Monitoring and evaluation

Many funders ask groups how they will measure the success of their work. They want to know what difference their funding will make to the people who use your group’s services or take part in the activities you provide.

Thinking through how you will monitor and evaluate your group’s activities is an important part of planning your work.

It can help you learn what works and what doesn’t so that you can change or improve future activities or repeat things that you know went well.

Monitoring and evaluating what you do does not have to be complicated. It’s an activity that we all do constantly without thinking about it.

For instance, when you organise a bonfire party you will ask yourselves afterwards

‘Was it a success?’
‘Did people enjoy themselves?’
‘Was there enough food?’
‘Was it safe enough for the children?’
‘Would we do it again?’

What is Monitoring and Evaluation?

Monitoring

Monitoring means collecting and recording information about what is happening.
Activities can be monitored in different ways; you can record figures such as the number of people attending an event, or you can ask people what they thought about the activities.

Evaluation

Evaluation means reviewing how things went by looking at the information that was collected and assessing how worthwhile it was.

You might ask questions like:

Did the activity or project achieve what we wanted it to?
Who benefited from it?
What did people think of it and did it make any difference to them?
Could we have done it better?
What changes will we make next time?

You need to make sure that you collect useful information that will help you decide if the activity has gone well. You also need to collect any particular monitoring information that your funder has asked for.

As well as monitoring expenditure, some organisations will monitor other inputs, such as staff and volunteer time.

These will be specific products or elements of service provided by the organisation, such as advice sessions, training days or publications.

These are related to the changes or differences made as a result of the organisation’s outputs.

These are related to longer-term or broader changes. These might be more difficult to monitor on a routine basis. Setting indicators Once a broad framework for monitoring has been set up, making clear the planned outputs and outcomes, some realistic indicators should be identified, against which information can be collected.

Indicators are specific, observable characteristics that can be assessed or measured to show the quality or quantity of aspects of the organisation, its resources, its process, or the results of its activities.

The most common indicators relate to outputs and outcomes, and you will need to distinguish between the two.

These demonstrate the work the organisation does and show progress towards meeting its objectives.

These demonstrate changes which take place as a result of the organisation’s work and show progress towards meeting specific aims.

You may want to set targets against your indicators, and your monitoring will demonstrate whether these have been achieved. Indicators can be quantitative (numerical) or qualitative (related to people’s perceptions or experiences).

They are usually developed when setting aims and objectives, although you can set them later on if necessary.