Monitoring and Evaluation for HES Activities

Course ObjectivesBy the end of the training, you will be able to…

Name several key objectives for HES activities Define ‘household livelihood assessment’ and describe how it is

part of the M&E process Evaluate M&E tools and indicators based on their utility, feasibility

and reliability Analyze a results framework to understand how HES objectives

are linked to intermediate results and indicators Apply ‘lessons learned’ to develop an M&E plan Identify uses of several M&E tools and resources Access a range of M&E tools and resources

The M&E Process

Vulnerable Children

Households

Communities

Regional / National

Broad M&E Objectives1. Providing program planners and implementers with information

to select HES activities

2. Knowing what and how households and VC are doing

3. Giving managers insight into whether HES activities are meeting targets

4. Being accountable to stakeholders

5. Providing ‘data for decision-making’

Broad M&E ObjectivesProviding program planners and implementers with information to select HES activities

Identify appropriate target households for participation and allocate resources accordingly.

Knowing what and how households and VC are doing

Allows program staff to see past numbers and percentages to understand the role a program has in helping human beings.

Giving managers insight into whether HES activities are meeting household needs

Helps them move toward achieving long-term livelihood and food security objectives.

Providing ‘data for decision-making,’

Allows managers to base program decisions and changes on accurate information rather than on ‘hunches’.

Being accountable to stakeholders Includes beneficiary communities, implementing partners and funding agencies.

1. Providing program planners and implementers with information to select HES activities

Examples of livelihood activities people undertake to provide food for themselves: • Working to earn income• Bartering owned assets for food• Growing / raising food• Sending children to eat with neighbors• Receiving government food assistance, etc.

Household Livelihoods Assessment

A livelihood is the combination of the resources used and the activities undertaken in order to ensure day-to-day and long-term

survival.

1. Providing program planners and implementers with information to select HES activities con’t.

Household Livelihoods Assessment

Develop a holistic understanding of household and community livelihoods and well-being, economic conditions, health, food security, political and environmental security, etc.

Determine household and community needs and designing interventions to meet them

Examine intra-household poverty and how it affects VCs and other household members differently

Understand local opportunities and capabilities Establish a baseline or reference point from which to identify and

measure changes (positive and negative) in the future.

1. Providing program planners and implementers with information to select HES activities con’t.

Household Livelihoods Assessment

Examples of Tools – Page 14

2. Knowing what and how households and VC are doing

3. Giving managers insight into whether HES activities are meeting targets

• Are households improving? Do households feel like they’re better off?

4. Being accountable to stakeholders

• If HHs are improving and targets are being met, can we assume the chosen approach is working?

• If HHs are not improving is it because targets aren’t being met or is it in spite of the fact that they are being met?

• Different sets of priorities; everyone accountable to someone else

5. Provide Data for Decision-Making

• Timely information• Accessible to needed staff / stakeholders• Integrated into program cycle – data available when

adjustments can be made.

KEY QUESTION: When we get this information, what will we do with it?

Example of Result Framework

13

Activity

Match the indicators to the IRs!

Reading a PML-3

FHI-360-LIFT15

Selecting Tools, IndicatorsReliability• The extent to which one can reasonably assume they can acquire

correct or accurate information. • A tool that includes questions that interviewers or respondents

may interpret differently may not be reliable.

Feasibility• The extent to which the information needed can be readily

acquired. • It requires that you be able to access the source of information as

well as the specific data you need as often as you need it.

Utility• The extent to which the information is actually useful. • How much will what we learn help us to make or adjust

programmatic or strategic decisions?