The importance of a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system

Poor quality of, or partial, data and information will affect the scope and quality of the monitoring and evaluation tasks.

The quality or completeness of data may be poor for several reasons, i.e.

• Data are collected at a wrong point in time; for instance long after activities finish.
• Data require significant efforts to be collected especially if the relevant people have changed contacts/jobs which usually happens over time.
• Data / information may be misinterpreted if collected prematurely or too late.

Setting up a M&E system to collect the right data at the right time and thus efficiently is of crucial importance. Data should be collected at both the partnership and project level.

However, it should be noted that a monitoring and evaluation system is only a representation of the intervention logic; not necessarily a validation of such logic.

An important aspect to consider is also the following: it is often the case that the same national agency/ministry takes part in a significant number of P2Ps. Retrieving data and information for each P2P separately using different templates and methods may lead to so-called 'evaluation fatigue', diminishing response rates. Thus, there is a clear benefit if a centralised system for gathering certain data across all partnerships can be established.