Program Quality

Technical resources on CRS programming

Monitoring and evaluation

CRS promotes an approach to monitoring and evaluation (M&E) that supports judicious management of resources and appropriate tools to measure progress and results of projects and programs. M&E supports the documentation of accountability and impact and answers questions related to how well a project is working.

Benard Odero with a ruggedized notebook computer.

M&E is also critical to improving management. It can help identify the conditions under which a project is likely to succeed or fail, serve as an early warning system for potentially difficult issues, and generate ideas for remedial actions. An effectively delivered, utilization-focused M&E system will provide the basis for improved decision making.

The overall vision for M&E in CRS, which acts as a directional beacon throughout the agency is that, in a cost-effective manner:

  • CRS staff have the best access possible to the agency’s institutional knowledge, which is reflected in their decision making.
  • CRS staff can provide robust and verifiable answers to questions about what the agency is doing, and the outcomes and impact of its operations.

CRS M&E staff are guided by a set of eight standards which, together with an accompanying support tool, are available here.

What are our priorities?

CRS M&E staff are focused on ensuring that staff at all levels use improved systems and tools to plan, monitor, evaluate and report on their work. All that is undertaken by the M&E team is aimed at making a significant contribution to the achievement of this result.

What is our capacity?

CRS counts approximately 70 country program staff with significant M&E-related responsibilities. They are supported by six regional M&E specialists and three senior technical advisers, who work across all the programs and on agency strategy.

Contacts

Guy Sharrock, senior technical adviser (gsharroc@crs.org)
Susan Hahn, consulting senior technical adviser (shahn@crs.org)

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Program framework

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