Monitor

Best practice standards, a menu of resources, and step by step guidance for DMERL (Design, Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning) in each phase of the project management cycle.

Why Monitor?

Monitoring is when the rubber hits the road. After designing and planning your project, you and your team are now implementing it. The reality of implementation is always more challenging than expected. You may be working in uncertain conditions or responding to an evolving humanitarian need. Therefore, you need to monitor how your project is performing and whether you are delivering the right (and quality) results. You want to keep an eye out for any risks and take advantage of successes. The Monitoring phase can be an intense and busy time – and because of this the Framework lists the most DMERL Best Practice Standards in this phase.

Effective project monitoring ensures:

Project economy through efficient management of time and budget.
Productivity through adaptive co-management.
Risks are mitigated before they become issues and change requests.
Fidelity of plans, with greater quality assurance and adherence to technical standards.

Best Practice Standards

This DMERL Framework shares four Best Practice Standards for the Monitor phase of DMERL in the Project Management Cycle.

Best Practice Standard

Milestone and key performance indicators (KPI) data is collected, reported, and used for project management.

Best Practice Standard

Community Engagement and Accountability (CEA) activities are implemented according to the project plan, fit for purpose and responsive to the needs, perspectives, and concerns of the community.

Best Practice Standard

Project risks are mitigated, issues are managed, and all change requests are documented.

Best Practice Standard

Learning activities are completed as per the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Plan, documented, and projects are adapted.

Key Resources on Monitoring in DMERL

July 9, 2019. Kim Chaung village, Bago, Myanmar. Residents (Ma Sandar Win and Ma Han Thae Oo) of Kim Chaung village, Myanmar discuss a community map hanging in the town center. Developed with help from the Red Cross, the map can be used to mitigate disaster risks. Communities like this one work together to identify their risks—such as flood zones— as well as resources they can utilize during disasters. Maps show homes, high-risk areas, evacuation routes, locations of handicapped residents and the elderly (who may need help evacuating), and safe spaces to seek shelter. This rural community—dotted with rice patties and farmland—experiences regular floods and is at-risk of earthquakes and strong storms.

The American Red Cross works alongside the Myanmar Red Cross to prepare disaster-prone communities for cyclones, floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, and other emergencies. We train and equip families with the tools they need to mitigate natural disaster risks and to be first responders when crises strike. In Myanmar, the American Red Cross teaches basic first aid, light search-and-rescue, and post-disaster epidemic control in 20 communities—in addition to running disaster simulations and forming village committees who mobilize when disasters hit. In 24 schools, we teach students basic first aid, light search-and-rescue, evacuation activities, and distribute emergency equipment—such as solar panels, fire extinguishers, megaphones, early warning speakers, first aid kits, and helmets. In Myanmar, some American Red Cross project sites are urban, while others sit in river deltas only accessible by boat. Note: The country of Myanmar is also known as “Burma.” Photo by Brad Zerivitz/American Red Cross

Guidelines:

IFRC Project/programme monitoring and evaluation (M&E) guide

Counting People Reached

This Technical Note was released in 2018 and was prepared by the Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting (PMER) Unit from the IFRC Secretariat in Geneva with inputs from PMER, gender and social inclusion technical advisors in the IFRC Regional and Country Offices as well as in Geneva. It provides guides for all national societies in the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement on how to count people reached by Red Cross/Red Crescent services. Click here.

Winrock Guidance For Monitoring And Evaluation During COVID-19

Tools:

American Red Cross Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Plan Template

IFRC Indicator Tracking Table

Performance Indicators Reference Sheet (PIRS)

Performance Management Scorecard

Project Work Breakdown Schedule (WBS) Template

Risk Matrix Template

Project Level Quality Checklist

Risk Register Template

Disaster Ready Community Checklist

Disaster Ready Community (DRC) Checklist tool has evolved from an iterative and rigorous process where pilot assessments were conducted in Bangladesh, Nepal and Indonesia in 2019. It comprises 28 indicators, revised through various phases of learning and hence applicable to different contexts and countries. The tool has emerged as a comprehensive tool to better map the communities in four broader determinants of disaster readiness; self-organization, ability to take action, knowledge and awareness and connectivity and support the communities accordingly for disaster preparedness and response. Click here.

