Uganda Management Institute

Project M&E
Amos Turyatemba
Development Management Consultant
[email protected]
0752-153494

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 Module Outline
• Introduction
• M&E in the project cycle
• Understanding the concept, role and tools of
Monitoring
• Understanding the concept, types and dimensions of
Evaluation
• Revisiting key terms in M&E
• Conclusion

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 Introduction
Currently, there is a significant emphasis on achieving results
(outcomes) and on the need to demonstrate performance. The
questions that are being asked by stakeholders usually are:
• Are development initiatives making a difference in people’s
livelihoods?
• How will governments know whether they have made
progress in bringing changes in people’s livelihoods?
• Have projects/programs/policies led to the desired results
(outcomes)? How can we tell success from failure?
• Do we know our starting points (baselines) in relation to how
far we want to go?
• These are the kinds of concerns and questions being raised by
development practitioners, other internal and external
stakeholders, and governments across the globe are
struggling with ways of addressing and answering them.
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 Recap: Project cycle
Projects go through a Project Life Cycle.
The stages in the project life cycle demonstrate the
logical sequence of activities that accomplish the
project’s goals or objectives.
This provides better management, control and
linkages to other support functions

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06/04/2025 5
 M&E and the Project Life Cycle
Smart objectives
Program/Project
Smart indicators
Identification & Developing the
Budget for M&E
design M&E System

Start-up workshop Gathering &

Program Planning M&E in work-plan Managing
& Set-up Develop data tools information

Data collection Reflecting

Execution/ Analysis and critically to
Implementation reporting improve Action
Evaluations
Communicating
End of Lessons learned & Reporting
Project/Program After action results
transition reviews

06/04/2025 Adapted from PMD-Pro – which is also adapted 6from

Decision Gate PMI’s Body of Knowledge Guide
Planning for M&E
Without proper planning and clear articulation of intended
results, it is not clear what should be monitored and how;
hence monitoring cannot be done well.

Planning
Defined as the process of setting goals, developing
strategies, outlining the implementation arrangements and
allocating resources to achieve those goals. It is important
to note that planning involves looking at a number of
different processes;

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Processes in Planning
• Identifying the vision, goals or objectives to be achieved
• Formulating the strategies needed to achieve the vision
and goals
• Determining and allocating the resources (financial and
other) required to achieve the vision and goals
• Outlining implementation arrangements, which include
the arrangements for monitoring and evaluating progress
towards achieving the vision and goals

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 Project monitoring
• Monitoring is the continuous process of collecting,
reviewing, reporting and acting on information about
project implementation.
• Monitoring can be defined as the ongoing process by
which stakeholders obtain regular feedback on the
progress being made towards achieving their goals and
objectives.
• Focuses on whether a project/program is achieving its
objectives as well as ensure compliance with plans.
• Programmes/projects with strong monitoring and
evaluation components tend to stay on track.
Additionally, problems are often detected earlier, which
reduces the likelihood of having major cost overruns or
time delays later.
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 Types of Monitoring
1. Compliance monitoring
To ensure that staff/partners implement as per
sponsor requirements/contracts/plans

2. Performance monitoring
To check project progress against targets
Note that monitoring involves more than data
collection. While most resources are used in
collecting data, efforts are incomplete unless
plans/strategies are reformulated based on info
collected.
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 Role of monitoring
• Review progress against achieving goals
– Part of good program management, and Informs
decisions
– Review progress in implementing actions/Activities
• Institutional knowledge
– Generate new strategies & actions needed to be
taken to ensure progress towards the most
important results
• Team morale/ownership
– Track progress, more so in participatory monitoring
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 Role of monitoring Cont’d
• Make corrective action for improvements
• Be accountable and responsible
• Improve evaluations
– Without careful monitoring, the necessary data is
not collected; hence evaluation cannot be done
well.
• Can find unexpected results
– Surprises can be unearthed through regular
monitoring
– Both positive and negative results
– Better management of risks & opportunities
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 Tips to efficient monitoring
• Focus on just few indicators
– Expensive
– Not necessarily relevant
– Not enough time to process data/info
• Plan for monitoring (Part of project work plan)
– Implications on budget, and timing
– Define indicators, data collection methods,
frequency etc

