what is monitoring and evaluation
What is M&E?
Development agencies and business organizations carry out numerous projects, programs, and interventions to get or see the change they want. But how do the development sector and business organizations, make sure that the resources are rightly invested and it is not wasted. This is where Monitoring and Evaluation come into play.
Monitoring and Evaluation as we can see is a combination of two different functions. Monitoring and Evaluation.
Monitoring on the one hand is an ongoing process of planning, collecting, and analyzing data to see that the project, program, or any intervention is progressing well. Monitoring helps us track progress, spot implementation gaps, detect risks and challenges, and minimize resource wastages so that we can take timely actions.
For example, a health program providing nutrition supplements to school children to reduce the prevalence of anemia may want to do monthly monitoring checks on several factors to see that everything is going well.
Evaluation on the other hand is a systematic assessment of the project, program, or any intervention in terms of its effectiveness, relevance, and sustainability carried out at some specific time.
For example, the same health program which provides nutrition supplements to school children to reduce the prevalence of anemia may want to evaluate the result of the program at the end, to see how much reduction in anemia has happened in school children due to the program.
So, Monitoring and evaluation are two interconnected processes, that allow organizations to regularly measure the progress and also to assess the success of projects and programs at the end. It involves setting clear goals, establishing indicators and targets, collecting and managing data, analyzing and reporting findings, and using feedback to improve outcomes.