Breaking the Mould: Alternative approaches to monitoring and evaluation

A recent ALNAP Scoping Paper found that the principle use of information generated by monitoring systems in many humanitarian agencies is to compile reports for donors. Using that same information to inform project-level decision-making and learning sometimes looks like an after-thought. This will come as no surprise to some. Traditional monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems have often been criticised for focusing too heavily on donor accountability at the expense of the types of reflection and learning that can improve project level decision-making . This echoes longstanding concerns about the limited use of evaluation systems both inside the humanitarian sector and outside of it . And it mirrors wider questions about when and how evidence of all forms is actually used in decision-making.