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I have not understood the importance of M&E very well

The importance of M&E
M&E is important because it enables pertinent information about the project to be collected regularly to measure progress of project activities, this will aid in tracking performance of the project over time, and it will help decision makers to make informed decisions about the effectiveness of the project and efficient use of resources. With M&E we are able to determine how well the project activities have achieved the project's objective & how much change in the out come is directly linked to the project's interventions.

The importance of M&E
M&E is important because it enables pertinent information about the project to be collected regularly to measure progress of project activities, this will aid in tracking performance of the project over time, and it will help decision makers to make informed decisions about the effectiveness of the project and efficient use of resources. With M&E we are able to determine how well the project activities have achieved the project's objective & how much change in the out come is directly linked to the project's interventions.

M&E is very important in project implementation as it helps to measure the progress of
activities in the project. It also tracks the performance of the project overtime.

The Importance of M&E

• provides data showcasing project progress
• allows actors learn from each other's experiences, building expertise and knowledge
• Reports contribute to transparency and accountability
• reveals mistakes and failures and provides path for learning
• provides basis for questioning and testing assumptions
• assesses the link between implementors, beneficiaries and decision makers
• it provides a more robust basis for raising funds and influencing policy

m& E is important for any organization as it helps in decision making, and identifying whether the goals of a project have been met

m& E is important for any organization as it helps in decision making, and identifying whether the goals of a project have been met

helps an organization to know the progress of a project
is crucial in measuring change to determine the impact of a particular project

The importance of M & E cannot be over emphasized as it enables collection of data. The collected data can be reviewed and used for reporting, tracking of project objectives actualisation and decision making.

M&E has major rule in the project implementation cycle, that we could asses our goals, activities

M&E has major rule in the project implementation cycle, that we could asses our goals, activities

• For transparency and accountability

• Early detection of issues that might lead to project failure

• Ensures proper resource allocation

• Fosters informed decision making

• Helps transfer knowledge from one project to another

• Encourages innovation

M&E It helps determine exactly when a programme is on track and when changes may be needed. Monitoring and evaluation forms the basis for modification of interventions and assessing the quality of activities being conducted.

Monitoring and evaluation can be used to demonstrate that programme efforts have had a measurable impact on expected outcomes and have been implemented effectively. It is essential in helping managers, planners, implementers, policy makers and donors acquire the information and understanding they need to make informed decisions about programme operations.

Monitoring and evaluation helps with identifying the most valuable and efficient use of resources. It is critical for developing objective conclusions regarding the extent to which programmes can be judged a “success”. Monitoring and evaluation together provide the necessary data to guide strategic planning, to design and implement programmes and projects, and to allocate, and re-allocate resources in better ways.

Absolutely that is right dear

For the organization ...
The need for M&E is not just about funding. This is an essential component for a good design and a good implementation of the project. It is a process through which an organization should be able to determine how its activities contribute to the desired results. M&E helps organizations better understand and articulate their work. It also helps promote the values ​​of a project and identify areas for improvement.

Thus, M&E contributes to organizational development and should inform the future of a program or project.

For beneficiaries ...
Let’s not forget the main reason for the existence of organizations: the beneficiaries. What better role can M&E play than enhancing the beneficial experience of a program participant? As M&E seeks to improve practice, this should automatically lead to a better organization which in turn should better meet the needs of beneficiaries.

The field of monitoring and evaluation is often discussed, but it seems to be an elusive subject. The idea is simple and a lot of knowledge exists on the subject, however putting it into practice remains difficult for many people.

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This is quite an eye opener for me.Great

M&E is important because it help guides the project we are in. It gives us a clear idea of what data we must collect and measures. It's a great help to do a final report with valuable information.

The second project is Microfinance for Expanding Horizons (MEH), a project that will let girls borrow small amounts of money (microloans). MEH knows that their donor will want to see some data, but they do not know how to get it. In fact, they are not totally sure what they should be measuring. Some people on the team think that they should measure how many loans they give out. Other team members think that they should measure how many businesses they help to get started. Either way, they know they will need an M&E plan fast!

Clearly, GOOD is off to a great start. But there is still hope for MEH! They still have time to create an M&E plan. Throughout this course, we will help MEH prepare their plan. By helping MEH prepare their M&E plan, you’ll learn how to create a plan for your own project.

Based on these two projects GOOD and MEH, the importance of M&E plan is to help us to follow regularly the implementation of project to minimize the risks hinder to achieve the goal. And to measure to which extent we achieve the goal and what are the impacts.

