and evaluation are two different

management tools that are closely related,
interactive and mutually supportive.

Through routine tracking of project progress,

monitoring can provide quantitative and qualitative
data useful for designing and implementing project
evaluation exercises.

On the other hand, evaluations support project

monitoring. Through the results of periodic
evaluations, monitoring tools and strategies can be
refined and further developed.
 Difference between
Monitoring and Evaluation
 Monitoring Evaluation

Object To track changes To validate what results

ive from baseline were achieved, and how
conditions to and why they were or
desired outcomes. were not achieved.

Metho Tracks and Evaluates achievement or

dology assesses outcomes by comparing
performance indicators before and after
through analysis the intervention.
and comparison of Involves Value Judgment
indicators over Relies on monitoring data
time. and information from
external sources.
 Continuous and Time-bound,
systematic by periodic, in-depth.
Charact
Programme/ Project
eristics
Managers and key Internal or External
partners. evaluators and
partners.

Uses Alerts managers Provides managers /

about problems in Donors /
performance, stakeholders with
provides options strategy
for corrective actions and policy options,
and helps provides basis for
demonstrate learning and
accountability. demonstrates
accountability.
 Project Control
• Project control can be defined as
management action, either preplanned to
achieve the desired result or taken as a
corrective measure prompted by the
monitoring process. It is concerned with
matrix of the project such as quantities,
time, cost and other resources.
• In simple words, project controls
encompass the people, processes and
tools used to plan, manage and mitigate
cost and schedule issues and any risk
events that may impact a project.
• Two major functions of Project Control
• To ensure regular monitoring of
performance
• It motivates project personnel to strive for
achieving objectives.
• Effective control critical for realization of
project objectives. There are 3 reasons for
poor project control.

1.Characteristics of project.
2.People problem.
3.Poor control and information system.
There are two main approaches to project
control.

• 1. Variance Analysis Approach

• 2. Performance Analysis
 Variance Analysis Approach
• The traditional approach to project control
involves comparison of actual cost with the
budgeted cost to determine the variance.

• The variance analysis approach is inadequate

for the project control for the following reasons.

1.It is backward looking rather than forward

looking.
2.It does not use the data effectively to provide
integrated control.
 Performance Analysis
• A better approach to control.
• Effective control over a project requires
systematic performance analysis.

• The following questions need to be answered.

1.Is the project as a whole on schedule, ahead of
schedule or behind schedule?
2.Has the cost of project as a whole been as per
budget estimates, less than budget estimates?
3.What is the trend of performance?
Performance analysis seeks to remove the
subjectivity by employing an analytical
framework based on the following terms:

• BCWS (Budgeted Cost of Work Schedule)

• BCWP (Budgeted Cost for Work Performed)
• ACWP (Actual Cost of Work Performed)
• BCTW (Budgeted Cost for Total Work)
• ACC (Additional Cost for Completion)