|
|
_______________________________________________
Navigation
_______________________________________________
Definition
What is M&E and why is it important to the CCRP?
Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) activities are aimed at
producing information that helps program and project participants
improve their decision-making, efficiency, productivity and
relevance. Evaluation should be a learning experience that
involves all stakeholders in both the evaluation process and
discussions about evaluation findings. M&E should not
be an onerous additional activity demanded by donors, but
rather should be a vital aspect of a research project that
helps different stakeholders learn whether what they are doing
can be improved or modified to meet their end objectives.
The standard of evidence required will often be less rigorous
than the standard applied in scientific research. Much of
the value of evaluation comes from the process itself - involving
all stakeholders in a discussion about where we are, what
we want to achieve, and what we need to do to achieve it.
Some key questions that these resources highlight should be
asked before and during any M&E activities are:
- Who will use this information?
- Why are we doing M&E?
- What kind of information is needed?
- How are we going to use this information?
- How can we collect this information in such a way that
makes it a valuable learning process?
- Who will collect this information?
- When is the best time to collect this information?
In thinking about M&E, it is critical to think about
who will be using the information. How can the information
be "packaged" in such a way that it is accessible
to these users? What kind of information would be most useful
for them? How might they be involved in the collection of
this information? These are some helpful questions to pose
as a project team develops an M&E strategy.
What are the CCRP's main M&E activities?
The CCRP uses several mechanisms to carry out monitoring and
evaluation:
Reporting and Feedback
Annual work plans. We ask project teams to develop
detailed annual workplans and we provide feedback on these
plans. Our goal is to ensure that the overall project design
will allow desired impacts to flow logically from the steps
that are planned.
Annual technical and financial reports. These reports
provide the most timely and regular source of M&E. The
CCRP Director provides feedback to project team members, and
also extracts key findings as evidence of impacts for the
overall program.
Reporting at meetings. We hope that both project-level
and Community of Practice (CoP) regional
meetings are held at least on an annual basis. The CCRP also
organizes triennial conferences (formerly biennial conferences)
involving all grantees. These reporting opportunities (oral
and poster presentations) allow for feedback from peers as
well as program representatives.
Quarterly newsletter. We circulate a quarterly newsletter,
which includes updates and findings from the different annual
reports, upcoming activities and other resources. This newsletter
provides a short-term 'snapshot' of current activities of
the CCRP.
CCRP web. We make efforts to keep our web page timely
and relevant. Project pages, topic pages and workshop pages
all provide another mechanism for monitoring and evaluation
of research results. We are now putting efforts into developing
an "impacts page" which highlights some of the results
of CCRP-funded research; the process of defining project impacts
is another means that we aim to do monitoring and evaluation.
Input from Experts on M&E
Monitoring and evaluation was featured as a key theme at the
grantee conference in Vaals, The Netherlands in November 2004.
Dr. Dindo Campilan of the International Potato Center gave
an excellent overview presentation on the topic. Group work
activities following his presentation were designed to help
the grantee groups internalize the ideas in the context of
their projects. This activity, done in concert with a group
mapping exercise to identify how they hoped to achieve key
food and nutrition security indicators, was an effort to help
them examine M&E in the context of their planned activities
and outcomes. Their maps and summary documents are available
on the CCRP website 2004
grantee conference page. For the upcoming grantee conference
in 2007, we are planning additional focused activities and/or
speakers on M&E which follows up on the Vaals work. We
also hope that the Community of Practice meetings will have
some focus on M&E.
»Back to top
Relevant CCRP projects
All CCRP projects.
»Back to top
Relevant events
All conferences
and workshops.
»Back to top
Relevant literature
Available on the Internet
There is considerable information about M&E available
on the web. Here we provide some potentially useful links
below to some institutions and researchers in the field of
agricultural research and international development known
for their evaluation methods, a 'checklist' on evaluation
criteria and some key references.
IDRC evaluation unit
- Website: IDRC
- Description: The International Development Research Centre,
of Ottawa, Canada, places emphasis on M&E, including
an Evaluation Unit within the centre. This link provides
some basic principles for evaluation, guidelines for evaluations
and suggested resources.
IDRC discussion with Michael Quinn Patton
- Website: IDRC
- Description: An interview with a renowned expert on qualitative
evaluation techniques, this link provides some key insights
into the process and ways to think about M&E.
IDRC evaluation Resources
- Website: IDRC
- Description: IDRC has a number of downloadable resources
on monitoring and evaluation. To highlight a few: Horton,
D. et al. (2003). Evaluating Capacity Development: Experiences
from Research and Development Organizations from around
the world. ISNAR/IDRC/CTA.
- Website: IDRC
- Description: This book, available online
or downloadable,
summarizes a three year program initiated by ISNAR (International
System for National Agricultural Research) which attempted
to "improve capacity development efforts in research
and development organizations through the use of evaluation".
Methods, examples and case studies in the various chapters
provide insight into the challenges of evaluation in
an agricultural research context.
- Website: IDRC
- Reference: Estrella, M. et al. (2000). LEARNING FROM
CHANGE: Issues and Experiences in Participatory Monitoring
and Evaluation. IDRC/ITDG.
- Description: This book "provides an overview
of the common themes and experiences in participatory
approaches to monitoring and evaluation across different
institutions and sectors. It is a compilation of selected
case studies and discussions between practitioners,
academics, donors, and policymakers in participatory
monitoring and evaluation (PM&E)."
The Evaluation Center, University of Western Michigan
- Website: The
Evaluation Center
- Description: This center is trying to promote high
quality evaluations. They have a 'checklist' section
for different aspects of evaluation (e.g. making evaluation
meaningful for all stakeholders). The site's purpose
is to improve the quality and consistency of evaluations
and enhance evaluation capacity through the promotion
and use of high-quality checklists targeted to specific
evaluation tasks and approaches.
- Website: The
Evaluation Center Checklist
- Description: They also have a checklist developed
by M.Q. Patton on how to do utilization based evaluation
- that is, evaluation that is focused on generating
information that will be used. In this checklist they
emphasize that the program has to be genuinely interested
in doing this kind of evaluation.
Workshop on Impact Assessment
- Website: PRGA
Program
- Description: CGIAR Systemwide Program on Participatory
Research and Gender Analysis for Technology Development
and Institutional Innovation (PRGA Program) facilitated
a workshop on Impact Assessment in October 2005. Topics
included participatory evaluation processes, measuring empowerment
and case studies of evaluation efforts. This webpage includes
a summary of some of the main findings coming out of the
workshop, as well as the full papers presented by workshop
participants.
UNDP Handbook on Monitoring and Evaluation
»Back to top
Relevant links
None listed as of
.
»Back to top
|
