1/9/25, 12:26 PM The 10 Steps of Monitoring and Evaluation - tools4dev

The 10 Steps of Monitoring and Evaluation

Developing M&E is a process which is integrated with conceptualizing the project implementation itself. The M&E
should ideally form a kind of critical dialogue, which upholds the reality of beneficiaries, and the complex context at the
forefront.

Step 1: Needs Analysis

Where a project is not responding to a real, subjectively experienced need, with the right solutions to motivate
beneficiary participation, it is unlikely that it will be effective. Although you may observe a need, a deep exploration of
whether the same is perceived by beneficiary groups is an important piece of groundwork. Beneficiaries and their
communities are always best placed to determine whether a need exists, and have frequently put a great deal of thought
into the design of relevant and viable solutions. A thorough needs analysis will allow you to take your concept, and test
is out for relevance and viability in the space where it is expected to create the change you hope see.

Step 2: Programme and M&E Design

Once you’re clear on the need, you can begin with the creative process of solution design, the work that will ultimately
define your project, as well as your M&E. Once you’re clear on the need to be addressed, it is a good idea to conduct
extensive research on similar projects addressing similar needs, exploring the lessons learnt and reporting. Although real
solutions may lie in truly novel work, there is a lot to be said for starting from an understanding of what has and what
has not worked in similar contexts.

Step 3: Stakeholder Mapping; beneficiary Identification

Although you will have already identified and engaged with beneficiary groups by the time you are mapping
stakeholders, this part of the process will enable you to explore how the different stakeholders are linked in the context
of the work you are aiming to do. This forms an integral part of the M&E process, as you aim to develop specific
indicators, and important project milestones which frequently includes actions, or necessary participation of key people,
or groups of people. This section of the work is not only about mapping individuals in their capacity as participants, but
identifying important officials, and understanding how their role is integral to your project success.

Step 4: Defining the Theoretical Framework

In this step, you are ultimately defining the change you hope to create, within the situational, as well as the theoretical
context. You are creating your Theory of Change. This is an important part of the process where implementers should
work hand-in-hand with the M&E team to make sure that the results you hope to achieve, and the empirical evidence
you are basing the expected causal pathways on resonate with everyone working on the project, particularly those who
are most familiar with the particular circumstances of the implementation such as field workers who understand the
communities. Workshopping a theory of change using the language of results, and then researching around the salient
points that emerge is one way of doing this, and ensuring the breadth and depth of the work.

Step 5: Defining the Logic, Mapping the Indicators

Once you have the high-level theory; the story behind the change well-defined, then it is time to explore the technical
aspects of the work you are doing, and to define incrementally how specific, observable occurrences, which form the

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1/9/25, 12:26 PM The 10 Steps of Monitoring and Evaluation - tools4dev

basis of the evidence of the change you’re creating, can be counted and mapped to record the change taking place. In
this step, it is important to research and identify these indicators, where possible adhering to global best practice, or sets
of pre-defined indicators, particularly if you are working with global funders and aim to show how your work aligns
with their objectives.

Step 6: Milestone Identification, planning and scheduling

Once you are clear on what the results should look like and how to intent to measure them, you need to consider timing
really carefully. Consider your assumptions. What needs to be in place, before your activities will be able to achieve the
change to hope to see? Do you need critical buy-in from key stakeholders? Or perhaps you are working on an
agricultural project and certain programme activities are seasonal. Do you need buy-in from your beneficiaries and what
might this look like? As you think about these things, you will realize whether you can map your activities within the
calendar year, or whether the achievement of goal B might be expected no less than 6 months after securing milestone
A! This type of thinking will help to define your funding cycles, fundraising, and the overall life span of the work you
are doing. Think carefully, be conservative, make strong assumptions but revisit these often.

Step 7: Designing the Instruments; selecting the tools

Once you have your indicators identified and specified in time, and your programme plans are clear, then you can begin
to design instruments and select tools which will work to collect the information against key indicators at specific points
in time. These may be anything from paper-base to biometric attendance tools, to questionnaires about what benefit
people perceive, to assessment to see whether skills have been successfully imparted. Spend time on this, and consider
this very carefully in the context of the type of overall evaluation approach you are using. These instruments will form
the very basis of the information you will have to describe the change you have created and ultimately to determine
whether your programme was a success. It’s never too late to add an instrument, but you can never go back in time, and
as your programme may change the very way people think and feel about the challenges they face, make sure you’ve
considered everything you’re going to wish you’d asked or known when you first started the work.

Step 8: Implement and Monitor

Ensuring that quality is maintained as you implement is key. Monitoring and implementation should take place side-by
side with monitoring teams continually ensuring that the programme work is consistent in quality such that the data
gathered is reliable, with the implementation team providing feedback where certain things about how the work is done
might need to change due to circumstances. This is really where the magic happens, and is the vast majority of the work
that you will do. As the M&E team, be sure to listen, and respond. Facilitating implementation while giving sound
strategic advice can add immense value, and boost the ability of the implementing team to create meaningful and lasting
change.

Step 9: Analyze
Cleaning data is no one’s favorite job, but with well designed instruments, and good tools, the analysis can be the most
fun. Explore different types of analysis; think about whether you’re looking for overall reach, or whether the analysis is
looking to identify some kind of causation. Visualization software can be extremely helpful to provide graphical analysis
of your data. Thematic analysis for qualitative survey feedback can be a helpful method. Statistical tools are most
frequently used to try and show directions and intensity of causation (be cautious about applying these to complex
problems though). Get to know your data. Keep a base set, and each time you revisit it, think of another way you might

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1/9/25, 12:26 PM The 10 Steps of Monitoring and Evaluation - tools4dev

look at it. Let the answers emerge as you consider what the data is really saying. Never underestimate the outliers.
Although you will have spend a great deal of time on the theory, remember that the data may tell an entirely different
story.

Step 10: Report

Finally, write your report. In my work, it is always most useful to consider a range of approaches and apply different
methods to different parts of the work. Impact really is a story. George Shackle, an obscure but brilliant radical
economist once wrote that there is no such thing as repeatable experiment. What he meant by this is that even the same
experiment at a different time is a different experiment. In development practice there are no closed systems, yet we
seek to develop an understanding which can help ourselves and other elsewhere to do good, to make good, and to spend
precious resources as wisely as possible. Reporting should aim to map such a path, between the immense complexity,
and the ‘answers’. When writing your report, context is key, be sure that programme teams provide input. It is always
better to understate rather than overstate success. Be true to the values, and true to the beneficiaries. How you ultimately
compile the reporting will depend on the M&E methods you have chosen and on the project success. Whether highly
quantitative and analytical, or rich in case studies around small, radically different and subjective change, this report is a
record of the important work taking place.

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