What is Monitoring and Evaluation?

Monitoring and evaluation are practices that are widely used in public health and other fields with the goal of improving outcomes. Capturing just what is meant by “monitoring and evaluation,” however, may not be clear by just using that phrase. So how do you answer the question: What is monitoring and evaluation?

Monitoring refers to the observation of processes, while evaluation is the assessment of effectiveness.

Where these tools come in to play in a public health setting are in the analysis of interventions, determining how well they are implemented, and assessing how effective they are ultimately.

Let’s use an HIV AIDS prevention program as an example. Your goal would be to reach people who are at high risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. Monitoring involves figuring out if the program is reaching the right people – are they exposed to the intervention? Are they hearing and seeing the communication messages? Most importantly, are their behaviors changing? You employ monitoring to determine if there is progress.

Impact evaluation is different from monitoring because the goal is to determine the net impact of a particular project. An assessment may show a situation improving over time, but a multitude of factors could be at play -- because economies improve, policies change, and multiple programs are attempting to improve outcomes. But that doesn't mean that your particular intervention did that. It could be a combination of different interventions and different changes in the environment. 

Impact evaluations seek to understand the net impact of one specific project, holding everything else constant.

Monitoring and evaluation are important tools in public health, not only to measure effectiveness of interventions, but also to determine best practices moving forward. Results of the evaluation may point to adjusting an existing program or even moving focus and funding to a different program altogether.

Interested in learning more? Watch our video: “What is monitoring and evaluation?” 

Find out more about the kinds of research being done in our International Health and Sustainable Development department.