Deciding what to monitor

1. Deciding what to monitor Performance questions Baseline

2. Keeping in mind different information needs • When deciding what information to monitor and evaluate, keep the following in mind: • Seek information needs of different stakeholders-with them and also project management needs. • Include information that can help you understand how well the project is dealing with cross cutting issues such as participation, gender-balanced impacts and reaching the poorest

3. Keeping in mind different information needs • Include enough operational information to know if you are making optimal use of resources and that operations are good quality. • Remember to include information for each level of the objective hierarchy. • Seek information that can help you not only check targets, but also to explain progress.

4. Keeping in mind different information needs • Look out for the unintended positive and negative impacts in-order to undertake corrective action. • Stick to the “less is more” principle. Have only information that is critical to manage for impact

5. Developing Monitoring and Evaluation Questions • Working with performance questions to guide indicator analysis will give you a more integrated and meaningful picture of overall project achievements. • Starting by identifying performance questions makes it easier to recognize which specific indicators are really necessary. • Sometimes a performance question can be answered directly with a simple quantitative indicator. • They provide additional background information that allows you to interpret the data from the indicators.

6. Examples of performance questions • How has the purchasing power of target households changed as compared to non-target groups? • What external factors have influenced any changes? • To what extent are target households better able to meet their housing, education and health needs than non-target households? • How have the diversity, production and productivity of agriculture in the target area changed as a result of project activities and as a result of external factors?

7. Performance question per level of the objective hierarchy • Project design and inputs Indicators here relate to project planning and resource allocation. Some of these indicators include: • Use of sex-disaggregated data in project planning, so as to bring out the differences in roles between women and men; • The economic and cultural issues affecting women’s access to services identified and addressed; • Project staff provided with skills in gender analysis and mainstreaming; • Female staff identified to facilitate women’s participation in the project; • Overall structure set up to act as an incentive in encouraging staff to address gender in their projects;

8. Performance question per level of the objective hierarchy • Project implementation process • Indicators under the implementation process must be able to measure the impact of the way in which the project resources are being used to achieve the project objectives. Some of the key indicators include: • The gender responsiveness of the institutional arrangements and delivery systems through which the inputs will be utilized; • Participatory consultation with communities on project planning and formulation of Action Plans; • Involving communities in construction, procurement requirements concerning female labor; • Administration of small loans through women’s organizations; and • The level of promotion of men and women’s initiative by the project facilitator.

9. Performance question per level of the objective hierarchy • Project outputs • Indicators to measure gender sensitivity of project outputs may include some of the following: • Level of women selected to participate in the promotion of the project; • Level of increase in number of women using the project services • Level of increase in number of women owning business • Increase in number of women with access to small loans; • Increase in the number of groups formed and implementing the project; • Gender sensitization workshops held for men and women.

10. Performance question per level of the objective hierarchy • Project impacts • Indicators must also measure the impacts resulting from each of the project outputs such as: • Increased economic empowerment of market women; • Reduction in time women take to perform reproductive activities such as collection of water, firewood, going to the hospitals and taking children to school; • Improved consumption levels, nutrition and health at the household level; • Improved access to agricultural extension services; • Improved access to markets; • Greater role for women in household, group and community based decision making bodies; and • Changes in household and communities’ perception of women and their capabilities.

11. Performance question per level of the objective hierarchy • Project sustainability • Gender sensitive sustainability indicators are related to the project stakeholders’ ability (such as women’s groups, village or ward level structures) to continue addressing gender even after the project is completed: • Capacity of groups to work on their own strengthened • Group capital maintained • Links with external agencies established • Other involved agencies more gender sensitive

12. Baseline data • The information you have before you do anything • The information on which your problem analysis is based • The baseline provides a bench mark (snapshot) • It is very difficult to measure impact of your initiative if you don’t know what was the situation before you begun. • It is a vital tool for M&E • You need baseline data that is relevant to your indicators, performance questions and information needs.

13. Establishing Baselines • Points to consider: • Keep it feasible-simple , small • Be creative with methods-videos, photographs, participatory tools and make the process participatory. • Don’t forget poverty and gender issues in the baseline.