Interventions can often run into unexpected barriers and produce unexpected negative, as well as positive, impact. As a result, non-profit organisations and other intervention providers have come under increasing pressure from funders and other stakeholders to provide information about their performance. One of the most effective tools to measure and report on project performance is Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E). M&E refers to a combination of activities and procedures used to effectively measure, report and learn from project performance.

M&E is considered good practice for organisations engaged in social intervention as they allow providers to:

• determine whether a project successfully produced desired outcomes
  
• understand how a project did or did not work
  
• check for unforeseen negative consequences that require attention in future
  
• identify which activities produce the largest or most important positive impacts
  
• identify which strategies are most cost-effective (i.e. resource efficient) in achieving project goals
  
• assess how meaningful, sustainable , accessible and relevant a project was for participants and other stakeholders
  
• learn from experience how to improve and build on project experience
  
• demonstrate impact to others.
  

 Monitoring refers to indicators used throughout the life of a project to measure progress and record how a project was designed, implemented and delivered. Monitoring data capture whether a project is implemented in a way that is consistent with its design and whether any unanticipated barriers were encountered (for example, no one applied to participate in the project). The monitoring phase of a project also provides a framework through which to track progress and identify problems early on, thus allowing corrective action and improvements to be made ‘on the ground’ and recorded without compromising project objectives.

Evaluation focuses on “what works”, as well as how, for whom and under what conditions. The key difference between evaluation and monitoring is that evaluation is about using data, including monitoring and post-project outcome data, to draw conclusions about project impact. Different types of evaluation are used to address different dimensions of project impact and effectiveness (see next section for a summary of evaluation types).

 < BACK     NEXT >