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 Monitoring tools
• Developed to capture management needs,
indicator requirements
• Can be donor prescribed, or template driven
• Tools may include
– Checklists with guiding questions
– Spot check protocols
– Semi-structured report formats
• Applied in direct observations, partner meetings,
interviews with beneficiaries, sub-grantee data
checks
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 Project Evaluation
• Evaluation refers to an in-depth, systematic analysis
of a project to measure its effects and how they were
achieved.
• Evaluation is a rigorous and independent assessment
of either completed or ongoing activities to
determine the extent to which they are achieving
stated objectives and contributing to decision
making.
• May seek to understand impediments and linkages to
project success

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 Project Evaluation cont…
• Evaluations may seek to understand project effects
beyond intended objectives (unintended effects or
impact) and also compare effectiveness of alternative
interventions
• Evaluations, like monitoring, can apply to many
aspects, including an activity, project, programme,
strategy, policy, sector or organization.
• Evaluation measures how well an intervention has
met expected objectives and/or the extent to which
changes in results can be attributed to the
intervention.

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 Project Evaluation cont…
• The essence of evaluation is using monitoring and other
information to make judgements about an intervention.
• Evaluations often document and explain the causes as
to why activities succeed or fail.
• An evaluation should provide information that is
credible and useful, enabling the integration of lessons
learned into the decision-making process.
• Evaluation provides managers with information
regarding performance and can provide signs of
strengths and weaknesses, and therefore, enable
managers to improve future planning, delivery of
services and decision-making.
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 Forms of Evaluations
1. Internal evaluations
In internal evaluation, sometimes called self-evaluation,
a unit and/or individuals reporting to the management
of the donor, partner or implementing organization
conduct the evaluation. The advantage of using internal
evaluator is that insiders know the organization and
therefore may be able to interpret the results better
than an external body.

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2. External evaluations
This is a type of evaluation in which the evaluation of a
development intervention is conducted by entities
and/or individuals outside the implementing or donor
agency. Many organizations may not have the resources
to carry out the ideal evaluation.

3. Joint evaluations
In joint evaluation different implementing and donor
agencies as well as partners participate in the
evaluation. The degree of ‘jointness’ may vary
depending on the extent to which individual partners
cooperate in the evaluation process, contribute
resources for the evaluation and combine their
evaluation
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reporting. 19
Types of Evaluation (Scheduled-based)
1. Ex-ante evaluations/Formative Evaluation
An ex-ante evaluation is made to assess the
potential impact of a project, program or policy
intervention before implementation. Its purpose is
to gather information and carry out analyses that
help to ensure that the objectives can be met and
that the method used is cost-effective.

A Baseline is an analysis describing the situation

prior to a development intervention, against which
progress can be assessed or comparisons made.
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2. On-going evaluation/Process Evaluation/Mid-term review
On-going evaluations review on-going activities to provide guides
for corrective implementation measures in order to achieve
intended results better. As such, on-going evaluation is conducted
during the implementation stage. Periodic evaluation of on-going
interventions is conducted to analyse the use of resources, the
quality of work, and the continuing relevance of the intervention. It
is also used to review implementation progress and predict likely
effects of interventions and highlight necessary adjustments in work
design. Mid-term evaluation which is conducted at the middle of a
project/program life, serve as a means of validating the results of
initial assessments obtained from monitoring activities.

On-going evaluations address problems associated with the day-to-

day management of interventions and also can indicate the need
for changes in project, program or policy objectives and targets.
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3. End of Project evaluation/Summative evaluation)
refers to the assessment of participants where the focus is
on the outcome of a program.

