This Annex helps guide those responsible for contracting, including managers and IFAD and cooperating institution staff, in shaping project job descriptions to include M&E responsibilities based on the learning and participation-oriented ideas presented in this Guide. It outlines three job descriptions, two sets of external responsibilities that cover the most common M&E functions in a project and five terms of reference, or TOR (see Table E-1). It includes ideas for the M&E responsibilities of primary stakeholder groups. While it is not common for TOR to be drawn up for such groups, in some projects primary stakeholders are service providers and so have M&E responsibilities. The material in this annex focuses on the learning-oriented and participatory M&E principles on which this Guide is based.

Each project is unique in terms of hierarchies of control, timing of staff appointments, and numbers and locations of staff. Responsibilities may well differ and lie with different individuals than those suggested here. Develop your own TOR and job descriptions to suit project needs (see Box E-1). Draw on the material in this annex for inspiration.

For those projects wanting to strengthen their participation and learning focus, two questions might help when developing TORs or job descriptions: (1) How will this person contribute to the project’s learning processes? and (2) What aspects of participatory M&E need to be included in this individual’s TOR or job description?

Box E-1. Elements to include when constructing your own TORs Background Description of the project (goal, purpose, outcomes) Contribution of the job contract to the project Purpose of the task being contracted Main purpose, key audience(s) and expected outputs Formal decisions that the task supports and planned use of outputs from the task Scope and method Overall scope of the work Desired type of analysis, approach and methods, particularly what is expected in terms of participatory approaches Issues to be covered Delimitation of themes in relation to the purpose of the task Extent to which cross-cutting issues (gender, poverty, empowerment) are to be dealt with Personnel requirements Number of people to be involved in the task and the time allotted for each Necessary professional qualifications and experience Schedule Starting date, timing of interim analysis, deadline Stakeholders to be involved Who should be involved: authorities, institutions, groups, individuals, funding agency, cooperating institution, steering committee How people/groups will be involved Remuneration Daily rates Costs to be covered and not covered How invoicing and payment will proceed Documentation Ownership of work and, therefore, extent to which documentation will be distributed

Table E-1. List of key TORs and job descriptions

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E.4 M&E Responsibilities of General Project (and Partner) Staff

Most TORs or job descriptions of general project staff or staff of implementing partners do not include M&E-related clauses. By stipulating certain M&E responsibilities, the project is encouraging all staff to become engaged in the ongoing process of observing, noting and analysing how well the project is doing.

For All Project Staff

General qualifications and experience required

• An interest in training, on-the-job coaching, learning through exchanges and other forms of reflection to contribute to project M&E

• An understanding of the contribution of M&E to ensuring project impact

• Interest in improving M&E skills

Manager(s)

The following applies to various types of project managers, for example, managers of specific project components.

Responsibilities and tasks (M&E-related)

• Assist in designing and implementing participatory planning processes and procedures.

• Supervise the generation of local level AWPBs and consolidate into an overall AWPB.

• In consultation with the M&E officer and other management staff and advisors, liase with primary stakeholders and other staff to ensure a two-way flow of information on implementation.

• With local organisations, identify the support and resources they need for institutional strengthening, including for M&E, and provide follow-up to ensure support is provided.

• Facilitate communication between those carrying out field implementation and decision-makers on the number and quality of activities undertaken for each project component.

• Actively seek to understand problems and unexpected positive/negative impacts, discussing these with primary stakeholders and senior management.

• Assess field reports to determine possible implications for implementation and agree on corrective action with appropriate decision-makers.

• Assist with technical preparation and socio-economic appraisal of activities as well as approval of activities submitted by community groups through local councils or implementing NGOs. Make sure quality standards are adhered to and that plans are accompanied by clarity on how M&E will be undertaken.

Gender Officer/Women’s Development Manager

Responsibilities and tasks (M&E-related)

• Support project management and technical staff in incorporating gender issues in the project M&E system (performance questions, indicators, sampling, methods, procedures, analysis of gender-differentiated implementation and impact).

