Managing for impact in rural development, a guide for project M&E, section 2: Using M&E to manage for impact

This resource published by IFAD discusses how monitoring and evaluation can be used to manage projects to maximise their impact, in this case on poverty reduction.

This resource and the following information was contributed by Jo Hall.

Authors and their affiliation

Irene Guijt and Jim Woodhill, IFAD

Key features

This section of the IFAD guide discusses how monitoring and evaluation can be used to manage projects to maximise their impact, in this case on poverty reduction. Managing for impact includes:

• Guiding the project strategy
• Creating a learning environment
• Ensuring effective operations
• Developing and using the M&E system

How have you used or intend on using this resource?

This resource page is an output of the Global Partnership for Better Monitoring - a co-creation and research project supported by UNICEF. BetterEvaluation is working with UNICEF to try and improve our collective understanding and practice of the monitoring function. The initiative focuses on trying to elevate the monitoring function to make it more visible and to provide information about how to plan, conduct and use monitoring activities well. You can read more about this initiative on the Monitoring thematic page.

Why would you recommend it to other people?

This guide is laid out clearly and is very easy to read. It provides sound, practical and thorough advice for designing and using a traditional logical model for a project. For example, in discussing participatory monitoring, it asks you to ensure it is worthwhile for people to participate and provides a list of factors (page 30) that influence people’s sustained participation in M&E. I also like the way it includes all the elements of managing to maximise impact, for example ‘ensuring effective operations’, because this illustrates the overlap of monitoring with management.