To help Project MEH I strongly recommend taking the CSE-UCLA Evaluation Model type of evaluation model

a. The first stage of evaluation begins with a Needs Assessment, where evaluation
identify whether there is a difference between program status or conditions
reality (what is) with what is expected (what should be). What's the problem
faced? What are the gaps in the institution?

b. The second stage of planning and development (program planning and development)
development), see if the planned program is suitable for
meet a need or achieve a goal? Decision to be taken
is the selection of strategies to achieve program objectives.

c. The third stage of implementation, evaluation focused on program implementation.
The evaluation will answer the questions:

1. Did the program go according to plan?
2. How is the economic development there?
3. What are the impressions and attitudes of local Kenyan people?
4. What is the process of local Kenyans in improving their economy?
5. Types of recommendations include: What needs to be changed, improved,
   be addressed so that at the final stage of the program to achieve success?

d. The fourth stage of results, evaluation is carried out on the results achieved. so far
has the program been able to achieve the planned objectives? What is the result
achieved as a result of the given treatment?

e. The fifth stage of impact, evaluation is focused on assessing the
program benefits. The question revolves around how existence
program? How will the program benefit individuals and institutions? Type
recommendations at this stage are programs need to be developed,
extended, modified, reduced or even discontinued.

Monitoring and Evaluation is important as it helps an organization to gauge its performance. An organization gets to know whether they are working towards the goal and whether they are making good progress to achieving their targets

MEH PROJECT

Data collection needs for followings

• how many girls borrowed money

• what is the highest amount of the money borrowed

• what is the least money borrowed

• what type of business they started

• how many small business started

ITS CLEAR THAT THE M&E IS USEFUL FOR ANY PROJECT.

Very helping

To help plan and evaluate progress of an organisation

I am beginning to have better insight of M&E and its importance in a project as well. However, planning an M&E for some project like MEH can be a bit challenging. But however, I really appreciate this practical-based approach which I believe will help have a good command of M&E in the run.

This is definitely a good scheme that could get them on the track to success.

M&E helps to measure your project scope and deliverables. Set realistic indicators and targets to better measure your progress towards the objectives and overall goal of the project. For collecting data and transmitting and analyzing them into useful information for decision makers, the M&E responsible must create tools and/or M&E templates to track and archive data. Archiving useful data can help track and follow up interventions, provide useful reports, and cross-check different data and information and compile useful information for decision makers to incorporate in the projects and programs implementation and interventions.

The M&E plan gives very good direction for the project implement's, indicators are clearly defined, targets set through out the project implementation period, data collection points defined and the frequency well established. All the activities implemented contributes to all the areas to be measured as well as to the overall project result and objective areas. Its therefore important to create an M&E plan as soon as possible.

M and E helps organisation to set goals for their projects, help them identify potential risks and solutions to the risks. M and E helps in the smooth running of projects since it has clear set plans for projects

M and E helps organisation to set goals for their projects, help them identify potential risks and solutions to the risks. M and E helps in the smooth running of projects since it has clear set plans for projects

GOOD knows their plan and exactly how to achieve it strategically which gave them ability to have accurate data standard when monitoring and evaluating. MEH should redefine their objectives since they have plan. Having clear objectives will let them what exacly they should do.

To monitor the ongoing performance progress and track every activity and interventions in the target hubs/field, the GOOD M&E team in collaboration with its management must first provide an M&E Plan, set the targets for each field and the number of saving accounts that will be opened for the girls as well as the Microfinance loans and businesses that will be opened for the targeted beneficiaries. Also, to evaluation the impact of the two projects, a baseline study should be conducted to set the milestones and measure the performance progress. Also, M&E tools should be created and provided to track and record data and information to know how many saving accounts were created for the girls in each field, including profiles for each girl to record their data and progress overtime and regularly communicate with them to know the outcome and impact of the project that how these saving accounts help them change their life and its effectiveness in their real life. In addition, prepare tools to track that how many beneficiaries received loans, how many were the costs and how it was effective and efficient in keeping their business running and to know their revenue and income and how it was positively impacted on their business. Moreover, each field must ask them to provide progress reports in each milestone to know they are in the right path as set and targeted in the M&E plan. At the end of the projects an end line assessment should be conducted to compare the changes made and know the progress and to think and plan for the sustainability of the projects. I recommend that a lessons learned report should also be provided to record the successes and failure and provide the findings and the challenges. Also, recommendations should be provided for each findings to implement in the future projects and programs. In my opinion it would be beneficial to conduct focus group discussions with the groups who have had progress in their work and businesses as well as interview with the ones that had initiatives in their businesses.

am Edwin Mwiti from kenya i think M and E can help the manager and stakeholders understand whether the project is progressing well and if it has achieved its scope.