• Liase closely, continuously and constructively with primary stakeholders, government ministries, local government, potential contractors and other relevant projects to exchange ideas on the gender-sensitive M&E of project activities, processes and impacts.

• Work closely with local women’s groups to identify how they do their own M&E and how this can be linked to project M&E in ways that are safe and appropriate. Identify additional resources and support that will enable their active participation.

• Assist in gender-sensitive participatory planning and support implementation. Ensure women’s issues appear in local plans.

• Facilitate all field staff and project component managers to communicate information from the field to the appropriate decision-making forum on women’s involvement and performance in activities undertaken in all (sub-) components, processes and impacts.

• Ensure that training on and facilitation of M&E processes include awareness of how women and men can contribute equally.

• Arrange for the dissemination of information from M&E data on the degree to which gender-related objectives are being achieved and on the gender-differentiated impact of the project.

Qualifications and experience required

In addition to normal requirements in terms of gender and project management expertise:

• experience in assessing intra-household dynamics and impacts on diverse age/ethnic/social groups;

• experience with integrating gender considerations into M&E processes, both in terms of the type of information being sought and in terms of creating spaces in which gender-related implementation and impact issues can be discussed openly and corrective actions agreed upon.

Financial Controller-Administrator

Responsibilities and tasks (M&E-related)

• In collaboration with the relevant national and state authorities, prepare a scheme of accounts that is computerised and provides management information readily to project management and the M&E coordinator.

• Establish systems of in-house accounting for those items of the project expenditure that are incurred directly rather than through contracted operations.

• Support M&E coordinator(s) and officers in implementing expenditure monitoring.

• Prepare routine financial statements for submission to project management and as necessary to external supervising bodies, such as steering committees, boards, etc.

• Assist in the preparation of budgets for the AWPB, as necessary.

Technical Component Officer

Responsibilities and tasks (M&E-related)

• Supervise and coordinate field staff in interacting actively with primary stakeholders to learn how to improve implementation on a continual basis.

• Participate in the development, regular revision and updating of the information system so progress with the project component can be monitored, problems identified and its impact assessed accurately.
• Work closely with the M&E officer, gender specialist and field staff to ensure that a feasible and useful M&E process is developed for the component, based on the participation and equity principles of the project.
• Identify what support is needed to undertake good M&E of the component, and ensure this support is forthcoming.
• Supervise the M&E of any contractors that are within the scope of the component.

Communication Specialist

Responsibilities and tasks (M&E-related)

• Prepare a communication strategy for the project by assessing the key information dissemination needs of the main stakeholder groups, identifying the most appropriate medium, frequency, audience and content.

• Ensure timely, regular and easily accessible communication, such as quarterly newsletters, radio programmes and bulletin boards, which include up-to-date M&E information and are targeted to the audience.

• Maintain the project Website, including up-to-date M&E information and lessons learned.

• Respond to the wide variety of information requests from stakeholders in the project area, including the media.

• Oversee the preparation, printing and dissemination of documents, including liasing with authors, printers and graphic designers.

• Assist in organising seminars, workshops and other meetings on priority project issues for stakeholders.

• Work with technical staff and management to ensure that information on progress, problems, impacts and lessons learned are stored in the appropriate location for enabling access to the intended user.

• Occasionally assist with the work of short-term consultants, facilitating their access to the information they require.

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E.5 M&E Responsibilities of Primary Stakeholder Groups

The type of link between the project and primary stakeholder groups will vary greatly per project. The ideas below do not specify what is needed, for example, for monitoring micro-credit groups or local extension activities. Such issues will require further detailing in any agreement between the project, implementing partners and primary stakeholder groups.

General scope of the relationship

The main M&E contribution of primary stakeholder groups is to provide thorough insights into the relevance, quality and impact of project activities, with a special focus on ensuring the participation and voice of women, the poorest, and marginalised social/ethnic groups.

