Given Hapunda

276 Introduction Any organisation needs to have a systematic mechanism of how to monitor and evaluate a project, programme or policy. This means organisations need to set up a monitoring and evaluation system. Many people confuse a monitoring and evaluation plan to be the same as the monitoring and evaluation system. These two are different but they build on each other. The M&E plan is the precursor of the M&E system. The M&E plan is developed from a project strategy and takes into account a lot of the organisation’s operational activities. Figure 1 below shows the link between M&E system and the project strategy and operations. Figure 1: The link between M&E, project strategy and operations ( adapted from : IFAD, 2002) The International Fund for Agricultural Development-IFAD (2002), defines an M&E plan as an overall framework of performance and learning, information gathering requirements (including indicators), reflection and review events with stakeholders, resources and activities required to implement a functional The project strategy (Detailed plan of what will be achieved and how it will be achieved) The M&E system Basis for Basis for Monitoring plan M&E communication strategy Indicator tracking table M&E matrix Reflection and communication plan Operational and implementation plan Implementation plan Project outputs, outcomes and impact Basis for Purpose and scope Condition and capacities Basis for Improvement through M&E