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Competency in M&E (Monitoring and Evaluation) is essential for ensuring programs achieve their goals and deliver real impact. It's a combination of skills, knowledge, and experience that empowers M&E professionals to design, implement, and utilize effective M&E systems.

We need to have a team with various skills including technical and analytical skills.

We should continue to learn about M&E process. Team we work together should have required skills. They should have skills about designing tools, how to collect completed and accurate data. We should also collect data that are relevant to our project/program

Quality Assurance: Competence in data collection is essential for quality assurance. Competent data collectors are trained to identify and resolve issues that may arise during the data collection process. They conduct regular checks for data accuracy, completeness, and consistency, ensuring that the collected data meets the desired quality standards.

Quality Assurance: Competence in data collection is essential for quality assurance. Competent data collectors are trained to identify and resolve issues that may arise during the data collection process. They conduct regular checks for data accuracy, completeness, and consistency, ensuring that the collected data meets the desired quality standards.

Competency have taught me that I should always decline from the M&E process if I don't have the required skills and technical known how to carryout any M&E process, because this might as well unintentionally cause harm or present data that are not honest or better still you guys should stick to the data collections method and technical skills that you are conversant with in other not to jeopardize the entire process with untrue information

One of the key processes I realized, is that it is always better to understand to people you working with and learn to acquire all the necessary technical and cultural skills needed, that is the only way an M&E team can present a result that is free from biases and ethical considerations. competence becomes the necessary evil in the M & E process

Technical and cultural skills are very essential in data collection and analysis. for the technical part the personnel's need to know what they are doing in the implementation of the work for the data collection point up to the presentation part because is the data analyzed and presented which help in decision making. on cultural side, this is very needed in data collection point mostly in remote areas were language is specific and norms are different hence right people for that ethical group are need to do the work in order to have accurate data

Ensuring competence as an ethical principle in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) practices involves several key considerations:

Training and Capacity Building: Provide adequate training and capacity-building opportunities for M&E staff and stakeholders to ensure they possess the necessary knowledge, skills, and expertise to effectively carry out their roles and responsibilities. This includes training in research methods, data collection and analysis techniques, evaluation methodologies, and ethical standards and guidelines.

Quality Assurance: Implement quality assurance measures to maintain the competence of M&E processes and outcomes. This may include establishing standardized protocols, conducting regular reviews and audits, and engaging external experts or consultants to validate findings and ensure methodological rigor.

Adherence to Standards: Adhere to professional standards and guidelines relevant to M&E practice, such as those outlined by professional associations, international bodies, or regulatory agencies. Ensure that M&E activities are conducted in accordance with recognized best practices and ethical principles to uphold the integrity and credibility of the evaluation process.

Appropriate Methodologies: Select and apply appropriate M&E methodologies and techniques based on the specific context, objectives, and constraints of the evaluation. This requires a thorough understanding of different evaluation approaches and methods, as well as the ability to adapt and tailor them to suit the unique needs and circumstances of the project or program being evaluated.

Impartiality and Objectivity: Maintain impartiality and objectivity throughout the M&E process, avoiding bias or conflicts of interest that may compromise the validity or reliability of the findings. This includes ensuring that evaluators remain neutral and unbiased in their data collection, analysis, and interpretation, and that decisions are based on evidence rather than personal or organizational interests.

Continuous Learning and Improvement: Foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement within the M&E team and across the organization. Encourage reflection, feedback, and knowledge-sharing to identify areas for growth and development, address gaps in competence, and enhance the overall effectiveness and impact of M&E efforts.

By prioritizing competence as an ethical principle in M&E practices, organizations can enhance the quality, credibility, and usefulness of evaluation processes and outcomes, ultimately leading to more informed decision-making and improved programmatic outcomes.

Competence is very important in carrying out M&E processes, I agree with the continuous professional learning, since this way improve our skills and sharpen our brain in many aspects.

To carry out M& E process competently you need to posses both technical and cultural skills, if not and and you are required to carry out m&E in your organisation and you cannot say No then explain the limitations of your M&E process to your stakeholders.

To uphold the competence principle in monitoring and evaluation (M&E), it's essential for your team to possess both technical and cultural skills relevant to the M&E processes. Technical skills include abilities like designing effective surveys and securely managing data, while cultural skills involve understanding local norms and languages to ensure interactions are respectful and appropriate. If skills are lacking, it's better to decline certain M&E tasks than to risk inaccurate data or harm. Always aim to enhance your team’s capabilities through continuous learning and training.

When we are studying a specific population, it is important to take into account evaluative, religious, ethical and cultural factors in general of the population. For cases where researchers recognize a cultural difference, it can be very useful to consult with local experts or even invite them to the investigation. If this is not possible, nor are there opportunities to train on the subject, it is important that the Monitoring and Evaluation teams know how to recognize their limitations and how much their vision concerns a space that they do not know.

A person who is competent is able to perform successfully in the domain that they’ve developed competence in. Therefore, developing competence is not only invaluable for the individuals themselves but also for workplaces and life settings, ultimately having benefits for the economy and society more widely.

My organization is based in a culturally restrictive environment and having a male interviewer interview females is a big No. In this case, we go out with consent forms where we take consent from them or their guardians before carrying out interviews or surveys