Responsibilities and tasks (M&E-related)

• Participate actively in M&E design events, particularly by identifying the stakeholder group’s information needs and capacities.

• Negotiate with project staff and implementing partners on what the group will monitor and what support is needed for this to be possible.

• Ensure that the agreements on group M&E responsibilities are fulfilled.

• Actively represent the diversity of the group’s opinions in project-related meetings and events.

• Hold regular local meetings to reflect on project activities and gather opinions on future developments for feedback to project management.

• Ensure that information on project plans are discussed in the group and that local voices are actively present in relevant decision-making processes.

• In all the above, ensure that the diversity in the group is respected by allowing space for women, the poorest, and marginalised social/ethnic groups to make a meaningful contribution.

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E.6 TOR for Consultant to Set Up the M&E System

General scope of the job

The M&E consultant will be responsible for establishing and providing ongoing support for implementing the project’s M&E system, in line with IFAD guidelines for M&E.

Organisational relationships

The M&E consultant will be answerable to the project director, with the majority of tasks to be undertaken in collaboration with implementing partners, project staff and, particularly, M&E personnel and primary stakeholder groups to enable a learning process and inclusive decision making and to maximise transparency and accountability. The M&E consultant is expected to work alongside the M&E coordinator, if one has been appointed, but will not have supervisory responsibility in the project. As with all project staff, consultants are accountable to the primary stakeholders of the project.

Operating responsibilities and tasks

Year 1

Note: staffing conditions (quality and quantity) at start-up will determine which of the tasks below are relevant for the consultant to carry out.

• Define the detailed responsibilities of the M&E unit coordinator and the M&E officers.

• At start-up, work closely with project management, including implementing partners and primary stakeholders, to revise the project strategy and logframe.

• At start-up, with key stakeholders, use the revised logframe and project budget to make a detailed design of the M&E system. Include performance questions, information needs, indicators and related targets, methods, sampling procedure and reporting formats and procedures. Ensure that these supplement and link to the existing M&E processes of implementing partners and other stakeholder groups.

• Draw up TORs to initiate the baseline survey, including methodology preparation, sample selection and staff training if required. If coordinating implementation, supervise data entry and provide preliminary analysis of findings.

• Recommend suitable professional M&E training for all staff during years 1 and 2, and provide this training where possible.

• Outline the management information system, define reporting requirements from managers responsible for implementing activities/components and define formats for standard reports (e.g., quarterly and annual reports).

• Install hardware and software for M&E information and arrange for the training of computer operators.

• With the main stakeholders, outline a feasible impact assessment approach that will supplement the M&E of other implementing partners. It will have at least two components: primary stakeholder assessment of project impact and self-assessment by staff (project and implementing partners) of project impact.

• Define the need for specific M&E studies.

• Define how often and how the M&E system will be revised and improved, as well as whose responsibility this is.

• Identify agencies in the public and private sectors with the capabilities and experience relevant for implementing specific ad-hoc M&E studies.

• Ensure that the M&E system is based on a learning orientation and is focused around the needs of the decision-makers to manage for impact. Reach agreement on when reflections and information analysis will take place and with whom.

Intermediate year(s)

• Ensure that M&E activities are appropriate and take account of the evolution of the project and of stakeholders’ needs and capacities.

• Together with those implementing it, identify problems with the M&E system and modify the system, as necessary.

• Provide refresher training on M&E, as necessary.

• Oversee the design and development of mid-term field studies.

• Assess if M&E findings are being used to make decisions and increase project impact. If necessary, identify what can be undertaken to ensure this happens.

• Review the results of completed surveys and assist in report preparation.

• Assist with the mid-term evaluation/review.

• Ensure that staff and implementing partners are receiving adequate support to be able to implement their M&E functions and that data collection and analysis is on schedule and proving useful to the end-users. In consultation with the users, make recommendations for adaptation, if needed.

