Key Messages
- Start planning early in the programme design phase for monitoring and evaluation by developing a theory of change that describes how activities lead to desired results and helps in setting indicators to check progress and assumptions.
- Integrating monitoring into programme activities and mechanisms is a cornerstone of the collection of accurate and timely data of the programming.
- Findings from monitoring and evaluation processes must be institutionalized and made useable by those who need them to foster learning and improve the impact of future programming.
Introduction
To understand and monitor the intended results of reintegration programmes, it is important to ask:
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What does success in the context of this reintegration programme look like? What are the results the implementing team should aim for in order to achieve such success?
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How will the programme be monitored and evaluated to better understand what results the team has achieved? How can this improve ongoing as well as future performance?
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What is the best approach to monitor and evaluate a programme’s performance?
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What indicators will be used to measure progress towards achieving pre-determined results?
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How will risks be accounted for?
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How will the team’s performance and the overall programme be evaluated?
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How will the lessons learned be generated and used in the future?
This module provides guidance on how to answer these questions, while recognizing that different types of monitoring and data collection methods might need to be used for reintegration interventions at the individual, community and structural levels.
This module provides:
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A basic understanding of the purposes, processes and guiding principles for planning monitoring and evaluation (M&E) within the reintegration context;
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Key points to consider when designing a reintegration programme to incorporate M&E at each stage and phase of the intervention;
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Recommendations for implementing M&E activities;
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An overview of evaluation in the context of reintegration programmes; and
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Information on how to learn from and communicate M&E findings for evidence-based programming.
There is an array of tools and resources available on M&E that reintegration programmes can use and adapt. This module will not go into detail on all aspects of M&E but will highlight areas of special relevance to reintegration programmes. Further suggested reading is proposed at the end of this Module.
Varying terminology for results can be used when discussing M&E. This Handbook uses the terms objectives, outcomes, outputs and activities.