Monitoring and evaluation should be designed with the context of the field in mind. This will help data collection to be familiar with cultural dynamics, beliefs and attitudes that might affect the data.
An organization should also empower it's team members in the monitoring and evaluation roles with technical skills to be able to design effective data collection tools, and also administer them appropriately

M&E is evolving with new tools and skill been developed rapidly. M&E team should be willing to invest in new tools, technologies and methods to improve their skills etc. As we live in a digital evolving world it becomes very necessary to adopt to digital data collections methods like survey monkey , Do forms etc.

Competence beautiful word

It is very vital that if you and your team carry out M&E processes without the required technical or cultural skills, you might unintentionally cause harm or present data that does not live up to the honesty principle.

Technical and cultural knowledge is essential in any M&E process. M&E team must possess the required technical as well as cultural knowledge to complete any given M&E task. M&E data could be falsely represented if cultural knowledge is not taken into account. Secondly, M&E staff must commit to continual self and team improvements.

M&E team leaders should make sure the skills of their team before sending to data collection, because if you do that and some you team are not well skilled for data collection or using some to the tools, then your data would be competence

some times the skilled M&E Staff depend on the allocated budget for the M&E

Being able to do a specific type of work with the required skills and qualifications is competence. If a person does not posses the skills to do a job efficiently but bangles it up, that person is regarded as incompetent.

Indeed competency is one important factor in M and E... if this is undermined, your system might end up causing harm and present cloned data to donors and other stakeholders.

An incompetent team without the skill to manage any data will not produce an accurate picture of the project implementation.

What if decling an M&E offer which one is not competent with is a way of improving competency?

It is important we understand the cultural dynamics of a community before going to collect our data. sometime in communities we women are most at times not allowed to speak to men. so it is important as we go to the field for data collection, we have both men and women in our team. This may encourage women in the community or make them feel comfortable talking to women. For instance if we are taking data concerning gender issues, it is important that we have women in team because women may rather feel comfortable talking to a woman rather than a man.

For me if we are competent we have to know where we are going. If people are to collect information in the field, they must have the necessary skills.

The quality of the data must be suitable to the program's purposes, ability to solve available problems, competency.

The quality of the data must be suitable to the program's purposes, ability to solve available problems, competency.

The quality of the data must be suitable to the program's purposes, ability to solve available problems, competency.

The quality of the data must be suitable to the program's purposes, ability to solve available problems, competency.

The quality of the data must be suitable to the program's purposes, ability to solve available problems, competency.

The quality of the data must be suitable to the program's purposes, ability to solve available problems, competency.

Having the ability to do something g, act of been able, competency,

Able and will
Suitable
Ability to do something right/ solve a problem right

Anything we want to do, we need some sort of skills to accomplish such task.
In terms of data collection, even the way to approach data sources should be taken into consideration. So in a team, we may delegate some members for data collection and others for data analysis and reporting.
It is not necessary for everyone in a team to master every skill

it is very important to stay honest , we are working with data therefore we should try to be as scientific as possible. remember these data are people and we should be respectful and honest

Competence and honesty go hand in hand.

it is advisable to recruit personel for the differnt M&E process who are competent in the area. For example for analysis we need people with the right skill to analyse data both quantative and qualiatative
also it is impontant to conduct training for all the personel involved in the m&e process before embarking on it to produce accurate and relaible data

you should only use tools or processes when you are confident that you have the skills (both cultural and technical) to use them competently.

Competence is a key factor in Monitoring and evaluation and as such must not be compromised so as to ensure accuracy of data. however Technical and cultural skill must be put into consideration in other to ensure that data presentation does not cause harm.

According to my understanding, ethical competence consists of a moral agent's ability to identify value conflicts and ethical dimensions, ability to choose one value over another based on logical reasoning, and ability to act based on the judgement that has been performed

competence requires one to learn various skills that will help with the data and information being taken care of to be of good quality. this virtue provides true picture of the information collected

Competence level is vital to doing a good job. It determines the outcome of each and every activity. It comes through leaning, practice and experience.

