UMI's Virtual Learning Environment

Data Management and Business Analytics

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of projects are increasingly recognized as indispensable management functions. For many years, M&E of development projects in developing countries has been given little attention. Some of the main constraints that have hampered M&E in development projects include: weak interest and commitment to the evaluation function by both donors and civil society organizations, weak culture of carrying out, sharing, discussing and using the results of evaluation activities among NGOs and donors, a relative shortage of professional evaluation experts (in comparison with researchers, trainers), insufficient technical resources, limited monetary allocation to M&E work by governments and donors, limited training opportunities in evaluation as well as shortage of trained staff. However, it is important to note that the last few years have witnessed an increased interest in strengthening the M&E function by donors, Government and civil society organizations for the purposes of generating results. Many programs and projects have come up especially in developing countries which need to be run effectively and efficiently putting in mind value for money by the donors and governments. Such programs include but are not limited to humanitarian/relief programs, government programs, community programs, amongst others. The module is designed to enable aspiring M&E specialists and all those engaged in project work to demonstrate required standards of competence for professional practice in a key discipline and acquire essential knowledge and skills to track project performance. As a result of this increased interest, potential and current M&E practitioners and project managers need to acquaint themselves with the resilient requirements for designing and tracking project performance across the results matrix.