“Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is heavily dependent on good planning. If plans are properly developed at the start of a project or programme then M&E become much easier exercises to plan and implement. On the other hand it can be very difficult to monitor and evaluate a project that has not been properly planned to start with.”

Source: Intrac – Planning & M&E, 2015

Before designing the relevant monitoring and evaluation (M&E) tools for a project or initiative, you will need to develop a good understanding of the project itself. Take some time to review relevant project documentation (project proposals, design documents, budget and resource plans etc.) and set up short interviews with the project managers and other key stakeholders to deepen your understanding and to clarify any questions you may have from the project documentation.

The tools that fall under this Planning Phase will also help you to better understand the M&E capacity of the project, which is a key consideration when choosing your M&E tools and approaches.

Tip: It is important to note that there is no ‘One-size-fits-all’ M&E approach. Use the opportunity, when gaining an understanding of the project context, to talk to the project teams and other stakeholders about what M&E they would like to see on the project, so that M&E is not considered a "technical afterthought" rather embedded as a way of working from the beginning of project implementation. This will help with overall ownership of the M&E processes throughout the project life cycle, not just at the evaluation stage.