What do we need for better monitoring?

This blog by Jo Hall and Patricia Rogers provides an update on the Global Partnership for Better Monitoring project.
This blog by Jo Hall and Patricia Rogers provides an update on the Global Partnership for Better Monitoring project.
Monitoring is a process to periodically collect, analyse and use information to actively manage performance, maximise positive impacts and minimise the risk of adverse impacts. It is an important part of effective management because it can provide early and ongoing information to help shape implementation in advance of evaluations.
Effective monitoring is essential for managing performance, however, despite this, monitoring is often undervalued and understood quite narrowly.
While the term “Monitoring and Evaluation” (M&E) is widely used, the monitoring function has not always benefitted from the same level of investment, professionalization and systems strengthening as the evaluation function. Instead, the monitoring function is often relegated to or viewed as a lower-level, technical function. This comes at the expense of really using monitoring to manage performance and maximise impact.
Phase 1 funded by UNICEF
Globally, the monitoring function in and across organisations has not always benefitted from the same collective investment and inter-organisation cooperation in professionalization and systems strengthening as the planning and evaluation functions.
This book presents a detailed overview of the impact evaluations of cash transfer programmes, carried out by the Transfer Project and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)'s From Protection to Production project. There is a focus on the role of programme evaluation in the process of developing policies and implementing programmes.
What is the main difference between quasi-experiments and RCTs? How can I measure impact when establishing a control group is not an option?
In the second last webinar of the series, Dr. Howard White of the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), covers the basics of quasi-experiments.
What does a non-experimental evaluation look like? How can we evaluate interventions implemented across multiple contexts, where constructing a control group is not feasible?
Webinar 6 on comparative case studies was presented by Dr. Delwyn Goodrick, with a Q&A session between the presenter and audience at the end. It took place on Thursday, 27th of August, with a repeat session on Monday, 31st of August.
What are the key features of an RCT? Are RCTs really the gold standard? What ethical and practical issues do I need to consider before deciding to do an RCT?
The fifth webinar in this series is presented by international evaluation expert and former Executive Director of 3ie, Dr Howard White.
What is a Theory of Change? How is it different from a logframe? Why is it such an important part of an impact evaluation?
The third impact evaluation webinar in this series focused on Theory of Change and took place on Wednesday 15th of April and Thursday 16th of April (repeat session). This webinar series is organized by the Office of Research – Innocenti and presented by evaluation experts from RMIT University, BetterEvaluationand 3ie throughout 2015.