National M&E policies

National monitoring and evaluation policies are the set of rules or principles that a country uses to guide its decisions and actions with respect to monitoring and evaluation across government.

A policy is usually less detailed than a strategy, plan or guidance and usually involves high-level organisational approval. Sometimes, these are set out in one or more formal policy documents, such as an 'M&E Policy'; sometimes, they are stated in legislation or other documents.

National policies might only cover national governments or extend to sub-national and local governments.

A national M&E policy or evaluation policy might address the following issues:

• Definitions and conceptual framework: for example, how monitoring and evaluation are understood and distinguished from each other
• Goals: the overall rationale for M&E and their intended uses – for example, whether they are primarily focused on accountability to the community or informing management decisions to improve implementation
• Evaluative criteria: what values will be used to interpret data evaluatively – for example, whether monitoring data will be compared to internally set targets, targets developed as part of a National Development Plan, or internationally agreed standards.
• Roles and participation: who will be involved in which processes and their roles and responsibilities – for example, who will be responsible for data quality in monitoring systems or for providing public reporting of indicators
• What will becovered by M&E: for example, whether all programs will be expected to conduct and use M&E in decision-making
• Management of resources: how staff time and budget will be allocated to support M&E– for example, whether there is resource allocation beyond creating M&E officer positions
• Processes and methods: whether certain methods and processes are required or preferred – for example, requiring SMART indicators or quantitative data for monitoring systems
• Reporting and supporting use: what processes will be put in place to support, document and report on use – for example, creating a reporting dashboard
• Review and quality assurance: what processes will be put in place to monitor and evaluate M&E – for example, requiring expert review of locally developed indicators before they are approved as official indicators
• Capacity strengthening: what resources and opportunities will be provided to increase the skills, motivations and incentives for doing and using M&E – for example, covering the use of monitoring data in professional development for program managers

Examples

Ministry of National Development Planning, Zambia (2019)

National Monitoring and Evaluation Policy: Results-oriented, evidence-based, integrated and well-coordinated Government-wide Monitoring and Evaluation System for improved development results.

This 19 page document explains the policy's context, particularly its role in supporting the successful implementation of the 5-year National Development Plan. The policy sets out the vision for M&E, the overall objectives, and six specific objectives, each with implementation measures to achieve the objective.

The policy includes seven guiding principles – evidence-based decision-making and learning, accountability, transparency, managing for results, value for money, participatory and inclusive, ethics and integrity. The policy describes the implementation framework for the policy, covering institutional arrangements for government and non-government actors. The policy ends with the legal framework for legislation relating to monitoring and evaluation, resource mobilisation and financing, and monitoring and evaluation of the policy.

Resources

Examples

This national evaluation policy aims to be a unifying tool in developing a national evaluation system to help improve public action and strengthen the evaluation culture of the administration.

This evaluation policy framework is an element of the Policy Framework for the Government-Wide Monitoring and Evaluation System in South Africa.

This policy provides a framework for setting up and strengthening monitoring and evaluation (M&E) in the public sector of Zambia.

This document, created in 2016, set out the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan's policy framework for results-based monitoring & evaluation (RBME).

The Kenya National Monitoring and Evaluation Policy provides an overall guidance on the establishment and implementation of the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) function in the public sector.

This policy sets out monitoring and evaluation as a national requirement for all development programmes, projects and public investments, emphasizing it as mandatory for ascertaining good governance and value for money.

The national monitoring and evaluation policy of the Government of the Republic of Namibia establishes a framework that institutionalises the undertaking of continuous performance monitoring and evaluations.

This Ugandan national policy, published in 2013, applies to all public policies, strategies, programmes and projects managed by Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, Local Governments, Parastatals and Executing Agencies of public programmes.