I already see the significance of M&E. We usually overlook the importance of understanding what we are intending to achieve and how to achieve it which makes it difficult or rather imposible to reach our intended goals.

M&E is very critical to ensure that we accurately capture the objective of our project and what we aim to achieve, as well as how best to track performance throughout the project lifecycle – even beyond implementation. It helps to identify the data to track, how it will be tracked, how it will be used , who will collect them and areas/activities for improvement on the project and improve plans for subsequent projects, ultimately improving project outcomes and impact.

The M&E plan is such an important tool in organizations. The most of the success in organizations comes out of the M&E plan; I have just reported in some of my answers how it was troublesome to start a project without this knowledge.

I really liked the way the course started with. I've always been fascinated by interactive learning and this course will provide an opportunity to do so.

Let's see how we can help MEH in their formulating their M&E Plan.

This section provides a brief introduction to what M&E is, together with a selection of recommended reading and further links to help you get started.
Monitoring is the systematic and routine collection of information from projects and programmes for four main purposes:
• To learn from experiences to improve practices and activities in the future;
• To have internal and external accountability of the resources used and the results obtained;
• To take informed decisions on the future of the initiative;
• To promote empowerment of beneficiaries of the initiative.
Monitoring is a periodically recurring task already beginning in the planning stage of a project or programme. Monitoring allows results, processes and experiences to be documented and used as a basis to steer decision-making and learning processes. Monitoring is checking progress against plans. The data acquired through monitoring is used for evaluation.
Evaluation is assessing, as systematically and objectively as possible, a completed project or programme (or a phase of an ongoing project or programme that has been completed). Evaluations appraise data and information that inform strategic decisions, thus improving the project or programme in the future.

Evaluations should help to draw conclusions about five main aspects of the intervention:
• relevance
• effectiveness
• efficiency
• impact
• sustainability
Information gathered in relation to these aspects during the monitoring process provides the basis for the evaluative analysis.

Monitoring & Evaluation
M&E is an embedded concept and constitutive part of every project or programme design (“must be”). M&E is not an imposed control instrument by the donor or an optional accessory (“nice to have”) of any project or programme. M&E is ideally understood as dialogue on development and its progress between all stakeholders.

In general, monitoring is integral to evaluation. During an evaluation, information from previous monitoring processes is used to understand the ways in which the project or programme developed and stimulated change. Monitoring focuses on the measurement of the following aspects of an intervention:
• On quantity and quality of the implemented activities (outputs: What do we do? How do we manage our activities?)
• On processes inherent to a project or programme (outcomes: What were the effects /changes that occurred as a result of your intervention?)
• On processes external to an intervention (impact: Which broader, long-term effects were triggered by the implemented activities in combination with other environmental factors?)
The evaluation process is an analysis or interpretation of the collected data which delves deeper into the relationships between the results of the project/programme, the effects produced by the project/programme and the overall impact of the project/programme.

Microfinance for Expanding Horizon (MEH) project must first identify the location where the project will be undertaken, there after determine the number of girls who will be the beneficiaries. The other thing that needs to be considered here is the type businesses to be funded (eg poultry, fish farming, grocery, goat farming) and the amount each girl can qualify to get. For example if MEH wants to fund poultry farming then these girls must undergo a training about poultry farming and the purpose of the loan. The period on which the project will be undertaken must be stipulated. When this is done it will be easy to monitor the girls as they invest in the right business.

Great.
Am new to this course
let me learn something and get back to this topic

A project which is almost at its end without an M&E plan, but latter on creates an M &E plan, what important aspect can it display?

Having very clear M&E metrics early at the project design stage is very critical to successful project outcomes. However, I think there is room for a project or organisation to catch up if such M&E matters were not visualised during the design phase. Question I would have is when do we say it is too late to catch up?

GOOD and MEH are really great example for understanding the importance of M&E.

Great topic ! M&E is indeed very important for any project to succeed. It provides checks and balances and ensures adherence to the project road map, assessment of risks and making right decisions necessary for achieving project goals

A project which is almost at its end without an M&E plan, but latter on creates an M &E plan, what important aspect can it display?

A project which is almost at its end without an M&E plan, but latter on creates an M &E plan, what important aspect can it display?

A project which is almost at its end without an M&E plan, but latter on creates an M &E plan, what important aspect can it display?

Monitoring and evaluation is important because:

it provides the only consolidated source of information showcasing project progress;
it allows actors to learn from each other’s experiences, building on expertise and knowledge;
it often generates (written) reports that contribute to transparency and accountability, and allows for lessons to be shared more easily;
it reveals mistakes and offers paths for learning and improvements;
it provides a basis for questioning and testing assumptions;
it provides a means for agencies seeking to learn from their experiences and to incorporate them into policy and practice;
it provides a way to assess the crucial link between implementers and beneficiaries on the ground and decision-makers;
it adds to the retention and development of institutional memory;
it provides a more robust basis for raising funds and influencing policy.