It's all about technical and cultural skills. They are the qualities of a good M and E team.
Nice one.

Competency, language ability are always keys for the success of any data gathering.

Absolutely right.

From day to day work, we need to continually improve our skills. Using a tool or process you are not familiar with or you do not have adequate skill may result in misrepresentation of information

Understanding the cultural dynamics and having the technical skills to carry out M&E process is very important. If we do not understand the culture, do not speak the language, are not aware of the gender dynamics or if we do not know how to deliver to stakeholders' needs, how to archive the data properly or how to design the surveys, in the end we will damage the program, we might damage the safety or the dignity of the beneficiaries, moreover we will not be able to deliver what we promised to the our donors. We need to know what we can do and if we are not ready to take the task, we should inform the donor. Finally we have to continuously educate ourselves and improve our skills to do the work accurately and properly.

M&E professional should have skills and competent enough in M & E tools for data collection including Theory of Change,Logical Framework (Logframe),
Monitoring and Evaluation Plan,Statistics – Open Datasets, System Data, Surveys, Interviews and Focus Groups discussion together with other M &E tools for data collection, Management and Analysis.

In summary, the Competence Principle is about "providing quality professional services":

• having the technical and cultural competencies to do so;
• ensuring that one is sufficiently equipped to carry out an M&E process;
• Continue to invest in learning to improve these skills.

Language and cultural barriers are actually some of the most realistic limitations in data collection at strange places. More information and relevant learning strategies should be contributed to these limitations.

in as much as there are several M&E tools and processes of data collection, management and annalysis, the principle of competence however, states that you should only use these tools and processes when you are confident that you the skills both technical and cultural to use them competently.
Decline to run any M&E process that your not equipped to do well. this means that if your team dont have the skills to a run method decline it and stick to the one your understand

An individual who is skilled in both technical and cultural aspect is really competent. we must make sure that when handling M&E processes, we are double sure of what we really want to do. otherwise lets invest more in learning new skills.

The principle of competence states that you should only use tools or processes when you are confident that you have the skills and this can be done by ensuring that you have the cultural and technical skills to carry out M&E processes, decline to run M&E processes that you are not equipped to do well and continually improve your skills.

A well designed system should be implemented.
This system should be a link between the org it self and the customers with the stakeholders and maybe the suppliers.
It should provide information to the user with a big view

key to competency is improving your skills

improving on your skill cannot be over emphasized. very key to making progress.

Great information.

Continually improving technical and cultural skills of M&E team to build competence is very good counsel.

Less qualified individual are engaged in M and E due to weak and porous recruitment process. There is a need to be strict to the right standard so to have the best findings as possible

The competence principle is a tricky one to navigate given the nature of the areas some of us operate in. However, this can be made as easy as "ABC" if we totally agree and engage the honesty principle wholly.

competence is ability and capacity of understanding, doing works , leading and skill knowledge in any experiences to pursue goals

Culturally and technical skills is required during the implementation of M&E activities

My take from this session is that a researcher should limit himself/herself to areas to best understand on what is required and how to handled issues involved.

competence demand the social, cultural and technical skills to collect, sort, organized and analyze the data. If you don't have the required skills, focus on continuous improvement, otherwise, decline the process or shift it to somebody else.

Competence in practice is important. I most say that it takes one being hones to oneself to actually admit that one is not competent in a field.

Ensure that you have enough technical skills and culturally to carry out M&E process

Having good knowledge of the task to carry out gives the first hand impression of how successful the activity will be carry out. Therefore, competencies in data collection is very vital in ensuring quality data.

We must always seek to ensure that we are competent in handling M&E processes. Continuous, constant learning will help us achieve this.

Learning should never end. As processes are improved on, we must seek to catch up in knowledge and ensure there are no gaps.

