Monitoring and evaluating empowerment processes Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation

Why is monitoring and evaluating empowerment important?

Donors and partners increasingly recognise the importance of monitoring and evaluating development policies and programmes. M&E is meant to contribute to insights about what does and does not work and why, and should enable programme changes that will make donors and partners more effective at supporting empowerment. Monitoring is a continuing function that uses systematic collection of data on specified indicators to provide management and the main stakeholders of an ongoing development intervention with indications of the extent of progress and achievement of objectives in the use of allocated funds (OECD , 2002). Evaluation on the other hand is the systematic and objective assessment of an on-going or completed project, programme or policy, its design, implementation and results. The aim is to determine the relevance and fulfilment of objectives, development efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability. An evaluation should provide information that is credible and useful, enabling the incorporation of lessons learned into the decisionmaking process of both partners and donors. Because these processes involve defining objectives and determining the worth or significance of a development intervention, power relations are affected by the way monitoring and evaluation are carried out.

Publication Date: 
2012