There are multiple tools and approaches practitioners can adopt in the Monitoring and Evaluation of their projects to measure progress, achieve specific goals, and tackle contextual implementation challenges. While some of these approaches are complementary, others have a broader applicability. The use of the Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (PM&E) method is an effective approach that focuses on involving project stakeholders in the monitoring and evaluation process.
Its foundation lies in the concept of inclusion of key stakeholders in order to extract higher effectiveness from the planned interventions.
5 Considerations While Using the Participatory Monitoring And Evaluation Methods
1) Stakeholders Should be Active Participants — not just sources of information
People who are closest to an issue or intervention tend to know the most about it and how it affects them. Participatory methods seek to engage key project stakeholders more actively in reflecting and assessing the progress of their project leading to the achievement of sustainable goals.
4th Wheel undertook a participatory exercise with 40 construction workers to design a program which would improve their living conditions. A hypothetical budget was distributed among the workers and we divided them into groups of 5.
We asked them how they would spend the money to improve their living conditions. With workers being the active participants, we were surprised to know that the highest proportion of money across all groups was given to cleanliness drives and fumigation drives rather than clean water and toilets which we earlier thought mattered the most.
2) Participatory M&E is not just about consulting communities, but working with them to analyse results and use evidence for shared decision-making and facilitating sustainable development
Once we focus on building and maintaining culturally responsive relationships between practitioners and participants throughout the participation continuum, we foster trust and confidence that improves the quality of participation and therefore generates more representative and useful findings for greater impact.
Stakeholders can contribute at various levels of participation
- Inform (Information is provided to the community)
- Consult (Input is obtained from the community)
- Involve (Practitioners work directly with community)
- Collaborate (The community is a partner in the process)
- Empower (The community leads the process)
This way stakeholders and practitioners can systematically work together and act on the outcomes of participation during each phase.
We worked on an impact study with teachers to understand how capacity development programs are helping them to use activity/technology based teaching methods, build socio-emotional learning among their students. To make M&E truly participatory we took back results of the last 3 year studies and involved them in card sorting and ranking exercises.
We observed teachers themselves thought of ways to improve results and capacity building programs. They outlined the support they need and the roles they can play in improving impact. To summarise, impact results not just show donors and managers how the program performed, but also work with target groups and communities to become a partner and lead program processes.
3) Participatory tools and methods chosen must suit the context and capacities of communities involved
Maximising the participation of communities is a key feature of Participatory learning and action. Participants become more responsive to actual (rather than assumed) needs and priorities, more effective, and more able to mitigate potential negative consequences. This results in more sustainable development because of stronger community ownership and empowerment.
While working on analysing the impact of promotion and provision of menstrual hygiene products among tribal women, we decided to use two methods of Photo voice and Participatory video. We asked women (18-35 years) to use photos and videos to showcase their daily lives on days of menstruation and otherwise.
Our team repeated this process at both baseline and endline phases. We saw very limited participation using these methods since many women did not mobile phones with cameras, many did not know how to use them, many were very shy to talk about these aspects since they were considered taboo. Another major deterrent was that women were concerned that sharing their own photos and videos will not be accepted well within their families.
While we did get some photos and videos tracing change before and after use of menstruation products, they were mostly from younger girls who covered very limited outcomes of going to school, less stress, etc.
4) Skilled facilitators within organizations is crucial for participatory M&E
Skilled facilitators make sure that voices of community members are heard throughout the evaluation process. They take into account a continuous and comprehensive evaluation when designing future projects. The principle of implementing recommended corrective actions is essential for ensuring that the program or intervention achieves its intended outcomes and impact.
We undertook most significant change methods and storytelling with children on an assessment. It was to understand how STEM laboratories have helped them. We used 4 researchers/facilitators across 4 states (Delhi, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha) to bring in these stories.
This was a massive learning for us to train and capacitate facilitators and standardise their understanding of facilitation, since we could obviously see the difference in the stories and qualitative insights that came from different facilitators.
It was also brought to our notice that at some places students were not comfortable in sharing their views or opening up since facilitators took a ‘sage on the stage’ approach as against ‘guide on the side’ to facilitate their responses and thinking.
5) Buy-in from leadership is crucial for participatory M&E
We undertook most significant change methods and storytelling with children on an assessment to understand how STEM laboratories have helped them. We used 4 researchers/facilitators across 4 states (Delhi, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha) to bring in these stories.
This was a massive learning for us to train and capacitate facilitators and standardise their understanding of facilitation. Since we could obviously see the difference in the stories and qualitative insights that came from different facilitators.
It was also brought to our notice that at some places students were not comfortable in sharing their views or opening up since facilitators took a ‘sage on the stage’ approach as against ‘guide on the side’ to facilitate their responses and thinking.
Leaders are the ones who make the all-important decision. Providing a clear, consistent rationale and consulting on how the process will take place can help stakeholders and practitioners at all levels to align themselves with the process and help to implement significant changes.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation approach can play an important role in ensuring the success of a project or initiative.
Diverse sources of information and perspectives can be helpful for researchers and decision-makers to understand and adapt evidence to contexts for more effective interventions. Ultimately, this approach gives project stakeholders a sense of ownership in success of their projects, leading to greater overall success.
As one of the leading companies in India for Monitoring and Evaluation, 4th wheel can assist you in projects for planning, particularly livelihoods and market based project interventions by creating simple MIS and easy to understand Dashboards, and conducting End line and Baseline assessment to achieve your sustainable development goals.
Based on the evaluation studies and social audits, we provide feedback for strengthening the current and future project designs.
We would like to thank Ms Naomi Falkenburg; MEL Consultant and ActivityInfo for providing some of the information found in this article.
