Developing a Monitoring and Evaluation ME Plan Overview

Developing a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Plan

Overview of the Process Identify your evaluation audience Identify the questions that are important to them Identify the monitoring questions that you want to answer during your project Put it all together in a M&E plan Identify who is responsible for data collection and when it should occur Identify the indicators and data sources to answer your monitoring questions

Audience If you have limited funds for evaluation, you may have to prioritise your evaluation by identifying whooare lder h e stak ation the most. Aimportant valu te can e people to report pla to…. ded tem wnloa o e be d rom th f lbox o o t What do they want to know? When do they want to know it by? Evaluation questions go beyond measurements to ask the higher order questions such as whether the project is worth it, or could if have been achieved in another way…. This will impact on what type of monitoring you will undertake. For example, if you need to report in 6 months time, it is no use collecting data that will only be available in 12 months….

So it is important to identify your evaluation audience(s), and what they NEED to know. You can satisfy the WANT to know if you have resources left over.

As an example…. Audience What do they want to know? The funding agency & To what extent did the project meet its project team objectives? Project team When do they want to know it by? Annual & postproject Is the project scaleable or replicable? Post-project Will the change last without continued intervention? Post-project Was the project delivered as planned? Post-project What worked, and what did not? Quarterly What else happened (unintended Quarterly consequences or emergent properties)? Project participants or target group Was there an alternative method of delivering the outcomes? Post-project Did the project meet the participant’s needs? Post-project

Have you got a Program Logic? • If you have a program logic (or some sort of outcomes model), you can use that to guide the development of your M&E plan. p See the r sli es on entat de pro ion log gram M& ic and Ep lan s • If not, consider developing a program logic, or e carry on with this presentation. slid e h t n See entatio pres on ga n i p elo dev ogram pr c logi

M&E Plan Template Transfer your evaluation questions into the M&E plan…. . Your evaluation. Your monitoring Your indicators questions go here questionsquestion go here

It will look something like this

Now, identify the data source….

…and identify the other information required to complete the monitoring Responsibilities Cost, eg. consultants, Timeframes or technology

Now, consider who will evaluate the data, and how it will be reported Consider who will be making a judgement as to whether the data indicates the achievement of success or otherwise Think about how the evaluation findings will be reported. Consider the audience, and their requirements. As well as reports, you could consider using presentations in meetings, newsletters, memos etc….

Now, consider who will evaluate the data, and how it will be reported Finally, consider when you will report evaluation findings. This may be dictated by the requirements of your audience. Funding agencies may require regular reporting. Councillors may have specific timelines as well. Also think about providing feedback to participants or the target group.

The final M&E plan complements provides a framework and guide as to what to evaluate

Review the M&E Plan • Highlight data sources that appear frequently. – For example, you may be able to develop surveys that fulfil the data collection requirements for many questions. • Consider re-ordering the M&E plan in several ways. – For example, by data source, or by data collection timeframe.

Review the M&E Plan • Review the content, and consider: – Does it capture all that you need to know in order to make a meaningful evaluation of the project? – Do you need to prioritise some questions in order to work within your budget and other resources?

Remember…. • Do not ask evaluation questions unless someone really needs to know the answer. • Do not collect data if it will not be used to answer a question. • To do so will be a waste of time and resources that could be allocated to meeting other evaluation requirements.

Next Step • Implement your M&E plan……. and in due course, conduct a meta-evaluation.