Competence involves confidence that the team can use M&E tools and able to understand the cultures of the community.

Communication skills is needed , analytical and research skills and interpersonal abilities

The best way is to plan ahead, no to copy from others

Competence is being both culturally and technically equipped.

this theme/subject is so essential and indispensable for every M&E professional

Without competence will never be aware of using the data for intended purpose

Competence is a good principle that as a professional M & E should exhibit because it also tells how honest you are.
This will even reflect in you data collection likewise you data presentation.

The principle of competence is that use tools and process you are confident you have the skills, be professional in your dealing and handling of data

Competency require the staff to have both cultural and technical skills to use tools and processes of M&E.

Every personnel should master the respective skills.

Having competent staff is very important to the data quality and also during data collection for interaction with the participants this will clearly show value for money and ensure the intended study targets are obtained

Being competitive needs good provision of skilled professional services. It is highly advisable that you should only use tools or processes when you are confident that you have the skills (both cultural and technical) to use them competently. And if If you and your team carry out M&E processes without the required technical or cultural skills, you might unintentionally cause harm or present data that does not live up to the honesty principle.
Further, Cultural skills allow you to work in safe, culturally-appropriate ways with people.

For instance,a Kabila Health Non-organization Group was using the manual ways of entering data gathered from the sexual infections and water-borne diseases in terms of the number of infected,number of tests conducted,comments of the tested participants,e.t.c.Later on,manual use turned to be digital and the lowered mistakes and biases before arose rapidly because of the staffs' misunderstanding and knowledge on how to use the digital devices efficiently.
Then,this team tried to give predicted results and hide collected data that is to reach its partners so as to discuss and resolve problems found in the sorroundings.
Last but not least,the team was found red handed,fraud and guilty before many.

Am enjoying what am learning so far

But it seems that it is not as easy as I thought

the principle of competence states that you should only use tools or processes when you are confident that you have the skills to use them competently. If you doubt yourself make sure you should not use the process otherwise everything can be distorted

Precisely

;) exactly

Lol... M&E is enjoyable but it needs dedication

Completily agreed that skills and competence are very important keys before to decide running M&E process !!!

Organizational competence must be reflective of the individual competencies of workers.

Are there standardised competencies required for M&E?

I need to acquire Technical and cultural skills, so that I will be able to use tools and processes correctly. I can best do this by improving my skills, by studying courses that will improve my knowledge.

i think that declining an M&E process because im not confident i can do well; is up for debate for me
research and discuss the process with the team and learn while doing it
and if problems arise, then ask for assistance or direction
otherwise ill be stuck with my same old processes

One trend that is highlighted in M&E work is understanding your limitations and not continuing with work when you don't have the competence or resources to complete it well and carefully as it can potentially harm participants or the accuracy of the data being collected. In other fields, I'd say it is encouraged to go past your limitations; that is how you learn from mistakes. However, with M&E, you should take a step back and reflect on what you learned, understand areas that you can improve on and seek out said courses that can improve your/your teams confidence, and that you should express when you have limitations instead of "winging-it", maybe even decline the project all together. I like how there is even a cultural level of understanding that you need to have to carry out M&E processes, and how it is highlighted in this module, not just technical skills when it comes to competence. It further shows how data collection has real-world consequences, since you are collecting data from real people. It should be met and handled with a level of respect, transparency, and skill.

Competency is key in team performance. A competent M&E team could be able to meet its M&E objectives.

ENSURE THAT YOU HAVE THE CULTURAL AND TECHNICAL SKILLS TO
I am reminded of AFRICA CENTER an NGO that was combating the epidemic of HIV and AIDS. If I remember very well, AFRICA CENTRE was established and came to Mtubatuba in the year 2006.

This NGO employed local youth to do HIV testing and education to bring awareness of the dangers of HIV AND AIDS. The youth received good salaries and poverty was something of the past.

