6 Ways to Develop an Effective Monitoring & Evaluation Plan
A monitoring and evaluation (M&E) plan is essential in any project since it describes how the whole M&E system will work. It is developed at the beginning of the program when designing interventions to ensure monitoring of the program and evaluation of the success.
Evaluation is done at the planning stage of a project before implementation for you to plan ahead of time and data collection activities.
Planning M&E is important because the team will be clear on instruments to use, and the best time to collect information that pertains to the project.
Having the right M&E skills will lead to the success of the project because the team will ensure that data collected is efficiently used to make programs as effective as possible and results are reported at the end of the program.
So, what are the steps to develop a successful monitoring & evaluation plan?
1. Identify Program Goals and Objectives
Define the program goals and objectives by answering these questions: what problem is the program trying to solve, what steps will solve a problem, and how the program team will know when the program will be successful in solving the problem?
Answering the above questions will help identify what the program should do, and how the team will know if it has worked or not. Developing necessary intermediate outputs and objectives is also important as it helps in tracking successful steps to achieve the overall program goal.
2. Define Indicators
After defining the program’s goals and objectives, define indicators for tracking progress.
Program indicators measure the process, what is being done, and the outcomes.
Process indicators track the progress and help to answer the question, are activities implemented as planned? Process indicators are shown in terms of numbers or percentages.
Outcome indicators track how program activities have achieved the objectives and answer the questions have the program made any difference?
3. Define Data Collection Methods and Timeline
Decide the methods that will be used to gather data and how often data will be recorded to track indicators. The methods will imply data collection methods and how the results will be reported. Multiple data sources will be needed to answer all the questions.
After all the questions have been answered, create a table then print it out for team members working on the project to refer to it.
4. Identify M&E Roles and Responsibilities
At the early planning stages, identify who is responsible for collecting the data for each indicator. Teamwork will be required to get data collected accurately and promptly.
5. Create an Analysis Plan and Reporting Templates
After data collection, compilation and analysis will be done for internal review and external reporting. For you to be successful in analysis, then you should have hands-on M&E skills and competencies of analysis, and reporting.
6. Plan for Dissemination and Donor Reporting
Here, the M&E plan describes how the data will be disseminated and to whom. This will include plans for internal dissemination among the program team and wider dissemination among stakeholders and donors.
Finally,
Many companies require a way to monitor various projects and evaluate their success. Without skills in monitoring & evaluation, then the project will be vulnerable to failure.