3. Ex-post evaluation
An ex-post evaluation assesses the interventions
performance, quality, relevance, efficiency and impact
immediately after implementation is completed. An ex-
post evaluation is linked to an ex-ante evaluation, and is
best conducted where a baseline has been originally
defined, targets have been projected, and data has been
collected on important indicators. Information collected
through monitoring is also fundamental for the success of
ex-post evaluation.
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 Ex-post evaluation can also mean an
evaluation conducted some years after
the project completion with the
emphasis on the effectiveness and
sustainability of the project.

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 Dimensions of evaluations
1. Effectiveness - The extent to which the development
intervention’s objectives were achieved, or are expected to
be achieved, taking into account their relative importance.
2. Efficiency - A measure of how economically
resources/inputs (funds, expertise, time, etc.) are
converted to results.
3. Relevance - The extent to which the objectives of a
development intervention are consistent with
beneficiaries’ requirements, country needs, global
priorities and partners’ and donors’ policies.
4. Sustainability - The continuation of benefits from
development intervention after major development
assistance has been completed.
5. Impact – Positive and negative, primary and secondary
long-term effects produced by a development intervention,24
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 Triggers to evaluation
Evaluations will be commissioned if:
• A key management decision is required and there
is inadequate information
• Performance information indicates an unexpected
result ( positive or negative) that should be
explained
• Customers, partners, or other informed feedback
suggests that there are implementation
problems, unmet needs or un intended
consequences or impacts.
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 Triggers to evaluation

• Issues of sustainability, cost effectiveness, or

relevance arise
• The validity of results framework hypotheses or
critical assumptions is questioned
• Project reviews have identified key questions that
need to be answered or that need consensus
• Extracting lessons is important for the benefit of
other on-going or future programs, here or else
where.

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 Uses of an Evaluation
• Selection among competing alternative strategies or
resource allocation decisions
• Check on the effectiveness and efficiency of ongoing
intervention
• Better understanding of problems
• Organizational learning
• Explain unexpected results (positive or negative)
• Determine if customer needs are being met
• Assess net impacts of projects or programs
• Identify unintended impacts
• Make action recommendations for program improvement
• Distill lessons for application in other settings
• Test validity of hypotheses and assumptions underlying the
results frameworks
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 Distinction between Monitoring and Evaluation
Monitoring refers to continuous assessment of the project
performance. It involves collection of accurate, reliable and timely
info to identifying implementation bottlenecks and take corrective
actions in a bid to achieve the intended planned project objectives.

Evaluation is the process of establishing the extent to which the

project has been successful in achieving the planned objectives and
subsequently ascertaining whether or not the project has improved
the lives of the target beneficiaries.

However, the aims of both monitoring and evaluation are

very similar: to provide information that can help inform
decisions, improve performance and achieve planned
results.
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 Monitoring Vs Evaluation
Monitoring Evaluation
Feedback. Challenges design
• Continuous • Important milestones
• Activities and interim • Results
achievements • Longer term
• Short term Replanning
Replanning • Adjustments to project
• Adjustments in strategy
implementation • Relation to other projects
• Inputs to current
programming
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 Monitoring Vs Evaluation

Monitoring would answer these questions

• Is it on schedule?
• Was it within the budget?
• Is it producing intended outputs?
• Are activities moving as per the detailed plan?
• What information was used to identify and solve
problems along the way?

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 Monitoring Vs Evaluation
Evaluation takes us beyond our monitoring information
• What is impeding activity success?
• Are the planned results the only results the activity
is producing?
• Did the activity actually “cause “ the results we see,
or were other factors responsible?
• Is there any evidence to suggest that results achieved
by the project will be sustained?

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 Monitoring Vs Evaluation

Evaluation would answer these questions

• Was it a logical and sound plan?
• What made it effective? Or why did it fail?
• Were there any unplanned results?
• Was it sustainable?
• Is it valued?