AFRICA CENTER young workers were known by their rough and bad mannered to the houses around Mtubatuba and its surroundings. The rich culture of Mtubatuba was compromised as a result adults refused HIV testing saying that AFRICA CENTER workers have no sense of respect. So the data collected was incomplete because the statistics did not include the elderly or it included less of the adults.

DECLINE TO RUN M&E PROCESSES THAT YOU ARE NOT EQUIPPED TO DO WELL
As a data capturer for 5 years, I have seen that the reporting that I use to report with daily has indicators that are not used. This is because the donors are looking for information that we don't have. I am working for TBHIVCARE and the reporting tool that we use is changed on numerous occasions and new indicators are introduced and we do not have information for such.

CONTINUALLY IMPROVE YOUR SKILLS (FOR EXAMPLE BY TAKING THIS CAUSE)
I have obseved that data needs to be discussed. I am getting a lot of knowledge in the discussion section. The planning for M&E cause has empowered me with LogFrames, Reporting tools etc and a wider knowledge of Monitoring and Evaluation. With cause I am going to grab all the skills that it offers.

I've just learnt that clarity should be given to the stakeholders on your data collection limitations. Brillliant!

Need to improve technical skills, the best way to do it is to invest in learning.

Being competitive needs good provision of skilled professional services. The principle of competence has proven that a researcher should limit himself/herself to areas to best understand on what is required and how to handled issues involved.

Competence as an ethical principle states that you should only use processes and tools in data collection when you are confident that you have skills to use them competently.
To be competent means that you have both cultural and technical skills to carry out M& E processes.
You should also be in a position to decline to run M&E processes that you are not equipped to do well.

Stakeholders are very important in a study because most of the time participants trust them as they are part of the community, making good relationship with stakeholders can have a huge impact in a study to be successful.

To collect accurate data,you should ensure that you use tools and processes that you are well equipped with

To be competent during data collection,you must have both technical and cultural skills
You should only use tools and processes when you have confident that you have skills to use them competently
You should also be able to decline to run M&E processes that you are not equipped to do well

Competence plays a major role in obtaining and managing quality and accurate data.

The issue of understanding culture of the beneficiaries is very vital more especially during data collection. For you to collect reliable and tangible data local dynamics needs to be understood.

I personally think that it's also important to your data collectors as an institution in order to build a better communication capacity and competnce

Competence principle of M&E comes about when a project is confident or has skills in working with a particular tool it possesses.

to collect the accurate need effort , knowledge and patience so competence is the mother of those skills ...

Thank you very much for this topic about the competence. I liked very much the paragraph that states that it may not always be possible to decline to run certain M&E processes. Just to highlight the limitations of your data collection process will solve the problem.

this module requires locally recruited people within the field areas to help translate to the local communities to achieve accuracy in data collection

Competence, the ability to do what is needed to be done. Many are the times I have pitted myself in areas that I have not an inkling and wade my way out. However, that works in a supervised environs, otherwise you get hurt and may cause a lot of untold damage in the effort to do good.

I certainly have, sverally. I have since learned developing compentencies counts for tonnes and should never be taken lightly. I still have my adventuous nature about me, but ensure there is always someone to bring things under control if need be. I guess that is also aother reason I am taking this course.

Part of the challenge has to doing with the fact the recruiting party are not aware of what is entailed in the M&E role. They have no idea what they are looking for so almost anything is good enough. If it shines then it must be good, kinda thinking. Best we can do is show case our compentencies to single out the quacks

Communication is central to so many things. Work, relations, name it.. communication will have a part to play in keeping it going. We should also be aware that communication as well is not exempt from competency. It too, is vital herein.

Sure, and meet those objectives competently as well.

It is important to use tools and processes which you are confident that you have the competent skills in. The M& E team should have cultural and technical skills to carry out all the processes. To ensure the honest principle is adhered to its important to decline to run processes that you are not equipped to do.