Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)

1. Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) If one goal of your project is to have real impacts on farmers through high quality technical research, then you will need to have some way of finding out if you are achieving these impacts! The trouble is that many things affect farmers’ livelihoods, so you need some way to calculate the contribution of your research to their livelihoods.

2. Things we do Easy Difficult Impacts How are impacts generated on your project? Inputs (eg. planting material, money, labour, ideas, information) Activities (eg. working with farmers to evaluate new sugar cane) Outputs (e.g. selection of variety with high DM and sugar yields) Outcomes (e.g. large areas planted with this variety) Impacts(e.g. increased income)

3. Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) You will also need a monitoring tool as the situation in the field can quickly get beyond the capacity of researchers to monitor individually….

4. 16 farmers starting to evaluate forages 16 1995 An example from Sepaku in East Kalimantan

5. 10 farmers expanded How big an area and which species? 10 6 farmers did not expand or stopped 6 53 new farmers started to test forages 53 1995 1996 16

6. 8 2 4 2 40 13 1995 1996 1997 It is starting to become very complicated 10 16 Farmers starting to evaluate forages 6 Farmers expanding their forage area Farmers not expanding their forage area 53 10

7. 3 5 0 2 1 3 2 0 31 9 10 3 6 4 1995 1996 1997 1998 Impossible to handle without a monitoring tool 8 10 2 16 4 Farmers starting to evaluate forages 6 2 Farmers expanding their forage area 40 Farmers not expanding their forage area 53 13 10

8. 47 • 93 • new • new • 20 • 47 • 93 • out • out • out Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) You will also need a monitoring process because data on impacts from farmer trials can be misleading… • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • Number of farmers • 20 • 47 • 93

9. Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) You will also need a monitoring process because data on impacts from farmer trials can be misleading… • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • Number of farmers • 20 • 47 • 93 • Average Area (sq m / farmer) • 20 • 20 • 20 • Impact??

10. Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) You will also need a monitoring process because data on impacts from farmer trials can be misleading… • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • Number of farmers • 20 • 47 • 93 • Average Area (sq m / farmer) • 20 • 450 • 1205 • Who? Many farmers? • What impacts? How significant?

11. Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) • Before you start a process of measuring the impacts of your research, you need to know: • What impacts are happening? • How many farmers are experiencing these impacts? • Are the impacts significant in farmers’ lives? • Only then should you start to quantify the impacts.

12. Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Getting answers to these three questions may not be easy. Stories of impacts are often misleading (exaggerated or based on stories from just one farmer) Reports from the field are often very uninformative about ‘impacts’…only about outputs One method we have used to capture impacts as they start to happen in the field is the use of digital photography as a basis for monitoring

13. Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) One method we have found very useful to capture impacts as they start to happen in the field is the use of digital photography

14. Baseline Survey Laying a baseline for impact assessment A simple process for M&E

15. Baseline Survey A simple process for M&E Laying a baseline for impact assessment Village characterisation From secondary information and results of participatory diagnosis and initial planning with communities:

16. Baseline Survey A simple process for M&E Laying a baseline for impact assessment Village characterisation From secondary information and results of participatory diagnosis and initial planning with communities: Adoption Tree Surveys Monitoring evaluation and adoption of innovations being tested by farmers

17. Baseline Survey A simple process for M&E Laying a baseline for impact assessment Village characterisation From secondary information and results of participatory diagnosis and initial planning with communities: Adoption Tree Surveys Monitoring evaluation and adoption of innovations being tested by farmers Farmer Focus Groups Common interest groups of farmers in villages working together on a particular issue (e.g. women worki ng on improving pig production)

18. Baseline Survey A simple process for M&E Laying a baseline for impact assessment Village characterisation From secondary information and results of participatory diagnosis and initial planning with communities: Adoption Tree Surveys Info rmal Monitoring evaluation and adoption of Observations innovations being tested by farmers I nformally monitor problems, innovations and Farmer Focus Groups activities Common interest groups of farmers in villages working together on a particular issue (e.g. women worki ng on improving pig production)

19. Baseline Survey A simple process for M&E Laying a baseline for impact assessment Village characterisation From secondary information and results of participatory diagnosis and initial planning with communities: Adoption Tree Surveys Info rmal Monitoring evaluation and adoption of Observations innovations being tested by farmers I nformally monitor problems, innovations and Farmer Focus Groups activities Common interest groups of farmers in villages working together on a particular issue (e.g. women worki ng on improving pig production) Quantifying Impact I mpacts identified by Farmer F ocus Groups are followed up with measurements

20. Source: Werner Stür, CIAT Click the back button on your browser to return to the main menu