Developing a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Plan

Overview of the Process

Audience What do they want to know? When do they want to know it by?

If you have limited funds for evaluation, you may have to prioritise your evaluation by identifying who are the most important people to report to….

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….

A stakeholder

evaluation

template can

be downloaded

from the

toolbox

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? When do they want

to know it by?The funding agency & project team

To what extent did the project meet its objectives?

Annual & post-project

Is the project scaleable or replicable? Post-project

Will the change last without continued intervention?

Post-project

Project team Was the project delivered as planned? Post-project

What worked, and what did not? Quarterly

What else happened (unintended consequences or emergent properties)?

Quarterly

Was there an alternative method of delivering the outcomes?

Post-project

Project participants or target group

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.

• If not, consider developing a program logic, or carry on with this presentation.

See the slide presentation

on program logic and

M&E plans

See the slide

presentation

on

developing a

program

logic

M&E Plan Template

Transfer your evaluation questions into the M&E plan…..

Your evaluation questions go here

Your monitoring questions go here

Your indicators question go here

It will look something like this

Now, identify the data source….

…and identify the other information required to complete the monitoring

Responsibilities TimeframesCost, eg. consultants, 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

• 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?

Review the M&E Plan

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.

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

Next Step