Monitoring & Evaluation
At Capacity+, we believe that Monitoring and Evaluation is a trusted friend and ally dedicated to helping your organization reach your goals and discover results that make your organization shine. We specialize in reducing the learning curve to mastery of this vital skillset. Our approach to Monitoring and Evaluation makes the unfamiliar become old hat and brings the intimidating within reach.
We say this with confidence because organizations already routinely collect vital data informally, Capacity+ formalizes this process through its Monitoring and Evaluation framework (see the Resources tab). Capacity+ can assist your organization in setting up or strengthening data gathering, monitoring and evaluation systems inclusive of identifying baseline data points as well as the processes and procedures that go into a solid Monitoring and Evaluation strategy for your programs.
Monitoring & Evaluation Approach
Capacity+ employs a monitoring and evaluation approach to all programs as a strategy to integrate program data into programmatic decision-making (Empowerment Evaluation, Fetterman, D. 1994; Equity-focused Evaluation, Jones, Bensimon and Dowd, 2011; Rapid Cycle Quality Improvement, Health Workforce Technical Assistance Center, 2016). The evaluation plan establishes a standardized cycle of data collection including measures of program quality and intermediate benchmarks towards annual program outcome goals. These intermediate measures provide the critical first assessment of whether your organization’s programs are on target to meet their objectives. Reviewing these indicators early allow mid-course corrections. This process, of incorporating evaluation into program design, implementation, and management follows state-of-the art guidance and positions your organization here to over-determine program success.
Essential to Project Management & Implementation
Monitoring and Evaluation answers five core questions. Did our organization and program:
- Serve the number promised from the target audience?
- Offer the promised activities at the promised frequency?
- Spend grant funds in the manner promised?
- Have the intended impact on participants?
- Ask the funder’s permission to change the above targets before making any changes?
These questions can only be answered if the organization measures progress along the way. At Capacity+, we believe that monitoring and evaluation is the sure way to ensure your organization answers “yes” to all funder questions. Effective Monitoring and Evaluation is a team effort. Engaging all program stakeholders—organization administrators, coordinators, volunteers, and participants—contributes to the fullest picture of the program’s implementation and results. Organizations measure progress against the baseline, comparing all data gathered with the status of participants at the start of the program.
Data-Informed Decision Making
Monitoring and Evaluation tracks your organization’s ongoing progress allowing your organization to adjust as needed. Funders do expect challenges for all grant recipients and are eager to be flexible with those organizations able to quickly identify a challenge and the plan to make mid-course corrections to address the challenge and make a timely request for funder permission to make those adjustments. As an indication of the priority funders place on monitoring and evaluation to produce high quality effective programs, the rule-of-thumb for large projects is to allocate ten percent of the project budget to data gathering, monitoring and evaluation.
Data-Driven Results
It is true that Monitoring and Evaluation take time to do well. In the words of Steven Covey, organizations must take the time to allow them to “begin with the end in mind.” But done well, Monitoring and Evaluation produce vital information the organization can use to improve the management, cost-effectiveness, implementation, and results of current and future programs and the organization. Investing the time up front ensures that subsequent actions – often minor corrections -- are intentional and yield meaningful results. It eliminates the need to scramble at the end with limited capacity to achieve the true potential and demonstrate the full impact of your program.
Please see our resources page for a detailed template you can use to develop your monitoring and evaluation plan.