Final project year

• Assist in the coordination and execution of the completion evaluation. This includes a participatory impact assessment with primary stakeholders, in which lessons learned are identified for a possible next phase or for similar projects elsewhere.

Working conditions and time schedule

Note: for a consultant you will need to decide how many months per year and in which year you will require his/her input. Stipulate that the actual timing of Technical Assistance visits will be decided during the initial input and should be based on project needs. This could look something like: "A total of # person months, covering a six-month period at start-up to execute a baseline survey and monitoring system design; then one month of annual inputs in all subsequent years for relevant support in M&E implementation, refinement and analysis; and a final six-month input for the completion evaluation study".

Note: stipulate where the consultant will be based. For example, "The consultant will be based at the project coordination office and will also travel to field sites with M&E personnel as required."

Qualifications and experience required

She/He must have:

• a solid understanding of rural development, with a focus on participatory processes, joint management and gender issues;
• familiarity with and a supportive attitude towards processes of strengthening local organisations and building local capacities for self-management;
• willingness to undertake regular field visits and interact with different stakeholders, especially primary stakeholders;
• computer skills;

• leadership qualities and personnel and team management skills (including mediation and conflict resolution).

She/He must also have:

• a degree in relevant areas, for example, agricultural economics, rural development management;

• a minimum of eight years of professional experience in developing and implementing M&E systems in similar projects;

• proven experience with the logical framework approach and other strategic planning approaches, M&E methods and approaches (including quantitative, qualitative and participatory), training in M&E development and implementation, facilitating learning-oriented analysis sessions of M&E data with multiple stakeholders, information analysis and report writing.

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E.7 TOR for Consultant on Participatory M&E

General scope of the job

The main purpose of this consultant is to facilitate the primary stakeholder group and project staff in developing a participatory M&E system that:

• can be handled by primary stakeholders and field staff;

• considers the information needs of project management and implementers;

• generates sufficiently reliable and useful information about economic, socio-cultural and environmental project impact;

• produces information for primary stakeholders that helps them better manage and own the project;

• can be run at minimum cost, replacing less effective elements of the existing M&E system;

• fits well with the existing M&E system of the project, building upon existing experience and capacities and incorporating informal M&E systems already within stakeholder groups.

Organisational relationships

The participatory M&E consultant will be answerable to the project director. The majority of tasks will be undertaken in collaboration with staff of implementing partners – particularly those responsible for M&E – and primary stakeholder groups to enable a learning process, ensure inclusive decision making and maximise transparency and accountability. The M&E consultant is expected to work closely with the M&E coordinator(s) on participatory M&E issues and without supervisory responsibility in the project. All project staff and consultants are accountable to the primary stakeholders of the project.

Responsibilities and tasks

• Identify the needs in the project, among staff, implementing partners and primary stakeholders, with regard to developing more participatory forms of M&E.

• Work with project staff and implementing partners to identify what can be changed and how this can best be undertaken, and to make the learning processes more inclusive of primary stakeholders and other relevant groups.

• Work with primary stakeholders to develop locally relevant indicators and methods that allow impact assessment and contribute to the institutional strengthening of their organisations.

• As necessary, prepare and train staff, primary stakeholders and implementing partners on reflective learning events, participatory monitoring and/or participatory impact assessment including any methodological training and piloting of methods, data collection techniques, data processing and information analysis.

Specific responsibilities related to primary stakeholder self-evaluation

• Work closely with primary stakeholder groups to identify purpose of self-evaluation, key information needs, methods and formats for data collection and analysis.

• If necessary, develop a communication strategy for sharing M&E results with others.

• Discuss with staff how self-evaluation results are to feed into ongoing assessments and the organisational development of the project.

• Document results and main elements of the approach, with project staff.

• Provide training, if desirable, for those responsible among the primary stakeholders and the project staff or implementing partners for guiding the self-evaluation process.