Monitoring and evaluation is important because:

it provides the only consolidated source of information showcasing project progress;
it allows actors to learn from each other’s experiences, building on expertise and knowledge;
it often generates (written) reports that contribute to transparency and accountability, and allows for lessons to be shared more easily;
it reveals mistakes and offers paths for learning and improvements;
it provides a basis for questioning and testing assumptions;
it provides a means for agencies seeking to learn from their experiences and to incorporate them into policy and practice;
it provides a way to assess the crucial link between implementers and beneficiaries on the ground and decision-makers;
it adds to the retention and development of institutional memory;
it provides a more robust basis for raising funds and influencing policy.

M&E is important because it provides an organization the capacity to measure their accomplishment, status, challenges, and success.

Bonjour
Jai aussi un projet en cour comme MEH que je n'arrive pas du tout à m'orienter mais grâce à ce cour je crois ca m'aidera beaucoup

It helps us to create the monitoring and evaluation plan, to foresee the collection of information or data for the improvement of the project and then to present a final report.

Its very important to have a M&E plan made prior to the start of the project.

M&E is important because it is the collecting project information regularly to measure the progress of your project or activity. This helps to track performance over time and to make informed decisions about the effectiveness of projects and the efficient use of resources. and it measures how well the project activities have achieved the project’s objectives and how much changes in outcomes can be directly linked to a project’s interventions. Together, we will refer to monitoring and evaluation as M&E.

In fact M&E acts as road map to every project, it shows what do you want to do, how to do it, what proofs that you have done the right thing and many other factors for success

M&E plan dictates what and what activities must be done, how it should be done, by who, when and what outcomes are expected.
It also highlights possible challenges and recommendations on how to overcome such.

One very important thing I love about M & E is the feedback Organizations tend to get from their clients.

M&E is clearly a very critical part of any project's lifeline and must always be incorporated. I am looking forward to expand my knowledge and skill on this.

I agree, being able to identify indicators will make it easier to measure success of a project

This is a very summarizes introduction. I am very excited with this topic.

Monitoring and evaluation is very vital in the project cycle since it measures the effectiveness of the program, enhances accountability and transparency.
It will also helps to detect problems and obstacles projects might face.
M & E helps utilization of the organizational resources and Helps the project and team to track performance of the project.

TO ENABLE THE DESICION MAKERS TO MAKE INFORMED DECISSIONS

TO ENABLE THE DESICION MAKERS TO MAKE INFORMED DECISSIONS

t provides a way to assess the crucial link between implementers and beneficiaries on the ground and decision-makers; it adds to the retention and development of institutional memory; it provides a more robust basis for raising funds and influencing policy.

A very wonderful Module. The text is more understandable it terms terms of bringing people to catch well why they need to learn about M&E.

The GOOD project looks like a project bringing together the girls in order to understand why they need to be developped and the MEH comes to highlight the way they will be develpped and how to measure that.

1. It helps the organization know how well or prepared they are .
2. It helps the organization be in position to establish one person at every field office to do recording
3. It helps the organization be in position to have plans on how to collect information concerning different areas for example how the savings accounts change the beneficiaries lives among others for the case of the GOOD project
   4.It helps to properly track your progress at the end of every year and hence incase of any problem detected, they will be able to easily find the solutions to it.

Therefore this means that an organization without a plan for an M&E can collapse easily at any point of time, cant easily trace its strong points and success levels.

I think to help MEH they have to first do a pilot study of the place and have needs assessment done of whether really that community is in need of that program at that time, whether there is a problem to solve and find out whether that is the best solution to close that problem gap or there can be another alternative.
They also need to know the competency levels of the population and this can be solved by trainings on the specific project and things they want to do the population, they should know how many people they are going to deal with or impact and see whether the figures corresponds to their available resources and have a distribution pattern of how much each will get. After laying the foundation and giving the people the amount respectively its better group them in their different groups depending on what and how much they got, and their business or project categories to easily trace progress.

Without M&E plans, your projects will not be able to run well.

Monitoring and evaluation helps with identifying the most valuable and efficient use of resources. Monitoring and evaluation together provide the necessary data to guide strategic planning, to design and implement programmes and projects, and to allocate, and re-allocate resources in better ways.

