Monitoring, evaluation and learning

This area explores both the role of evaluations as types of evidence for effective policy-making, as well as how organisations can benefit from monitoring, evaluation and learning systems to inform and influence policy and practice.

Pressure to demonstrate impact is building up across the development sector. Innovations, especially in the field of health, such as randomised control trials, impact evaluations and systematic reviews are increasingly seen as effective ways of assessing the impact of development policy and the source of the most reliable evidence for designing future interventions. Recognising the complexity of development policy and processes, RAPID’s work on evaluation broadens this discussion to consider what types of evaluations may be appropriate for different types of interventions.

RAPID also seeks to understand how monitoring and evaluation can more effectively contribute to learning.  By constantly monitoring their research and policy influencing strategies, their context and the outcomes of their work, policy entrepreneurs can ensure that their strategies remain relevant and that they have been able to incorporate new and better practices.

Furthermore, policy entrepreneurs must maintain a good understanding of the content and context in which they work as the lessons learned from the monitoring and evaluation process are likely to relate to them.

One of the main monitoring and evaluation tools that RAPID utilises is Outcome Mapping.