There is a wide range of tools available which can be used to generate information for monitoring and evaluation purposes.

Think back to Study Session 3 and list the main methods that can be used to gather data from communities and individuals about their access and use of sanitation and waste management services.

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The main methods are:

interviews with individuals and households
observation in public places and in homes
community discussions (Figure 15.3)
focus groups (Figure 15.4)
questionnaires that can be completed by large numbers of people or used to structure interviews.

Figure 15.3 Community meetings can allow people to participate in M&E planning.

Figure 15.4 A focus group considering an issue.

Large-scale monitoring programmes can generate enormous amounts of data. Collating the data and organising it in a way that is meaningful for evaluation or other purposes is a significant task. This is the purpose of a management information system (MIS). An MIS is a computer-based system that provides tools for collecting, organising and presenting information so that is useful for managers and other stakeholders