• Develop appropriate support material with primary stakeholders.

Qualifications and experience required

• Similar to E.5, but at least four years of experience with participatory planning and M&E processes are also needed.

• Good communication and facilitation skills.

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E.8 TOR for Consultant on Information Management

General scope of the job

The main contribution of this consultant will be to develop the main tools for data collection, recording and management in ways that are locally feasible, enable as much open access to information as possible and are flexible enough to allow updating as information needs evolve.

Organisational relationships

The consultant will be answerable to the project director, with tasks to be undertaken with relevant implementing partners, project staff – particularly those with M&E functions – and primary stakeholder groups to enable a learning process, ensure inclusive decision making and maximise transparency and accountability. The consultant will be expected to work closely with the M&E coordinator(s) and will not have supervisory responsibility in the project. All project staff and consultants are accountable to the primary stakeholders of the project.

Responsibilities and tasks

• Base recommendations for and implementation of systems for information management on the existing M&E system or plans. She/He will do this by assessing the current state of project M&E and of performance questions and indicators, the objective hierarchy and assumptions, and by considering who is using/will use this information.

• Revise the information needs of all key stakeholders that need to be integrated into the local database.

• Refine, if necessary, the methods for regular information collection and for special studies arising from project needs.

• Reach agreement on where data will be entered, who will have access and who will provide statistical analysis (where and when).

• Define the principal automated outputs that the system should provide, based on funding agency and ministry requirements (and related to results, objectives, impact, lessons learned and corrective actions needed/taken).

• Define the choice of software according to database requirements, degree of user-friendliness, possibilities of updating the database and the technical facilities available in the field.

• Develop recommendations and TOR for additional information specialists to maintain the database.

• Make # (to be agreed with project director) return visits to the project to review information management and make adjustments, as necessary.

• If necessary, install hardware and software for M&E information and arrange for training of computer operators.

Qualifications and experience required

• Computer/Data processing specialisation, with at least five years of experience setting up and maintaining management information systems in rural development projects.

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E.9 TOR for Implementing Partner (M&E Component Only)

General scope of the job

The main M&E role of the implementing partners will be to ensure that the component/activity for which they are responsible is adequately monitored in a timely fashion, based on active participation of local groups and continual corrective actions to improve impact.

Organisational relationships

The implementing partner will be answerable to the project director and will work closely with project technical staff and M&E staff to ensure M&E increases impact. It will be accountable, in terms of its work, to the primary stakeholders with whom it is working.

Responsibilities and tasks (M&E-related and focusing on the component for which the implementing partner is responsible)

• Work closely with project director to organise a start-up workshop with stakeholders, especially primary stakeholders, during which the learning-oriented and participatory nature of M&E is discussed.

• Work with the M&E coordinator/project director on developing the M&E system via a process in which (representatives of) primary stakeholders make a critical contribution.

• Understand existing M&E needs and processes among primary stakeholders and integrate these with project M&E needs and processes to form one complementary project M&E system.

• Work closely with primary stakeholders and project M&E staff to initiate and guide the process of transferring M&E to local organisations, providing required support to strengthen capacities.

• Facilitate learning exchanges and information dissemination between project coordination and primary stakeholders, working with other projects, funding agencies and government ministries.

• Fulfil all contractual requirements in terms of M&E data gathering, analysis, report writing and the extent and quality of participatory processes.

• Participate in special evaluation studies, supervision missions and external evaluations as agreed at the onset of the project.

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E.10 TOR for Mid-Term Review

General scope

A mid-term review (MTR) will assess operational aspects, such as project management and implementation of activities and also the extent to which objectives are being fulfilled. It will focus on corrective actions needed for the project to achieve impact. It will be a decisive review to evaluate whether a project should be continued to a second phase.

