• Monitoring and evaluation

Monitoring and evaluation

This volume is intended to illustrate the potential benefits from evaluation. It presents eight case studies where evaluations were highly cost-effective and of considerable practical utility to the intended users. The case studies comprise evaluations of development projects, programmes and policies from different regions and sectors.

The report’s central message is that well-designed evaluations, conducted at the right time and developed in close consultation with intended users, can be a highly cost-effective way to improve the performance of development interventions.

Case studies included in this report include:

• "Using citizen report cards to hold the state to account in Bangalore, India"
• "Improving the delivery of primary education services in Uganda through Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys"
• "Assessing the effectiveness of water and sanitation interventions in villages in Flores, Indonesia": a methodology for participatory assessment
• "Enhancing the performance of a major environmental project in Bulgaria": a focused mid-term evaluation

Each case study addresses five questions:

• What were the impacts to which the evaluation contributed?
• How were the findings and recommendations used?
• How do we know that the benefits were due to the evaluation and not to some other factors?
• How was the cost effectiveness of the evaluation measured?
• What lessons can be learned for the design of future evaluations?

The final chapter presents a number of general lessons and guidelines concerning how to design and manage useful evaluations and how to address the question of attribution.

• Full text of document
• Publisher details
• Send to a friend