This is a good program

Am really enjoying this topic (Setting Target) though i really had tough time this pick indicators.

c'est une thématique excitante

Great Introduction. Well explained

This is the good example of GOOD and MEH. Good has already planned to their Plan fro monitoring and evaluation but MEH did't plan for Monitoring and evaluation. Need to plan for MEH.
I learnt from this season, GOOD has great plan of Monitoring and evaluation for project implementation..

I am eager to learn more about how to make a M&E plan for these two projects GOOD and MEH as I follow this course, and I am happy to see that the lesson is practical with case studies that enables us to assimilate the lesson well.

To my point of view, M&E

It helps us to make the right decision to organize the information or data we need to collect, how we collect, where we collect by utilizing the time and team we have in order to gain the exact data from the target.

I love the two scenarios of Good and MEH. What a great start.

Since GOOD is off to a grest start, I think MEH could consider some of these indicators:

1. Recording how many girls borrow small amounts of money.
2. Measure how many businesses they help to get started

An M&E plan helps to define, implement, track and improve a monitoring and evaluation strategy within a particular project or a group of projects

M&E is very important because without doing it, you can not track how your project is performing, without tracking it is hard to tell success and failure and you cannot learn from it

That is very true. M&E is overlooked in a number of organisations and only looked at when it comes to reporting

I totally agree with you

GOOD project has a solid plan for monitoring their progress and how measure hoe successful the project is becoming as it is running because they have set indicators that they want to focus on when measuring both the progress and success of the project therefore MEH should also identify indicators which will be focused on in terms of measuring success and progress.An example can identifying how many businesses became a success from the MEH funding project and businesses that did not (identify reasons for failure so as to bring a solution to that challenge), and the impacts they had on the applicants (financial and social wise).

An M&E plan is very important because it helps to track performance and measure the progress of the project, without it its like not having direction at all.

monitoring and evaluation is important as it helps in making informed decision on a project ,serves money and resources, reduces the risk and increases the chance of achieving your project goes.

I like the comparison of both scenarios of the projects ( GOOD and MEH),...… the best I have seen

M & E is important as it seeks to plan and find ways to measure a project which is ongoing and how the data to measure indicators used will be collected. If there are changes or challenges made during the course of the project then the adaptations must be recorded and made.

M & E help you or an organization the know the objectives, aims primary important and successful hope for achieving the goals of a given project. i.e knowing the insight before starting the race so that you will have a successful ending

Monitoring and evaluation are essential to any project or program. Through this process, organizations collect and analyze data, and determine if a project/program has fulfilled its goals. Monitoring begins right away and extends through the duration of the project. Evaluation comes after and assesses how well the program performed. Every organization should have an M&E system in place
M&E results in better transparency and accountability
Because organizations track, analyze, and report on a project during the monitoring phase, there’s more transparency. Information is freely circulated and available to stakeholders, which gives them more input on the project. A good monitoring system ensures no one is left in the dark. This transparency leads to better accountability. With information so available, organizations need to keep everything above board. It’s also much harder to deceive stakeholders.

M&E helps organizations catch problems early
Projects never go perfectly according to plan, but a well-designed M&E helps the project stay on track and perform well. M&E plans help define a project’s scope, establish interventions when things go wrong, and give everyone an idea of how those interventions affect the rest of the project. This way, when problems inevitably arise, a quick and effective solution can be implemented.

M&E helps ensure resources are used efficiently
Every project needs resources. How much cash is on hand determines things like how many people work on a project, the project’s scope, and what solutions are available if things get off course. The information collected through monitoring reveals gaps or issues, which require resources to address. Without M&E, it wouldn’t be clear what areas need to be a priority. Resources could easily be wasted in one area that isn’t the source of the issue. Monitoring and evaluation helps prevent that waste.

M&E helps organizations learn from their mistakes
Mistakes and failures are part of every organization. M&E provides a detailed blueprint of everything that went right and everything that went wrong during a project. Thorough M&E documents allow organizations to pinpoint specific failures, as opposed to just guessing what caused problems. Often, organizations can learn more from their mistakes than from their successes.

M&E improves decision-making
Data should drive decisions. M&E processes provide the essential information needed to see the big picture. After a project wraps up, an organization with good M&E can identify mistakes, successes, and things that can be adapted and replicated for future projects. Decision-making is then influenced by what was learned through past monitoring and evaluation.

M & E is important to help an organization track a project's progress, measure a projects outputs and outcomes.
It also helps to measure the changes that can be directly linked to the project's activities. M &E helps to identify best practices for future project.

What is more interesting to me is that the M&E makes the practionner a better decision maker

Being informed on the right direction and path towards achieving goals is Paramount.

M&E is the backbone and life wire that ensures the rolling out of project activities for desired outcomes and impacts.