Topic 4

LEVELS OF MONITORING AND EVALUATION

Internal evaluation

It involves the use of internal staff to evaluate programs or issues of direct relevance to an
organization. The use of internal evaluation has been growing rapidly during the last decade.
Nevertheless, there is a serious gap in knowledge about internal evaluation, especially for human
service and non‐governmental organizations. This paper begins by examining internal evaluation
within the discourse of a “new vision” of evaluation that links evaluation closely to management
and practice. The paper explores the unique characteristics of internal evaluation, its strengths
and weaknesses, the process of internal evaluation, steps in developing internal evaluation
capacity, strategies for effective internal evaluation, and positive and negative roles of internal
evaluators. It concludes with a look at some recent developments in the evolution of internal
evaluation.

External Evaluation
External evaluators are constructed from an outside agency or organization to conduct the
evaluation. They are found at Institutions, Consulting firms, Hospitals etc.
They may bring a different perspective to the evaluation because they are not directly affiliated
with your project, however this can also be a draw back. They are detached from the daily
operations of the organization, thus limited knowledge on the projects needs and goals.

CORE CONCERNS OF PROJECT EVALUATORS

These are aspects that evaluators need to be concerned with assessing the performance of a
project
1. Project Progress: This is continual development of the project towards the achievement
of the planned objectives
2. Project Adequacy: This means project objectives, inputs or activities are enough for the
purpose intended.
3. Project Relevance: This is related to how the projects objectives and activities respond
to the needs of intended beneficiaries.
4. Project Validity It assesses the extent to which the project design like;
 Clear immediate objectives
 Focuses on identified problems and needs
 Describes main inputs, outputs and activities needed
 States means of verification of achievements of objectives

5. Project Effectiveness: This is the extent to which a project produces the desired result.
6. Project efficiency: The extent to which the methods used by the project or activities are
the best in terms of cost, resources used, time required and appropriateness of the task.
7. Project Impact: Determines the overall effect of a project’s activities in terms of socio-
economic.
8. Project cost analysis: This evaluation on cost and their effect with regard to producing
an outcome.
9. Project Sustainability: It examines the extent to which project strategies and activities
are likely to continue to be implemented after termination of the project.
10. Project unintended outcomes: These are unforeseen negative or positive effects of a
project.