5.1. Monitoring and evaluation overview

5.1.1. What is Monitoring?

Monitoring is the systematic and continual collection, analysis, interpretation and use of data on key aspects of an intervention and/or its expected results.

It includes group of activities that:
Follow up priority routine information about program activities and their expected results.
Follows up the program‘s costs.
Compares performance with plan
Provides information that can be used for program evaluation

Monitoring Asks the questions: What are we doing? how does the situation change over time?

5.1.2. What is Evaluation?

Evaluation is a systematic process of data collection and analysis, about activities and/or effects of a program, looking to answer an evaluation question.

Program evaluation is the application of social research methods to systematically investigate the effectiveness of social intervention programs in ways that are adapted to their political and organizational environments and are designed to inform social action in ways that improve social conditions (Rossi, 2004).

Program evaluation gives explanation for observed level of compliance/deviation in program implementation (process evaluation) and determines the merit, worth or relevance of a program or any of its components and explains the relationship between the program and its effects (Outcome/Impact evaluation). It is also used to improve social programs and support rational managerial decisions and to evaluate consists fundamentally in making a value judgment regarding an intervention, a service or regarding any one of their components, purposing to help in decision making (Contandriopoulos et al., 1997)

Evaluation asks:

What have we achieved and how?
How relevant were components of a program in addressing societal needs?
What were the reasons behind observed levels of performance?
What is the contribution of a specific intervention for observed achievements?
How efficient is a program?

5.1.3. Differences between monitoring and evaluation

Monitoring and evaluation can differ by the frequency of their application, by objective, by method , performers and their final use. The differences between monitoring and evaluation are illustrated in table 5.1.

Table 5.1 Differences between monitoring and evaluation
	Monitoring	Evaluation
Frequency	Continuous	Episodic
Objective	Describing	Explaining
Method	Follows trends, Compares actual performance with expected	Compares achievements with counterfactual
Perfomed by	Mostly internal	Internal and External
Uses	Alerts when to take action	Providers detailed information on what types of actions to take

5.1.4. Why do they come together?

Despite the above mentioned differences monitoring and evaluation always come together. There are three basic factors that bind monitoring and evaluation together. These are:

i. Purpose - both furnish information for decision making

ii. Complementary to each other

Evaluation uses data generated by monitoring
Monitoring data lacks explanatory components. Evaluations are used to explain observations from routine monitoring.
In practice, almost always, they are implemented together.

iii. Methods

Both involve collection, analysis, interpretation and use of program related information