Organisational relationships

The MTR team leader will be answerable to the funding agency (and possibly the cooperating institution) and will work closely with the project director, implementing partner management and M&E staff to design and undertake the review. The project will provide key background documentation to the team (project appraisal report, president report and recommendations, supervision mission reports, any progress reports, M&E reports and special studies, background information on the project area, etc.).

Responsibilities and tasks

• Before starting, be thoroughly familiar with the project (objectives, outputs, previous phases including previous activities, outputs, problems, budget time schedule, context, etc.).

• Consult with the project director on how the review mission will be best conducted, how implementing partners, project staff and primary stakeholders will be involved, what the timetable is for fieldwork and reporting, and how feedback on the conclusions will be organised.

• Agree with project management and funding agencies on the methodology of the review, in terms of: (1) the level of participation vis-à-vis management of the process, data collection, data analysis, drawing conclusions/supplying recommendations and giving reactions to draft conclusions and (2) the methodology to be followed (sequence of workshops, seminars, interviews, questionnaires, participatory techniques, etc.).

• Agree what the MTR will address, for example, the relevance of the project to local development priorities and needs; clarity and feasibility of project objectives (including targets); prospects for sustainability; quality and adequacy of project strategy (including logical consistency, clarity of assumptions and risks, quality of external relationships, cost-effectiveness; and the quality of participatory processes and support to strengthening local organisations.

Note: the elements below are commonly found in MTRs but will vary per MTR.

• Per component, assess physical progress, efficiency and adequacy, in terms of delivery of project inputs and outputs.

• Per component, analyse financial progress. Assess whether the use of project funds is commensurate with the attainment of physical progress, efficacy and the timeliness of procurement and disbursement activities.

• Assess the efficiency of project organisation and management with respect to its size and composition, organisational structure, personnel management and policy, the qualifications of local staff and consultants, reporting, effectiveness of the M&E system (in defining performance indicators and collecting and analysing monitoring data on project progress) and follow-up on primary stakeholders’ reactions to project activities.

• Assess the relevance and effectiveness of technical assistance and training given to primary stakeholders and staff in relation to design objectives, and the extent to which they have been given based on needs assessment and followed up on to determine their impact.

• Assess the quality of cooperation with institutions and effectiveness of coordination mechanisms, with respect to composition and membership of coordination committees, and contribution to timely decision making and problem solving. Changes in project design in this respect will be thoroughly assessed.

• Assess degree of compliance with loan agreement.

• Analyse which factors and constraints have influenced project implementation, including technical, managerial, organisational, institutional and socio-economic policy issues, in addition to other external factors unforeseen during design.

• Assess project results and impacts, in terms of development outcomes, based on the project’s actual and potential development impact on the primary stakeholder groups, relevant institutions and wider context. This includes identifiable benefits for primary stakeholders – including wider livelihood and capacity-building – in terms of depth, spread and gender, primary stakeholder participation and environmental concerns.

• Assess the prospects of the local primary and secondary stakeholders and host institutions for sustaining impacts after termination of the project, taking into account old and new assumptions and risks.

• Make an overall assessment of project cost effectiveness.

• Identify where project design needs adjusting/reorienting in order to increase its effectiveness in reaching the target groups. This includes proposals to adjust the project objectives and strategy, activities, budget and inputs, organisational/institutional set-up and implementation plan.

• Assess the performance of funding and supervising agencies in terms of quality of supervision, efficiency in loan administration, ability to anticipate problems and extend implementation support, adequacy of reporting, recommendations and effectiveness of follow-up on recommendations. Identify how this has affected project performance.

• Produce a clear set of lessons learned that can benefit the project in its remaining lifespan.

Qualifications and experience required

The MTR team should include diverse professional expertise (various disciplines) and methodological skills (local development, empowerment, experience with MTRs, workshop facilitation, participatory research, gender competence, etc.) as well as knowledge of the region/country.

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About Evaluation	Programme of Work
Strategy, Process & Methodology	Evaluation Knowledge System
A Guide for Project M&E

 

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