It’s always good to look beyond one’s own nose. This page contains commented links on a variety of external resources from other agencies that are interesting or useful.
Various useful resources on monitoring and evaluation
- DAC Guidance for Managing Joint Evaluations (pdf, 1.44 MB)
•French (pdf, 1.44 MB)
This booklet is directed at the wider evaluation community and provides practical advice and tips for those involved in planning and implementing joint evaluations. More and more development efforts are delivered jointly or are evaluated jointly to decrease the transaction costs for the developing country partners. The guidance book is designed to help evaluation managers deliver effective joint evaluations. Topics included, among others, are: “Why conduct a joint evaluation?” and “Key steps in planning and delivering joint evaluations”.
- Ten Steps to a Results-based Monitoring and Evaluation System: a Handbook for Development Practitioners (World Bank) (pdf, 1.07 MB)
Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is a powerful public management tool that can be used to improve the way governments and organizations achieve results. Just as governments need financial, human resource, and accountability systems, governments also need good performance feedback systems. This handbook is directed at development practitioners who want to build a results-based M&E system.
- Participatory monitoring and evaluation ELDIS Participation Resource Guide
Participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) is a process through which stakeholders at various levels engage in monitoring or evaluating a particular project, program or policy, share control over the content, the process and the results of the M&E activity and engage in taking or identifying corrective actions. PM&E promotes the involvement of a wide range of stakeholders, employing methods that allow a more equal opportunity for the expression of views and sharing of lessons. The ELDIS Participation Resource Guide provides a wide collection of resources for PM&E.
- Influential Evaluations: Evaluations that Improved the Performance and Impacts of Development Programs (World Bank)
•English (pdf, 90 KB) •French (pdf, 90 KB) •Spanish (pdf, 983 KB)
This booklet provides a collection of eight case studies of evaluations and reviews which have had a significant impact. For many of these, it has been possible to show that the evaluation was a highly cost-effective tool for improving program management and for supporting government resource allocation decisions. The publication provides a summary of lessons learned about how to ensure evaluations are utilized intensively.
Guidance on project monitoring and evaluation from other agencies
The official reference for ILO project evaluations is the ILO guidance material provided on the respective web page. This section provides an annotated selection of guidance material on monitoring and evaluation for projects from other institutions that have interesting or useful content and that can serve as additional inspiration for ILO staff. It goes without saying that any guidance from other organizations is not an official reference and that methodology needs to be adjusted to the specific ILO context. In particular guidance on evaluation policy and internal procedure is very specific to the respective organization and cannot be adapted.
- IFAD Guide for Project Monitoring and Evaluation
•French •Spanish •Arabic
An especially user-friendly guide. Very good guidance on setting up an M&E system and deciding what to monitor. Notable is the emphasis placed on monitoring and evaluation as a participatory learning exercise and on the importance of creating the necessary capacities and conditions for M&E.
- UNDP Monitoring and Evaluation Handbook (pdf, 731 KB)
•French (pdf, 750 KB) •Spanish (pdf, 750 KB)
A comprehensive and useful handbook on monitoring and evaluation. Especially useful is Part III on indicators and Part IV that links evaluations with organizational learning and knowledge management. Another interesting UNDP publication is the UNDP guidelines for outcome evaluators, here the section on the role of partnerships is especially noteworthy. UNDP’s work is probably most comparable to ILO’s work since both organization work primarily on policy-level.
- UNFPA Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Toolkit
(Available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic versions)
Brief modules with easy-to-understand explanations. Take especially note of module 4 on stakeholder participation in monitoring and evaluation. Module 5 on planning and managing an evaluation also contains many useful hints and information.
- WFP Monitoring and Evaluation Guidelines
Very comprehensive guidance material but quite specific to WFP. The very different project context of ILO (focused on policy advice and capacity building) and WFP (focused on emergency aid and community-based development projects) must be taken into account. Especially interesting are modules 1 (What is results-based monitoring and evaluation), 5 (How to plan an evaluation), 9 (identifying monitoring and evaluation indicators) and 13 (Reporting on monitoring and evaluation data and information for development programmes).
GTZ Results-based Monitoring Guidelines (pdf, 172 KB)
After being the developers and advocates of the ZOPP (logframe) methodology for the past 20 years, GTZ has now changed its policy for project planning and monitoring. The new concept focuses more on development results. The accountability of the development agency extends to ends at the level of outcome. Important is the emphasis on the project being responsible for managing for impacts but not being accountable for achieving them as impacts lay beyond the “attribution gap” of a project. Activities and outputs are planned at the design stage but can be adapted flexibly to a changing project environment; they are not part of the monitoring and evaluation process that mainly focuses on outcomes and the underlying theories of change.
Guidance and reports of country programme evaluations of other agencies
Following the general trend and good practice of the international development community the ILO has eMBarked on country programming. The official reference for ILO country programme evaluations is the ILO guidance material provided on the respective web page. However, it is also interesting to see how other agencies assess their country programmes.
