Want to work in monitoring and evaluation? Start with these 5 skills

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 — M&E is now integrated into most global development projects at the design stage. Along with this integration comes growing opportunity for those with monitoring and evaluation skills. Many organizations have created dedicated positions and even departments focused on M&E, and look for this experience when recruiting for program and technical positions as well. So how can you prepare yourself for a career in monitoring and evaluation? Here are five skills to master. 1. Quantitative skills As technology makes it easier to collect and crunch data, quantitative analysis skills are critical to a monitoring and evaluation specialist’s tool kit. If you are still in school, choose courses like statistics and econometrics to help build up this experience. Become familiar with statistical software like SPSS or STATA, as you may see these listed as a requirement in many job postings. Gain experience with GPS, mobile data collection, web-based reporting and M&E database creation and management. If you are no longer in school, look for short-term or online training programs as well as on-the-job training to beef up your quantitative chops. 2. Qualitative skills Sometimes referred to as the softer side of M&E work, qualitative analysis skills are also important to this career path. Not all projects can be measured solely by numbers, so other approaches like focus groups or interviewing may be used. This type of monitoring and evaluation work takes a more research-based academic approach but also requires excellent investigative and communication skills. You need to know how to ask the right questions and have the ability to evaluate complex information and synthesize it into meaningful results. In fact, this area of M&E can often be a career path for those with a journalism or communications background. 3. Communication skills Monitoring and evaluation is only useful if you can effectively communicate the results to stakeholders. If you dig into many M&E job descriptions you will see report writing as a common task. Reports may be for internal purposes or to share with donors, partners, beneficiaries or other stakeholders. They not only need to be well written and easy to digest but they should also clearly communicate the findings and recommendations for your specific audience in an accessible way. Being a strong writer and communicator are skills you want to both highlight and hone. 4. Specialization An important skill to being an effective M&E specialist is the ability to see both the forest and the trees. While not essential to becoming an M&E expert, developing a specialization in a specific area of focus will allow you to more deeply understand the technical details of programs in addition to the big picture. Many positions seek professionals with both M&E skills as well as technical expertise in an area like nutrition, reproductive health, governance or education. If you are considering pursuing a graduate degree to further your career in monitoring and evaluation, you may consider a specific technical degree like environmental management, agricultural science or nutrition to help round out your expertise. If you are not in a place to go back to school, try to gain this experience by selecting positions focused on the same sector. Over time, you will pick up a lot of the technical expertise. 5. Capacity building As is the case with so many positions in global development, the ability to teach and train others is essential. Because monitoring and evaluation is woven into development programming at all steps, M&E specialists are often asked to step in and train program staff how to effectively gather data and monitor results. M&E experts with experience in capacity building are in high demand for both full time staff as well as consultant positions, so developing this skill will help keep you in high demand as well. To view current job openings in monitoring and evaluation, check out these opportunities on the Devex job board. Not an M&E expert but looking for a job that includes some monitoring and evaluation work? Check out these opportunities calling for M&E skills. M&E specialists need to be well rounded in a wide array of skills, but there are opportunities for many kinds of professionals to find their niche in this emerging career path. What other skills do you think are important to a career in monitoring and evaluation? Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Looking to make a career move? Visit our career center for expert advice on how to navigate your job search - all you need is a Devex Career Account to get started.