Monitoring & Evaluation Systems

artKenya develops and implements effective web-based M&E systems using the latest technologies. We work closely with our clients for tailor-made solutions for their specific area of competence. Our M&E systems can easily be embedded either in your intranet or your website and allow for various levels of security and user authentication.

Our M&E solution is a tool for donor-funded aid projects to improve their policy/program/project measurement that specifically targets gathering, collating, analysing and disseminating policy/program/project information. It is an easy to use and flexible software tool combining various graphics and internet technologies and modeling tools such as economic analysis without stretching the organisation's capacity limitations.

The solution is quick and economical to implement on national level, satisfying needs of the national and regional management. The implementation process should be able to be customised and quickly adapted to institutional/capacity development level of the organisation.

artKenya's M&E solution enables the organization to implement, in a continuously changing environment, within the shortest time frame, the performance measurement and policy/program/project level management information gathering system.

Our M&E solution enhances management capacity through:

• Transparency, Accountability, Flexibility, Adaptability, Participation, Predictability, and Continuity
• Decentralization
• Multiple management objectives
• Nationwide and grass root solution
• Organisation Data Architecture
• Organisation Data Synchronization
• Commonisation and Agreement on Performance Indicators
• The logical framework approach

"Generally it has massively improved the way we work, the standard of case recording, statistics, evidencing what we do, which has been very well received. We can produce detailed reports."

• Facilitate stakeholders to appreciate a better M&E process where technology can later be enhanced.
• Increased accountability in funding utilisation.
• Facilitate transparency throughout policy/project, which can be propagated down to the grassroots level, while providing room for adjustments.
• Indicators can be quickly incorporated and maintained.
• Can be adapted to complex information systems.
• A solution can be quickly customised by any M&E specialist.
• Promotes public and private sector good governance.
• All changes can be applied to artKenya's M&E by end users and stakeholders.
• All measurement tools can be created by policy makers and distributed for regional self-monitoring.

Results-based monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is a powerful management tool that is used to help stakeholders track progress and demonstrate the impact of their projects or programs. While results-based M&E tracks basic short-term program outputs, it puts an especially strong focus on assessing the program’s medium- and long-term outcomes and impact.

Monitoring is a routine process that is used to determine the extent to which a project or program has been effectively implemented at different levels, in time and at what cost.

Evaluation is a periodic process designed to determine the value of a specific project or program. It links particular outputs or outcomes directly to interventions.

In recent years, an increasing number of donors have been focusing on assessing results rather than just monitoring progress on planned activities. As a result of analysis done within many NGO networks, they decided to adopt a results-oriented approach to its work in order to keep track of progress on its strategic programs and the corresponding outcomes and impacts, as well as to meet the increasingly rigorous requirements of their various donors and partners. In fact, NGO’s Strategic Plans call for the institutionalization of Monitoring & Evaluation across their networks in order to help satisfy the information needs of the various stakeholders, including the Executive Committee, the Donors, the National Chapters, the Regional Secretariat, and other strategic partners.

Given the wide geographic distribution and linguistic diversity of many NGO’s, they choose to implement an online M&E system that can be accessed through the internet by all staff, especially those at the National Chapter level, in both English and French (or other languages).

artKenya have made our M&E system easy to use and have designed it to flexibly meet the diverse needs of the verious stakeholders.

Some of the reasons why monitoring is done include:

• ensuring that implementation is moving according to plans and identify areas needing further support for NGOs/CBOs;
• improving the quality of routine work at the local level;
• to provide baseline information for evaluations;
• to feed into project planning and development.

The purposes of evaluation include:

• demonstrating the value of NGO work to outsiders;
• comparing different project approaches for future programme development;
• contributing to lessons learned;
• for policy and advocacy.

Both monitoring and evaluation are management tools. In the case of monitoring, information is routinely gathered for tracking progress according to previously agreed plans and schedules. Evaluation is more episodic than monitoring. It is facilitated by monitoring but utilises additional sources of information. Many such sources are identified during project reviews when there is a need to understand why inputs did not lead to planned outputs or what the impact of a programme has been. More details are provided in evaluations.

M&E is sometimes regarded as a donor-driven requirement, with little or no use for the NSP or NGO/CBO. This view may lead to unreliable and unsystematic reporting. Beyond accountability to donors, there are many good reasons for undertaking M&E. The reasons for undertaking M&E may differ between NGOs/CBOs and the NSP, but these reasons should be clear to all stakeholders.

As mentioned above, monitoring and evaluation play key roles in programme management. Easily accessible M&E data can provide a solid basis for project reviews and can be useful in identifying problems. M&E data can also be used to highlight potential solutions to problems and justify changes to workplans and budgets. Tracking progress using M&E data can also assist managers in identifying areas for technical support or capacity building, both among staff and NGO partners. Regular feedback of monitoring results can be encouraging both to NGO partners and NSP staff. M&E also provides useful opportunities for staff and stakeholder participation.

• The reasons for undertaking M&E may differ across organisations and between NGOs/CBOs and NSPs, so it is helpful to establish common understanding amongst programme staff and all other stakeholders about the priorities in M&E.
• The priorities in M&E need to be matched with organisational capacity and human and financial resources. M&E activities should aim to meet information requirements without overloading the staff involved and using up a lot of resources. Ideally, the budget for M&E activities should be less than 10% of the overall programme budget.
• A participatory approach to M&E requires that a range of stakeholders are involved. Stakeholders are those with a ‘stake’ or interest in the outcome of the project and may include staff responsible for collecting and analysing monitoring data, those implementing the project, the beneficiaries or project participants, and those providing financial support or technical support.
• Ideally, the development of M&E systems should take place alongside organisational level planning; in other words, at the planning or re-planning stages of the project cycle. This ensures that M&E procedures stay relevant to programme implementation, and avoids the common pitfall of developing M&E as an afterthought.