General Resources:

Data On Persons With Disabilities In Humanitarian Action

This document by Humanity & Inclusion and Leonard Cheshire outlines key findings and recommendations coming out of the UK Government-funded Disability Data in Humanitarian Action project that aimed to understand how the Washington Group Questions performed when applied to humanitarian programming and what best practices humanitarian actors should follow when using the Washington Group Questions to collect data on persons with disabilities in a humanitarian setting. Click here.

How To Set Up And Manage An Adaptive Programme - Lessons From The ACT Programme (Oxford Policy Management)

Managing To Adapt: Analysing Adaptive Management For Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation, And Learning (Oxfam)

This report was developed by a group of students from the London School of Economics as part of their Master’s degree programme, in partnership with Oxfam Great Britain. It presents a collection of case studies from Oxfam and other agencies to illustrate concrete examples of how programmes can incorporate adaptive practices at different stages of the planning cycle. It also offers practical suggestions to development actors to support adaptive practices. It argues that PMEL for adaptive management entails flexible funding mechanisms; iterative design processes; developing locally owned approaches; and creating an enabling environment for learning. Click here.

USAID Adaptive Management

USAID Monitoring Toolkit

How to Monitor a Humanitarian Project

Step 1 - Do baseline data collection

Baseline data should be collected before your project makes changes in the target community (within the first 90 days of the project start-up). Your data sources can be secondary (existing data) or primary (data collected by you).

Step 2 - Set targets

A target is a specific, planned level of a result to be achieved within a specific timeframe. Targets should be set based on baseline data but also on project needs and resources (right sized). Targets should be ambitious but achievable within the timeframe of the project or reporting period. You should update your targets annually.

Step 3 - Collect indicator data

After you collect your indicator data, it should be reported into a centralized knowledge management system on a quarterly basis. Make sure the beneficiary counting is disaggregated by sex. Where possible, also disaggregate by age and disability, if appropriate to project design.

This step meets DMERL Best Practice Standard 5: Milestone and KPI data is collected, reported (in ECOS) and used for project management.

Step 4 -Analyze and report data

Regular reporting (e.g., monthly) enables you to do the ongoing monitoring needed to check progress against workplans, check risks and assumptions and identify lessons and successes.

You should produce targeted reporting products for your various stakeholders at appropriate levels of “need to know,” targeting the audience with relevant information. When presenting or reporting information, it should be accessible, actionable, credible, relevant, timely and understandable. Consider using data visualizations and dashboards to present reporting data.

Step 5 -Conduct CEA activities

You should use CEA activities to ensure that national society staff or volunteers communicate directly with the target community at least once a quarter. Consider maintaining a functioning community feedback system in partnership with the national society.

This step meets DMERL Best Practice Standard 6: CEA activities are implemented according to the project plan, fit for purpose and reactive to the needs, perspectives, and concerns of the community.

Step 6 -Monitor project management issues and risks

Monitor project risks during implementation and log issues. If you need to change your workplan to respond, make sure that you discuss with the project manager or accountable staff member(s), agree upon and document what the issues and risks were and why you needed to make the changes.

This step meets DMERL Best Practice Standard 7: Project risks are mitigated, issues are managed, and all change requests are documented.

Step 7 -Review and adapt, including revising targets if needed

Learning activities should be mainstreamed into project activities as per the MEL Plan and then documented.

You should conduct at least one pause and reflect session per year. You can also integrate other learning activities into your daily work. Good resources for learning activities are the IFRC Learning toolkit, or the USAID CLA toolkit.

You should go back to the Theory of Change (ToC) to help craft the questions for evaluation and learning. For instance, use your learning questions to test your ToC assumptions.

Use the evidence from your learning activities or your other MEL actions to check if your ToC and LogFrame are still relevant and revised if needed, with changes documented. You may also need to adjust your targets based on previous achievement and changes to the project.

This step meets DMERL Best Practice Standard 8: Learning activities are completed as per the MEL Plan, documented and projects are adapted.

Knowledge Management & Learning at the Center of Monitoring

Knowledge and learning is also incorporated into the monitoring phase of the project. The Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Plan often includes a "change log" for adapting the plan throughout the implementation period if new knowledge is acquired about the context or there is learning that indicates an improved approach to project implementation. The "change log" or "change request" mechanism can be used in a variety of project monitoring tools.