In the design of M&E System, recognition is given to the project strategy of empowering local communities and individuals in managing their own development, which calls for making informed decisions about the deployment and use of resources in areas that affect their livelihoods.
However, information needs of other project stakeholders, within districts and at project headquarters and beyond, must also be understood and properly provided for.
Such information should have relevancy and utility to decision making processes and/ or forums, applicable to national and local development contexts as well as at critical points in the project cycle.
Consideration is thus given in M&E system design to identify the action systems and environments that have a bearing on stakeholder interests, ranging from micro to macro perspectives.
Monitoring and evaluation processes were evident in ALRMP I operations. But these had suffered from timing, human resource, and methodological problems.
Perceptions as to what M&E entailed also varied between individuals, and emphasis was given primarily to activity and operational monitoring.
The lack of a project baseline and an agreed set of performance indicators relating to project outcomes and impacts posed particular constraints.
Assessment of beneficiary responses, undertaken very late in the day, was restricted in scope and content, and not internalised into the management system at district and community levels.
Ensuring proper staffing of the M&E unit, provision for training and facilitation support to districts and communities in M&E processes, and institutionalizing the latter within the planning and review cycle at each level of management are thus central to M&E system design for ALRMP II.
Main design features
Different M&E activities have their own time and place within the project cycle. To help discern the more routine requirements from those of periodic nature and facilitate organisation, the M&E system is structured as two distinct but complementary sub-systems, namely:
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Subsystem I: Routine Records and Periodic Monitoring Reports
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Subsystem II: Periodic and Ongoing Evaluation Studies, Surveys & Reviews
Activities under sub-system I are designed primarily to supplement existing systems of information gathering and record keeping; management review processes; and reporting procedures at the various levels of the project entity.
Subsystem II complements these through formal studies and surveys as well as less formal stakeholder interactions to permit triangulation of judgments and perspectives on project outcomes and impacts.
Both sub-systems are important inputs for baseline establishment and subsequent impact evaluations.
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