Monitoring and EvaluationBackground
Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is a critical aspect of measuring the success of an organization’s or a project’s activities. The key characteristics of an effective M&E system are that it measures and reports on outputs that reflect the critical stated strategic objectives of the organization; that it provides clear indicators against which the organization is working, and being measured; and that within the organization, information for the outputs being measured is available and verifiable.
In many cases the targets and indicators used to measure the success of a funded project are agreed with or defined by the funder. However IDI has found that there is great benefit to maintaining a corporate M&E system, separate from that being used for any single project.
Approaches Used
The centre of IDI’s corporate M&E system is called the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). These are a set of standard charts and tables, produced quarterly, which reflect data on progress in key areas of institutional activity. Examples of KPIs, as they appear once the data has been processed and put into chart form, follow:
Another very important component of IDI’s corporate M&E system is the logframe in the Five Year Strategic Plan. For each objective, specific strategies and activities are identified, which contribute to achieving the objective. For each individual strategy/activity, the following information has been considered:
Objectives / Strategies |
Outputs/Outcomes |
Indicators |
Means of Verification |
Timeframe plus notes, assumptions and risks |
Objective 1.2 : To produce and test new models of care; advocate for their use; and support roll out |
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Review annually the areas on which IDI should focus in development of improved models of care; informed if possible by cost benefit analysis |
Priority areas for development of improved models of care |
List of priority areas |
Minutes of review meeting |
Annual Assumption: Input from SAB and AA membersNote: One area of research may be a revised system of classification for HIV/AIDS patients with appropriate clinical care model |
Produce one new model of care per year |
Models of care ready for replication |
One new model of care ready for targeted roll out |
Model of care documentation |
Year one and on-going |
Each year, during the annual work planning process, progress is reviewed against what the logframe indicates should have already occurred. IDI has found that this is a very effective method for measuring progress against the strategic plan, and assessing (in a disciplined way) where adjustments in planned approaches and activities need to be made.
Challenges and Opportunities
Although IDI’s M&E system will continue to develop and be refined, the future of IDI M&E will be to look outward, and to assist other organizations in developing their own M&E systems. The M&E department has already begun conducting M&E trainings, which will be made available to a broader audience over the next year. In addition, IDI’s M&E department will begin partnering with other organizations, on a longer-term basis, to provide support. This will mostly be through funded projects, but in some cases this relationships may be part of broader capacity building partnerships that are not related to particular project activities.
