2.6 Summary

In this study session you have learned what monitoring and evaluation are and how they can be used to advance children’s rights.

In particular, you have learned that:

• Monitoring and evaluation are stages within a continuous process of improvement.
• Monitoring involves the collection of information at regular intervals for a specific purpose. It can be used to assess the quality of a process or service, and it can be used to measure progress towards a specific goal.
• Outputs and indicators are important tools to assist the process of monitoring. In particular, they allow progress towards an objective to be monitored.
• Evaluation is a structured assessment of the extent to which activities that have been undertaken have resulted in achieving a desired change.
• Effective monitoring and evaluation can help us to measure changes in services and experiences of individuals over a period of time and assess whether resources are being used effectively or as we planned.
• Involving children in monitoring and evaluation is important. As a health worker, you can involve children in a variety of ways, and at different levels through a wide range of participation techniques.