Overarching principles for M&E in FCV settings

In fragile, conflict-affected, and violent contexts, monitoring and evaluation practices must be carefully adapted to manage the complexities and uncertainties of these environments while maintaining ethical standards and promoting positive outcomes.

The principles outlined below offer high-level guidance for navigating monitoring and evaluation (M&E) processes in fragile, conflict-affected, and violent contexts (FCV). 

• Do no harm and ensure conflict sensitivity: Adopt a conflict-sensitive approach to avoid exacerbating existing conflicts or creating new tensions.
• Ensure safety and security: Prioritise the safety and security of both evaluators and participants throughout the M&E process. Regularly conduct risk assessments and implement measures to mitigate risks.
• Ensure psychological safety and trauma-informed practice: Adopt trauma-informed approaches that recognise the lasting impact of instability and violence on individuals and communities, particularly in active conflict and post-conflict settings. Regularly conduct risk assessments, implement measures to mitigate risks, and be sensitive to potential trauma triggers during evaluation activities. Provide training and resources to help staff recognise and respond to trauma and foster a supportive environment where M&E practitioners and participants can access emotional support and self-care resources during the M&E process.
• Conduct regular situation analysis: Monitor the complex interactions between interventions and conflict dynamics and carefully manage all aspects of the M&E process to minimise risks and support peacebuilding efforts.
• Respect local contexts and involve communities in M&E processes and decision-making: Engage local stakeholders in all stages of M&E activities, including marginalised groups, where feasible, appropriate, and safe. Pursue culturally specific and responsive evaluation methods by tailoring monitoring and evaluation approaches to the area's various cultural, social, and political contexts. This ensures sensitivity to local norms and practices and alignment with local priorities and realities.  
• Build trust, transparency, and accountability: Establish and maintain trust with local communities, be transparent about the objectives, methods, and potential impacts of the evaluation, and ensure accountability to both communities and stakeholders.
• Act strategically to decide where to focus evaluation efforts: Prioritise M&E activities that offer the most valuable insights and have the most significant potential for utilisation, ensuring resources are used efficiently and effectively in FCV contexts.
• Use context-appropriate methods and approaches: Flexibly combine and adapt various types of data, methods, approaches, and frameworks to suit the specific context and purposes of M&E activities. Identify benefits and risks in the methods and processes available, especially for marginalised groups.
• Foster flexibility and adaptability: Support adaptive management and learning by conducting regular needs and context analyses and adjusting strategies and designs based on real-time feedback and changing circumstances. Adapt methods and approaches as necessary to respond to changing needs and information.
• Empower and strengthen capacity in local communities: Support local capacity-strengthening to empower local actors, institutions, and communities to engage in and sustain monitoring and evaluation activities effectively.
• Maintain and promote ethical standards: Ensure that monitoring and evaluation activities remain free from undue influence and uphold the highest ethical standards in all aspects of M&E processes, including ensuring informed consent, confidentiality, and the safeguarding of sensitive information.
• Review quality and impact of M&E activities: Implement processes and standards to systematically review the quality and impacts of monitoring and evaluation activities and outputs, including impacts on vulnerable and marginalised groups, and take action to improve.