SAS2 Concepts - Monitoring & Evaluation

SAS² shows how to design evidence-based and people-based inquiries that address the questions that people ask, at the right time and with the proper tools. The questions may be part of a problem or needs assessment, a strategic planning exercise, a risk assessment or a feasibility study. Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) questions such as “What are the results or impacts of our program or project thus far?”, or “How well is the program or project using its resources?” can also be answered using SAS² concepts and tools. As with any SAS² inquiry, the skills needed to ask and answer M&E questions for a certain context include knowing how to ground the inquiry in a real learning process, select the correct techniques, scale the inquiry to the right level, and mediate different views of the M&E process and its findings.

While M&E plays an important role in many projects and programs, we believe that efforts to create comprehensive M&E methods that work in all contexts are misguided. The SAS² approach to M&E, outlined in the attached, does not treat M&E as a special form of inquiry that requires established concepts or special bundles of techniques. Instead, it defines M&E as any inquiry that addresses, at any time, the relationship between planned action and observed results. From this viewpoint, there are no M&E frameworks or methods per se, only M&E questions. Any tool or technique, whether it’s a soil test or a conflict assessment using local stories, can be used to monitor or evaluate relationships between planned action and observed results, provided it is the right technique to answer the right question at the right time. The document SAS² Monitoring and Evaluation (PDF document, 111 KM) develops this idea further.