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OGB Approach to MEL (redirected from What is MEL)

Page history last edited by Pankaj Shrivastav 12 years, 4 months ago

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Minimum MEL Requirements

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Table of Contents -> What is MEL

 

What is M&E?

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) are part of everyday programme management and are critical to the success of our programmes.  They help programme teams to learn what does and doesn’t work in their efforts to overcome poverty and suffering and to adapt their programmes in light of what they find.  This, in turn, helps Oxfam GB to maximise the effectiveness of its interventions.  The processes and products of monitoring and evaluation also provide a documented record of the programme, and help strengthen accountability – supporting Oxfam GB to give an account to its wide range of stakeholders for its decisions and actions, and providing opportunities to take account of their views and opinions. 

Monitoring is the routine, ongoing collection and review of information on a programme’s activities, outputs, and outcomes that provides programme managers and other stakeholders with indications of progress against programmes plans and towards programme objectives.  It is a collaborative process between Oxfam GB staff, partners and communities to review what has happened, identify intended and unintended changes and consider whether activities have contributed to those changes.  This regular collection of information shows whether or not the programme is performing as expected, or if adjustments are necessary.  Well planned, timely monitoring allows problems to be quickly identified and programme activities to be adapted in order to optimise their impact.  Monitoring is more effective when it is a continuous process, included in the design of a programme and part of our day-to-day work.  

Evaluations complement ongoing monitoring activities by providing more in-depth, objective assessments of a programme’s design, implementation and results at particular points in time.  Where monitoring shows general trends, evaluations generally help explain ‘why’ things are happening the way that they are.  Programme evaluations may be undertaken at any point in the programme cycle where there is a need to learn more about how the programme is working, or to be accountable for the resources with which we’ve been entrusted.  At a minimum, programme teams should be evaluated midway through implementation (a formative or mid-term evaluation) and once the programme has completed (a summative or end-term evaluation). 

Why do we do M&E?

To speak knowledgeably about the results of our programmes
We are under increasing external pressure to demonstrate that we are making a difference with the money we receive.  To respond to this, we need to carry out rigorous assessments of the outcomes of our programmes that make clear links between the changes in peoples’ lives and our interventions.  Only if we are able to demonstrate the results of our own programmes do we have the legitimacy to speak in wider debates about aid effectiveness.

To make decisions based on evidence of what does and doesn’t work towards overcoming poverty
Everyday, we make decisions that affect our policies, strategies and programmes. To help us improve the quality of our work, we need to base our decisions on evidence of what is and isn’t working towards overcoming poverty.  This requires us to critically analyse progress towards our objectives and then to feed the results into decision-making processes.  The knowledge that we acquire through these processes needs to be managed and communicated to enable us to learn from our collective experiences and increase the effectiveness of our work.

To be accountable to our wide range of stakeholders
We are accountable to many different stakeholders – from donors and trustees to partners and poor people – for the resources with which we have been entrusted.  For each group of stakeholders, we need to find ways of taking account of their views and of giving them an account of our decisions and actions.

A nice example of where these basic elements are pulled together in a single document for a number of programmes is the baseline report for the Partnership Programme Agreement (PPA) 2008-2011 with DFID: Measuring Change.

What is Oxfam GB's approach to MEL?

Overview
Oxfam GB’s approach to MEL (monitoring, evaluation and learning)  is made up of seven processes. These enable us to assess the impact of our programmes, learn from our experiences and increase our accountability to different stakeholders.  Each process plays a different role in building up our programme knowledge and in using it to inform decision-making at different levels of the organisation.  The processes are designed to take account of the views of our stakeholders through information collection processes and by including them in reflection and learning events. Information obtained through monitoring and evaluation activities enables us to give an informed and objective account of our decisions and actions.

At the heart of MEL is good programme monitoring, in which programme teams collaborate with partners and communities to collect high quality data against programme indicators. Strong theories of change that show how we expect programme activities to bring about intended change are important for identifying useful indicators of progress. Monitoring information is analysed during Monitoring Reviews: biannual events in which programme staff and partners reflect upon information gathered through their monitoring activities and decide what it means for their future work.  By integrating systematic data collection and analysis into everyday programme management, programme teams and partners are encouraged to adapt their programmes in response to changing contexts to maximise their effectiveness. 

Country Learning Reviews and Regional Learning Reviews provide opportunities for country and regional teams to meet with stakeholders in order to review their roles and strategies within their countries and regions based on information from processes such as Monitoring Reviews, programme evaluations, research reports and analyses of external trends. Country Learning Reviews happen on an annual basis, while Regional Learning Reviews happen every two years. 

Programme Evaluations are undertaken of all programmes over £1M in accordance with our Evaluation Policy, providing independent assessments of the results of our work, and building a body of evidence that we can use to improve the quality of our programmes.  Periodically, Oxfam takes stock of the body of information embedded in these evaluation reports, and commissions an Evaluation Synthesis.  The first of these, on the topic of livelihoods, is available here. Impact Assessments are carried out where there is an organisational requirement or deisre for a more rigorous, in depth evaluation.

The Programme Resource Centre plays a key role in managing evaluative information – distilling and sharing lessons and good practices, and developing high quality learning resources for programme teams. Email phd@oxfam.org.uk

Strategic Evaluations are major thematic evaluations that are undertaken when we want to learn about a particular area of our work such as Partnership, Education or Conflict Reduction to inform a key organisational policy or strategy.

Finally, all this will be brought together during an organisational event called Oxfam Reflects.  This will take place every three years, and will bring together a wide range of stakeholders to consider what we have learnt about the relevance and impact of our work.  This will give us the evidence we need to make informed choices about our future strategy.

 

 

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Table of Contents -> What is MEL

Table of Contents

Minimum MEL Requirements

Overall MEL Framework

OGB MEL Pages on Intranet

Site Map

Contact me 

 

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