United Nations Development Programme Handbook on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for Development Results

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United Nations Development ProgrammeHandbook on
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for
Development Results

• Handbook on
• Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating
• for Development Results
• October 2009

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United Nations Development ProgrammeHandbook on
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for
Development Results
Overview of the Presentation

• What does the handbook do ?
• Who is the handbook for ?
• The Reader of the Handbook will understand
• What are the main changes?
• Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation, Knowledge
• How to use the Handbook
• Useful tools

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United Nations Development ProgrammeHandbook on
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for
Development Results
What does the Handbook do ?

• Provides clear understanding of purposes,
  processes, standards and guiding principles for
  planning, monitoring and evaluation that can be
  applied to all development work
• Enhances the results-based culture within UNDP
  with the objective to improve the quality of
  planning, monitoring and evaluation

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United Nations Development ProgrammeHandbook on
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for
Development Results
Who is the Handbook for ?

• UNDP staff in units with programmatic
  responsibilities, including associated funds and
  programmes ( e.g UNV)
• UNDP managers with oversight ,quality assurance
  role
• Stakeholders and partners such as government, UN
  and development partners and beneficiaries
• The UNDP Executive Board
• Members of national, regional and global
  development community and evaluators

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United Nations Development ProgrammeHandbook on
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for
Development Results
The reader of the Handbook will understand

• Good programme and project planning and design
• Principles, norms, standards, policy, processes
  and responsibilities governing planning,
  monitoring and evaluation in UNDP
• The role of ME in strengthening UNDP development
  effectiveness and managing for development
  results
• Critical role of monitoring and how it lays the
  groundwork for evaluation
• Different types of evaluations in UNDP and their
  contribution to learning and accountability
• Where to find additional information and guidance

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United Nations Development ProgrammeHandbook on
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for
Development Results
Drivers for change since previous Handbook

• Lessons from a number of thematic evaluations and
  studies
• RBM evaluation
• New Strategic Plan with new objectives and
  priorities
• Revised Cross-cutting priorities/principles
• Stronger emphasis on national ownership,
  inclusiveness, development and use of national
  capacities, results, risk management and
  accountability
• Stronger alignment among programme planning,
  monitoring and evaluation functions
• Corporate reporting system for CPAP/outcome level
  planning and monitoring

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United Nations Development ProgrammeHandbook on
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for
Development Results
Drivers for change since previous Handbook

• UN Norms and Standards for Evaluation in the UN
  system (2005) and other initiatives at the UNEG
  level for greater standard setting across the UN
  system
• UNDP Evaluation Policy (2006) clarifying roles
  and responsibilities, guiding principles and
  norms for evaluation
• Regional workshops on RBM and Evaluation (2006/7)
• Increasing professionalization of evaluation
• Pilot assessment of the quality of outcome
  evaluations
• Issues highlighted in Annual Reports on
  Evaluation, Evalnet discussions and interactions
  with partners and colleagues

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United Nations Development ProgrammeHandbook on
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for
Development Results
How is the Handbook organized ?

• Planning, monitoring and evaluation for
  development results
• Planning for results
• How to plan for ME before implementing a plan
• Monitoring for results
• 5-7. Evaluating for results, managing an
  evaluation, and quality assurance
• 8. Knowledge from ME in managing for development
  results

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United Nations Development ProgrammeHandbook on
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for
Development Results
Planning What is different from the previous
handbook?

• New section on PLANNING
• Emphasis on how to integrate cross-cutting
  priorities in planning
• Emphasis on need to plan for monitoring and
  evaluation
• Treatment of planning as a team sport
• Introduction of theory of change/strategic map
  approach to planning

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United Nations Development ProgrammeHandbook on
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for
Development Results
Key messages Planning

• A good plan serves as a blueprint for change
• Planning improves focus on priorities and leads
  to more efficient use of time and resources
• The planning process helps determine what success
  will look like
• Good stakeholder analysis and engagement in
  designing programmes or projects is critical to
  success
• A thorough problem analysis helps to determine
  what is the real problem to be addressed
• A results map can be a very useful tool to
  capture the strategy for achieving results
• The focus in results management should be on
  high-level results such as outcomes
• It is important to have a communication strategy
  for results, and to have good management
  processes to keep the focus on results

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United Nations Development ProgrammeHandbook on
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for
Development Results
Monitoring What is different from the previous
handbook?

