Activity Monitoring
Principles of good monitoring practice
- Encourage a participatory approach
Design and implementation of an Activity monitoring system should be as participatory as possible to ensure that all stakeholders’ views are included. Consider using civil society organisations to gather the views of key individuals and groups.
- Consider the needs of all of the different information users
Both the design and implementation of an Activity monitoring system should ensure that all stakeholders’ needs are considered. Key questions include: Who needs the information? What information do they need and how will they use it?
- Use and build on existing local systems and sources
Building on existing data collecting systems and avoiding the creation of new mechanisms will help reduce costs as well as increase ownership and sustainability. Resources need to be allocated to ensure that local systems can provide appropriate management information.
- Develop and use a monitoring plan
A monitoring plan will help ensure that key things are monitored at the appropriate moment. The Logical Framework Approach Guideline provides a number of useful tools that can be used to develop a monitoring plan. These include the logical framework matrix, work plan and resource schedule. The risk management plan is another important resource. See the NZAID Risk Assessment Guideline (currently in development).
- Identify and agree on appropriate indicators
Indicators are one of the building blocks of an effective monitoring system. The process of identifying and agreeing indicators should be done at the design stage in a participatory way involving all the key stakeholders, in particular the implementing partner and intended beneficiaries.
- Collect the minimum sufficient information
Data collection, storage, analysis and communication take up valuable time and resources. It is important to avoid collecting information that will not be used. Monitoring systems can become overly complicated and take up a disproportionate amount of resources, so it is important to keep them as simple and practical as possible.
- Cross check data to increase the reliability of information
Where possible, encourage our partners to cross-check data by collecting it from more than one source and using more than one method (sometimes referred to as triangulation). For example government health statistics could be checked by a small sample survey or a participatory rapid appraisal exercise. This increases the reliability of data and reduces the risk of decisions based on incorrect information.
- Take action in response to the issues raised in the monitoring!
Making sure the right decision-makers get the right monitoring information for their particular roles and responsibilities, in a timely fashion, should always be remembered as one of the most important parts of the monitoring system.