| Abstract: | Monitoring and evaluation is a fundamental instrument of project management that ensures
effective, efficient and accountable delivery of project results. Set of interrelated M&E activities
are identified and implemented at various phases of the project life. With this in mind a research
study was conducted with the objective of determining the effect of monitoring and evaluation
practices on the performance of development projects implemented by five local NGO’s. The study
objective was guided by the following five research questions: To what extent does availability of
funds affects the performance of projects? To what extent does M&E Planning affects the
performance of projects? To what extent does use of M&E result findings affects the performance
of projects? To what extent does M&E structure affects the performance of projects? And to what
extent does role of management affects the performance of projects?
The study was conducted focusing on five local NGO’s that have similar level of engagement and
scale of operations. Descriptive and explanatory research designs were employed to analyze the
collected data. A total of 33 purposively selected respondents working as officers, managers,
coordinators of projects and M&E were targeted for the quantitative study. Data was collected
online and in person using both Google form and word format questionnaire. Qualitative data
were collected from managerial level key informants of the local NGO’s using open ended
checklists. Relevant documents of the NGO’s and existing literatures were consulted as sources of
secondary information. The findings of the quantitative data were analyzed using means, standard
deviation, percentages and frequencies then presented and discussed using tables. Correlation
and multiple regression models were applied to empirically analyze the association and the cause
and effect relationship between the independent and dependent variables of the study.
The data collection instrument of the research study was found to be reliable and consistent at
Cronbach Alpha test value of 0.958. The association between M&E budget allocation, M&E
planning, use of M&E result, M&E structure, role of management and performance of projects
witnessed positive and significant at correlation coefficient values of 0.56, 0.77, 0.72, 0.74 and
0.80, respectively. The result of the multiple regression analysis revealed a positive and significant
association (p<0.001) between the dependent and all the independent variables jointly at R value
of 0.83. The computed R2 value of the regression model also indicated that 68% of the variation
of the dependent variable (performance of project) was significantly (p<0.001) explained by the
independent variable selected for study (M&E budget allocation, M&E planning, use of M&E
result, M&E structure, role of management).
Key words: Local NGO’s, M&E budget allocation, M&E planning, Use of M&E result findings,
M&E structure, Role of management, Performance of projects |