• Emphasis on
• start thinking about monitoring during planning
  and set up for monitoring initially at end of
  planning
• need to plan for monitoring (and evaluation)
• monitoring for results outcomes and outputs,
  programme and projects
• Importance of continuous stakeholder engagement
• Seeking opportunities to identify, develop and
  use national analytical, planning, monitoring
  and evaluation capacities
• Linking project (output), outcome and programme
  monitoring through corporate systems (Atlas and
  ERBM Platform)
• Clarifying roles, responsibilities, processes and
  tools
• Link review mechanisms projects - outcomes -
  programmes
• Decision making based on monitoring data and
  evidence

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United Nations Development ProgrammeHandbook on
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for
Development Results
Key messages Monitoring

• Setting up a Monitoring and Evaluation framework
• Communicating to reinforce the results plan
• Institutionalization of stakeholder participation
  and outcome groups
• Firm up monitoring plans and arrangements before
  starting implementation at programme and project
  levels
• Data collection, analysis, synthesis and
  reporting as one continuum
• Make decisions based on monitoring and follow up
• Measure progress objectively
• Manage changes to plans systematically and
  inclusively

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United Nations Development ProgrammeHandbook on
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for
Development Results
Evaluation What is different from the previous
handbook?

• Recognizing the importance of good planning and
  monitoring for evaluation
• Greater emphasis and integration of national
  ownership in evaluation as a guiding principle
• More detailed step-by-step guidance on how to
  plan for and manage an evaluation
• Clarity on roles and responsibilities
• Tools on costing an evaluation, selecting
  consultants, avoiding conflict of interest,
  developing TOR, quality assuring the draft report
• A chapter dedicated to evaluation design and
  methodology and enhanced tools
• Discussion on ethics

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United Nations Development ProgrammeHandbook on
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for
Development Results
Key messages Evaluation

• Evaluation starts at planning and is planned with
  a purpose
• Determining purpose and use of evaluation
• Evaluability enhanced by good planning and
  monitoring
• Evaluation should be done in a way to enhance
  national ownership
• Evaluation serves its purpose when conducted
  with rigor and used effectively

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United Nations Development ProgrammeHandbook on
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for
Development Results
Using knowledge from ME

• Accountability for enhanced learning
• Knowledge from ME to inform future planning and
  programming
• Sharing knowledge from evaluations to increase
  impact
• Disseminating knowledge and monitor feedback

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United Nations Development ProgrammeHandbook on
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for
Development Results
How to use this Handbook

• The Handbook is intended to be used as a
  reference throughout the programme cycle
• The Handbook is about planning, monitoring and
  evaluating results. It is not a Handbook on
  programme or project management (for these topics
  refer to the POPP)

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United Nations Development ProgrammeHandbook on
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for
Development Results
Useful tools at www.undp.org/eo.handbook

• Templates
• Annual Work Plan Format with monitoring component
  ,
• Evaluation Plan,
• Managment Response Template,
• Monitoring and Evaluation Capacity Matrix,
• Planning Matrix for Monitoring,
• Results Framework with Means of Verification
• Checklists
• Validating Assumptions and Risks, Reviewing
  Outputs and Output Indicators,
• Reviewing Outcomes and Outcome Indicators,
• Reviewing a Results Map, Reviewing a Problem
  Tree,
• Assessing the Readiness for Evaluation
• Compendiums
• Planning, monitoring and evaluation in conflict
  prevention and recovery settings BCPR
• Guidelines on Outcome Evaluation (under
  development)