Monitoring is about good project management, according to Kasia Kedzia, performance management and training specialist for Social Impact. The same goes for evaluating a project’s theory of change, shared Danielle de Garcia, Social Impact’s deputy director of performance evaluation, innovation and learning.
Kedzia started as an implementer, and whether she was working with women in Poland or launching a project in Darfur, she was asking: “How are we checking progress?”
The field of monitoring and evaluation has taken off in international development, as investors and their implementing partners put an increasing premium on measuring the impact of their work. What was once considered an option if there was a budget — and often assigned to an outside consultant — monitoring and evaluation is now being integrated into most global development projects at the design stage.