Why Monitoring & Evaluation is Important to NGO's

What is Monitoring & Evaluation? It is an approach that involves periodic assessment of the success and performance of programmed activities and projects. Although the two terms are closely linked and referred to as M&E, they entail two different activities. Monitoring involves tracking the progress of a project to see its performance in relation to its longer-term results and the impact desired. It is done within the organization or through a third-party contract, during the Project Implementation phase. Evaluation on the other hand requires an external evaluator to look at whether the allocated resources were used effectively to achieve the desired results. It is done during the Project Implementation and Closure phase, and actually determines the need for other projects to be considered in the future to achieve the desired results.