Project Cycle Management
Module 5: Monitoring and Evaluation
Accord University
Date: October 2023 Phone:+252616466071
By Abdullahi Ahmed Dool
Master in M&E Date: October 2023
Master in MBA
Contents
•Overview of Monitoring and Evaluation
•Project Monitoring
•Project Evaluation
•The Project Monitoring and Evaluation
Plan
Overview of Monitoring
and Evaluation
Overview of Monitoring and Evaluation
• Even projects that are well designed, comprehensively planned, fully
resourced and meticulously executed will face challenges.
• These challenges can take place at any point in the life of the project
and the project team must work to continually revisit the design,
planning and implementation of the project to confirm they are valid
and to determine whether corrective actions need to be taken when
the project’s performance deviates significantly from its design and its
plan.
Overview of Monitoring and Evaluation
• This is the purpose of the Project Monitoring and Evaluation. Not
surprisingly, the two principle categories of activities taking place
during the Monitoring and Evaluation Phase are;
✓ Project monitoring
✓ Project Evaluation
• These activities are intended to occur continuously and continually,
taking place through the entire life of the project.
Project Monitoring
Monitoring & Evaluation
Monitoring and evaluation is an activity that is done in order
determine whether the project has achieved its intended
result as planned over a period of time.
Explanation
Monitoring and Evaluation is undertaken throughout the
project cycle and is done for purposes of understanding
whether the planned objectives of a project has been
achieved or not.
What is Monitoring?
Monitoring is a routine and rigorous activity undertaken
through the project cycle on activities that are being
implemented in the project in order to determine whether
what was panned is actually being done.
Explanation
Monitoring is actually routine and rigorous and is undertaken
throughout the project cycle in order to check whether
activities are indeed being carried out as planned.
What is Evaluation?
Evaluation is in depth assessment that aims to determine
whether the project achieved its intended objectives.
It aims to measure impact whether positive or negative.
Explanation
An evaluation actually measures the impact of a Project.
In analyzing impact of a project, there is also need to check
for efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability and relevance.
Project Monitoring
• Progress Monitoring tracks the operational work of the project. It
answers questions like “Have activities been completed as planned?”
“Have outputs been produced as anticipated?” “Is the work of the
project progressing as projected?”
• At a fundamental level it is a passive process, it changes nothing.
Instead, it tells the project manager where the project performance is
in terms of money, time, risk, quality, and other areas of project
progress.
• At its core, the goal objectives, timing and activities of project
progress monitoring are perhaps best identified via the following
table:
Project Monitoring …Cont’d
Project Monitoring …Cont’d
• If you were to examine the indicators found in the project logical
framework, progress monitoring activities primarily correspond to the
lower two levels of the logframe (activities and outputs).
• The following table provides some potential monitoring indicators
from three different programmatic areas of intervention (agriculture,
microfinance, water).
Project Monitoring …Cont’d
Example
Goal Improved health in children.
Purpose Increased immunisation in the project area.
Output Team of healthcare workers strengthened
and functioning
Activities Recruit healthcare workers.
Project Evaluation
Project Evaluation
• Project Evaluation tends to focus on tracking progress at the higher levels
of the logical framework – i.e. project outcomes.
• Evaluations tend to explore questions like, “Is the project successful at
achieving its outcomes?” “Is the project contributing to its ultimate
goal?”
• Evaluation data is collected and analyzed less frequently and often requires
a more formal intervention (often by technical advisors or external
evaluators) to show project results.
Project Evaluation….Cont’d
Objective Example
Goal Improved health in children.
Purpose Increased immunisation in the project area.
Output Team of healthcare workers strengthened
and functioning
Activities Recruit healthcare workers.
The Project Monitoring
and Evaluation Plan
The Project Monitoring and Evaluation
Plan
• A crucial element of a comprehensive implementation plan is a
monitoring and evaluation plan which identifies the system for
tracking and measuring project progress, performance and impact.
• The appropriate time to develop the formal Monitoring and
Evaluation plan is after the project is approved for funding but before
the start-up of project activities.
• Strong project design makes it easier to create and align
comprehensive monitoring and evaluation systems.
• While the format of project monitoring and evaluation plans varies,
the plan usually includes the following information:
The Project Monitoring and Evaluation
Plan
The Project Monitoring and Evaluation
Plan
• What type of data is the project trying to collect?
• Quantitative methods focus on the breadth of the intervention, providing
objective and reliable information that allows for generalization of results to
a wider population. The most commonly used quantitative method is a
standardized questionnaire that is administered to a random sample of
individuals or households within a target population.
• Qualitative methods focus on direct and in-depth interaction with
participants, providing rich and detailed data. Commonly used qualitative
methods include participatory rural appraisal techniques, focus groups,
community or key informant interviews, and observation.
Thanks for Your
Attention
