What is M&E? How to develop an M&E plan?

What is M&E? It may sound like a simple question but it is definitely an important one. Before incorporating M&E into a project, it is important to have a clear understanding of what it really is, its purpose, what it means, and how monitoring is different from evaluation as two sides of the same coin. Stay with Giaiphapdonggoi.net while we dive into our own monitoring and evaluation with some key questions to help you navigate your M&E path more precisely.

1. What is M&E?

Monitoring and evaluation - often referred to as 'M&E' - Monitoring and Evaluation - is an important part of the program management and implementation cycle. It enables adaptive management and improvement throughout the life of the program to support the delivery of program goals and objectives. It also supports reporting and communication of program outputs and results.

What is M&E?

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is a powerful tool for transformative learning and change.

When a strong M&E plan is put into the project at an early stage, it steers the project in the right direction from day one. M&E acts as a catalyst to leverage resources, improve project performance, reach intended beneficiaries, provide accountability and transparency to funders, stakeholders benefit and maximize the impact of the project, often within established quality standards, estimated timeframes, and allocated budgets.

Monitoring and evaluation go hand in hand and are carried out continuously throughout the life of a project. However, it is helpful to understand each term on its own, so that you have a thorough understanding of the functions, how they are interconnected, and how they fit into the domain of a project.

2. Benefits of M&E

When done effectively, the implementation of monitoring and evaluation benefits key stakeholders and goes beyond the activities carried out by an organization. In general, it guides strategic decision-making both during and after program implementation.

Benefits of M&E

Benefits for various stakeholders, including:

Beneficiaries: Monitoring (data collection) processes can indicate that the organization genuinely cares about results and improving results. Data can be used to improve implementation efficiency as well as implementation design (to improve outcomes for beneficiaries)
Employees: M&E can create a lot of support and confidence in an organization's commitment to the mission if there is a clear effort to not only measure progress but also use it to achieve goals. better impact. For employees who come into contact with beneficiaries (e.g., "on a basis"), conducting an assessment can also create more trust between those employees and the beneficiary community. Now, often unpredictably, insights can emerge, helping employees discover new, more effective ways to deliver programs and make an impact.
Executive management: Identifying changes to strategic direction becomes more data-driven with ongoing data and analysis from M&E processes. Ideally, adaptation becomes more nimble. With relevant and comprehensive data (both process- and impact-related), executives can build much more persuasive arguments.
Funders (sponsors): Money for impact flows where data and good M&E execution can open that flow as it creates impact credibility and of course a more transparent understanding of impact can be made per dollar invested.

3. How to develop an M&E plan?

Most organizations start with an impact strategy. Depending on their background, they will design a results-oriented approach

How to develop an M&E plan?

Theory of change
Logical model
Log frame
Results-based accounting
The next step is to design quality metrics.

Putting quantitative (or qualitative) tools into action means identifying the right metrics to measure. A metric is a metric used to measure some aspect of a program. During the planning phase, indicators to be used throughout the monitoring and evaluation process should be identified. This allows organizations to really measure the extent to which what they think or want to happen actually happens.

Indicators can be both quantitative and qualitative, depending on what needs to be measured and in what ways.

Quantitative Indicators

Primarily output-focused, they help organizations determine if activities are happening, when, and to what extent.

By definition, numbers are used to communicate quantitative measurements (percentage, percentage, dollar amount,...)

Qualitative Indicators

Regarding the terms

subjective image

Often results-focused, they can help organizations determine if any change has occurred by gathering awareness from beneficiaries.

Data accuracy can often be difficult to assess due to the subjective nature of judgments gathered about variability (see examples below).

4. Examples of M&E . Indices

Using the example of a social enterprise that uses a 1 get 1 free model (you buy a pair of shoes, we give a pair of shoes to someone in need), we can look at several potential metrics for their donation program over a period of one year.

Examples of M&E . Indices

Quantitative

Number of shoes donated
Number of people affected
Amount saved in the beneficiary group (no shoes required)
Qualitative

Perception of the change in quality of life after receiving the shoes (survey subjects)
Types of opportunities created from receiving shoes (determined by the beneficiary)
Use a combination of metrics to determine attribution

As we can see, the pure number of donated shoes doesn't tell us what impact has been made. It just implies. By also collecting qualitative, results-focused data, the organization gets a better idea of the impact those shoes are having on people who don't have them. They can also measure earnings before and after wearing shoes (for adults) or measure school days (for children).

The best indicators help organizations clarify the clear distribution between the intervention (shoe distribution) and the impact(s) generated. In this example, many other variables could contribute to an increase in income or school days. Collecting qualitative data, specifically asking the extent to which the shoes are associated with any observed changes in those areas, will increase the level of attribution an organization can report.

Monitoring and evaluation are interconnected processes; both complement each other to help you get the most out of your interventions. So the next time you brainstorm a new project, make sure to include the M&E from day one.

27/02/2024

28/02/2024