Getting the House in Order Systematic Planning Monitoring and Evaluation (PMES) as a Tool to Improve Performance and Accountability

Abstract

In this paper, planning, monitoring and evaluation (PMES) refers to the systematic and critical self-analysis by non-governmental development organisations (NGDO's) and grassroots organisations (GRO's) of their performance with the purpose to improve themselves in the definition and pursuit of their objectives. In doing so, it is assumed that NGDO's and GRO's are goal-oriented, apply a kind of managerial perspective and have an interest in self-improvement under conditions of efficiency and effectiveness. In other words, PMES serves both managerial as well as internal education needs. When designing the system, a basic assumption must be that PMES links first and foremost to the needs and interests of NGDO's and GRO's and not primarily with those of private donor agencies. When overlap occurs, it must be regarded as an appreciated but nevertheless secondary benefit. In this discussion, I am being concerned with PMES as a formalised and recurrent procedure in NGO's intermediary as well as grassroots-based and with the prospect that such system will become disseminated more widely among them. This prospect is based on experiences over a number of years in three continents: PMES is basic to a self-guided development programme, part of a learning process and an indispensable tool of management for NGDO's and GRO's alike. This being true, certain conditions have to be met to reap the full benefits of investing in PMES: when these conditions are overlooked, the system may become counter-productive and turn into a frustrating, expensive nightmare.