Complete M&E Plan and Results Framework

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is a process used to track project progress, inform strategic decision-making, foster adaptive management, and assess/ensure overall results and impact of the project.

• Monitoring is the continuous and systematic collection of data based on specific indicators to understand progress towards desired results in a project or program Theory of Change.
• Evaluation is a periodic and often external assessment of a project. It is focused on impact and should provide information on lessons learned—not only for the project, but for other projects, donors, stakeholders, etc.

The monitoring and evaluation (M&E) plan is used to describe how the M&E system will work during execution and may be considered the ME Standard Operating Procedure. The Plan will identify staff involved in M&E, the Results Framework matrix (the indicators that will be used to monitor project progress), a description of reports and tools that will be used to assess progress, and a plan for how information will be stored, documented and shared. It may be helpful to provide diagrams to visualize data flow and management. The following are points to consider when developing the larger plan for monitoring and evaluation.

• The project decides on systems and tools to use for documenting, storing and sharing products associated with monitoring and evaluation. These may include: Smartsheet or excel for the results framework; SharePoint, Smartsheet, Dropbox, One Drive, or a project website for managing tasks, uploading documents and/or sharing information and reports.
• Roles, responsibilities and timeline are clearly defined for collection, analysis, documentation, and sharing of M&E information and reports (e.g. progress reports and results framework). Note: these responsibilities are often a joint collaboration between the M&E officer, field staff, project manager and consultants (i.e. for surveys) (See governance section).
• Project partners are engaged and approve of the monitoring plan. Stakeholders may participate in project monitoring to increase buy-in and reduce costs (e.g. monitoring of community forests may take place in full or in part by community members trained by the project).
• The team is advised to allocate some resources to monitoring context, risk and any new research (i.e. best practice reports) or innovations that could potentially alter the project's strategies or chances of success. This type of monitoring may be informal and could be a function of the M&E officer to systematically document in the project progress reports and review during the recommended reflection exercise(s) or workshop mentioned below.
• It is recommended that teams hold at a minimum, an annual reflection workshop to review project progress to inform project decision making and adaptive management of the project (i.e., refining Theory of Change, informing new annual work plans, etc.). The results of these workshops can be reflected in the project progress report delivered by the project to the WWF GEF Agency.
• The M&E plan should be properly budgeted (see budget section).

The Results Framework (RF) is a matrix that shows the different levels of results expected from a project and provides the instruction for how those results will be monitored and evaluated to assess progress toward the Project Objective reflected by the theory of change. The RF is a key M&E tool for GEF projects and is required in the CEO Endorsement Request document. There is an opportunity to reassess and validate the Results Framework during the project inception phase of project implementation to reflect an updated baseline or any new information needs from project management

Steps to Develop a Results Framework

Once project components, outcomes, activities and project sites (if relevant) are determined, the team should use the following template (link) and the following steps to develop their Results Framework:

1. Draft indicators based on information needs (hint: review Results Chains) and resources available. Refine over time based on baseline data, and review / validation with stakeholders. Please reference and include GEF Core indicators.
2. Define any ambiguous terms in the indicator.
3. Select a method for how information will be collected for each indicator.
4. Determine when, by whom, and where data gets collected.
5. Collect baseline data and refine targets based on that data.
6. Assess risks and assumptions for each outcome-indicator and form a risk mitigation strategy for key risks.
7. Estimate costs associated with measuring each indicator (will contribute to overall M&E budget).

A good results framework should meet the following recommendations:

Indicators

• Indicators should be provided at the Outcome and Objective level. It is recommended that there is at least one indicator per Outcome and Objective.
• The indicator and methodology should be clearly defined and understood. There should be no ambiguity over how to measure or interpret the data. If a different person were to measure the results from year to year, it should be interpreted similarly.
• Include relevant GEF Core and sub indicators.
• Include  social and gender-sensitive indicators (e.g. from Gender Action Plan, relating to safeguards, etc.) and consider disaggregation of targets and collected data (e.g. by gender, age, indigenous group, etc.)
• Output indicators are typically tracked in the workplan, but make sure it is tracked somewhere.

Targets

• Targets may be quantitative or qualitative, depending on information needs, however quantitative targets are encouraged for the assessment of the Development Objective rating. If qualitative indicators are provided, a clear and objective methodology should be described. Scorecards are a useful way to meet qualitative information needs and meet quantitative targets.
• It is recommended that the team choose achievable and conservative targets, particularly as the achievement of these targets will determine the annual development objective rating that is submitted to the GEF Secretariat. It is better to show that targets have been exceeded during project execution, rather than not met. Also, approvals to increase the targets are easier to obtain than approvals to reduce the targets in implementation. Teams can develop realistic targets by analyzing the baseline and similar interventions. Both the baseline and targets should be determined by CEO Endorsement Request Document.
• Project teams are encouraged to have annual targets when possible. The annual Development Objective (DO) rating, which is submitted to the GEF Secretariat, is based on achievement of indicator targets in the results framework.

Other

• Key assumptions and risks should be identified and incorporated into the risk analysis table. For example, the project assumes that when people are given control over the management of their natural resources and given adequate training or equipment, that they will manage those resources more sustainably. However, there might be unforeseen factors, such as climate change impacting those resources, a change in demand for those resources, or illegal activity that could impact whether that assumption holds true. In combination with monitoring, a mitigation plan (e.g. training for community patrols to address illegal activity) can help provide a plan B to improve the chances of success.

While the projects have specific indicators to measure their success or failure, there are also GEF indicators that are measured and reported to the GEF Secretariat to provide information on the achievement of GEF Global Environmental Benefits in their portfolio.  Core indicators should be integrated into the project’s Results Framework. For projects working on Protected Area management, the  Protected Area Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT) should be completed. For Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) projects, the GEF CCA Tracking Tool should be completed. Please see this link  for all standard GEF tracking tools and related Results Frameworks.