The importance of data in achieving Sustainable Development Goals and having a significant impact is well-documented. But experts believe that many organizations lack the skills necessary to collate, monitor, and evaluate it for maximum progress.
Good monitoring and evaluation, or M&E, can show what works and doesn’t work, how a project can be improved, and whether money is being spent on something that isn’t relevant, said Nathalia Quintiliano, a researcher and M&E consultant who has worked with UNOPs, Médecins Sans Frontières, and OCHA.
But as it stands, most organizations “have got it absolutely wrong,” according to Joseph Sineka Limange, an M&E expert who has worked with the U.S. Agency for International Development, Grameen Foundation, and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.