The many ways to monitor and evaluate
People have been struggling to find the best way for development organisations to monitor and evaluate their work for many years. It is a fascinating area of enquiry that goes straight to the heart of development by attempting to answer the questions "what are you trying to achieve in your work, and how do you know whether you are making a difference?"
The first step is to decide who really needs the answers to these questions and why. The most immediate and compelling demand is often from donors who have to justify their financial investment. Development actors want the answers so they can learn from their experience and improve what they do. NGOs also need to be accountable to people who are expected to benefit from the work. Meeting these different demands can create conflicting priorities for monitoring and evaluation, and it is often difficult to find the right balance to suit an NGO's particular needs. It depends on the type of work they do, their stakeholders and what resources are available.
NGOs have to decide what type of information will really demonstrate the nature of change they are trying to bring about. Is it possible to measure the change, or does it make more sense to illustrate it? Some types of change might be reasonably predictable and easy to measure but others - such as influencing and capacity building - are much more difficult to assess.
Many creative people from all over the world have been tackling these questions and have produced a rich array of ideas and experience. Approaches like outcome mapping, most significant change, participatory learning and action, have grown out of cumulative years of experience. This means that it is not easy to "do" monitoring and evaluation; there is no blueprint approach. But it is a rich and fascinating area that is constantly evolving and developing, and each NGO needs to select, design and nurture the approach that best suits its needs.