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 Revisiting key terms
• Indicators: A unit of measure that lets us know if our
implementation is successful. For example, if you are
on a diet, your main indicator would be “# of
kilograms lost”.
• Quantitative or qualitative factor or variable that
provides a simple and reliable means to measure
achievement, to reflect the changes connected to an
intervention, or to help assess the performance of a
development actor.
• Targets. Also called “milestones” or “benchmarks”,
these tell us what we plan to achieve at specific
points in the life of our projects or programs.
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The Results Chain or Logic Model
RC is an illustration of the causal or logical relationships between
the inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes of a given
project/program/policy (CIDA 1996).

Inputs Activities Outputs Outcomes Impact

Development results

Intermediate
Immediate Ultimate
outcomes
Inputs Activities Outputs Outcomes outcomes
(medium
(Short term) (Long-term)
term)

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Development results
• Inputs:
Financial, human, material, and information resources
used to produce outputs through activities in order to
achieve outcomes.
• Activities:
Actions taken or work performed, through which inputs
are mobilized to produce outputs.
• Outputs:
Outputs are direct products or services stemming from
the activities of an organization, project/program/policy.
e.g Training completed, appropriate technologies,
processes, & institutional innovations identified and
promoted, research on market chains completed
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• Outcome:
Changes resulting from project intervention e.g.
behaviorial change and practices (improved health
practices, increased knowledge on nutrition) as well as
systems.
Immediate (short-term outcomes)
Immediate outcomes are changes that are directly
attributable to the outputs of an organization,
project/program/policy. In terms of time frame and level,
these are short-term outcomes, and are usually at the
level of an increase in awareness/skills, access to services
etc. among beneficiaries.
e.g. Increased knowledge, awareness, understanding and
skills of staff of public organizations on approaches to
market
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oriented agricultural development 36
Intermediate (medium-term) outcomes
Intermediate outcomes are changes that are expected to
logically occur once one or more immediate outcomes
have been achieved. In terms of time frame and level,
these are medium term outcomes, which are usually
achieved by the end of a project/program and usually
occur at the change of behaviour/practice level among
beneficiaries.
e.g. Increased usage of knowledge gained from trainings,
adoption of appropriate technologies, innovative input
supply, output marketing, and financial services in order to
improve productivity and market success.

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Impact:
Positive and negative, primary and secondary long-term
effects produced by a development intervention, directly or
indirectly, intended or unintended.

Ultimate (long-term) outcome

Ultimate outcomes are the highest level changes that can
be reasonably attributed to an organization,
project/program/policy in a causal manner, and is the
consequence of one or more intermediate outcomes. The
ultimate outcome usually represents the raison d’etre of an
organization, project/ program/policy, and takes the form
of sustainable change of state among beneficiaries. E.g.
Improved agricultural productivity and production,
increased
06/04/2025 income, reduced malnutrition 38
Principles of planning, monitoring and
evaluation for development results
1. Ownership
Ownership is fundamental in formulating and
implementing programmes and projects to achieve
development results: Depth Vs Breadth
Depth of ownership: Is it a requirement of their
governing or supervisory bodies, such as a Board of
Directors or Headquarters.
Breadth of ownership: There are two questions to
address with respect to breadth of ownership: Who does
the development programme or project benefit or
impact, and do a sufficient number of these agencies and
persons feel ownership of the programme or project?
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Principles cont…
2. Engagement of stakeholders
Throughout all stages of planning, monitoring, evaluating,
learning and improving, it is vital to engage stakeholders,
promote buy-in and commitment, and motivate action.

3. Focus on results
Planning, monitoring and evaluation processes should be
geared towards ensuring that results are achieved—not
towards ensuring that all activities and outputs get produced
as planned.

3. Focus on development effectiveness

How we do Vs What we do

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 Conclusion
• Monitoring and evaluation is an integral part of the
project. With out it, we cant manage the project
focusing on results
• Monitoring and evaluation facilitates the process of
assessing results but also enabling management to
learn from every step of implementation, make
adjustments and informed decisions on the
programme.

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 Asante

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