EFFECTS OF MONITORING AND EVALUATION PRACTICES ON DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PERFORMANCE IN NGO’s A CASE OF WORLD VISION ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) practices significantly influence development projects' success within non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This study was undertaken to examine how monitoring and evaluation practices affect the performance of development projects. The study selects and considers three monitoring and evaluation practices, resource allocation for M&E, staff capacity on M&E, and stakeholders' involvement in M&E. To assess the project performance the study selects three key performance indicators; project timelines & budget, stakeholder satisfaction, and quality of project deliverables. Three objectives guided the study: to examine how the allocation of resources to M&E influences the performance of projects, to explore how the capacity of staff in M&E influences the performance of projects, and to investigate how the involvement of stakeholders in M&E influences the performance of projects. The researcher studied World Vision Ethiopia’s Central Hub 8 Area Programs in and near Addis Ababa. The study respondents were World Vision Ethiopia Project staff and represented Child Protection, Water & Sanitation, Education, and Livelihood projects. A descriptive research design was chosen for the study, to describe the M&E practice. A quantitative data analysis approach was used in the study. Using the Census method all 40 WVE employees working on the eight area program projects were chosen. The primary data for the study were obtained through structured questionnaires. The questionnaires were provided in the form of a Likert Scale. Secondary data were collected from reports and the organization's official websites. The responses from the respondents were coded and analyzed by using SPSS 20 and Excel. The findings suggest that the correlation between the funds designated for M&E activities and project outcomes is evident. A majority of the survey participants, 80%, perceive the budget for M&E is adequate, the project staff possesses a good understanding of M&E concepts and principles and there is a high level of agreement on their ability to use M&E findings for decisionmaking, and communication, however, there is notable variation in the perceived ability to develop M&E frameworks and indicators and the project's timely and budgetary completion appears as an argumentative subject. The researcher concluded that the allocation of competent human resources and time for M&E directly influences the project performance so it was recommended that WVE reassess the distribution of the M&E budget to ensure it covers the human resource aspect and evaluate the time allocated xiifor M&E activities during M&E planning.