Using monitoring and evaluation to learn and improve

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Using evaluation findings is the final stage of the monitoring and evaluation cycle. It is what makes the time invested worthwhile. 

In this final stage, organisations:

• make use of the findings to feed back into, and guide, the management of the organisation
• make use of the findings to demonstrate progress and results
• tell others about what they have learnt
• influence policy change.

Analysing the information

Small amounts of information can be analysed manually, but a good ICT system will save time and provide the information to meet different needs. The kind of ICT system needed will depend on the size and type of organisation, and needs to be assessed within the context of an overall ICT strategy.

Some of the software systems available have been designed for a specific subsector. You will need to check whether the system can be used to assess and report outcomes, and whether it will help you to report in different formats and to meet different needs. Find out more in the Monitoring and evaluation software guide from CES.

Using ICT to improve your monitoring and evaluation will help you to think through the relevant issues for your organisation and place using ICT for monitoring and evaluation with a more general ICT strategy. For more on this, see Using ICT to improve your monitoring and evaluation (downloadable worksheet from CES - 53kb)

‘We are developing a cycle of feeding back issues of under-performance and key performance…As we move to better outcomes recording, the IT system will really help us monitor our progress towards our strategy.’ Homeless charity

Interpretation means asking what the results mean in relation to the evaluation questions and judging what is significant. Linking your findings to the key questions posed will lead to conclusions and recommendations.

Presenting findings

You need to agree early on who your audience is and how you want to present monitoring and evaluation findings. For example:

• in a formal report
• in a visual display
• on your website
• through discussion and workshop presentations.

Most reports will cover the following:

• an introduction
• the aims and objectives of the evaluation, including the main evaluation questions
• how the evaluation was carried out
• findings
• conclusions and recommendations.

Learning from evaluation

Organisations and their funders are increasingly thinking about how evaluation findings can be shared and used to learn about approaches to service delivery, so that success can be replicated and so that policy can be influenced. Lessons can be learnt from initiatives and projects that don’t work, so these findings should be shared as well. Putting your reports on your website and sharing findings in conferences and workshops can make them doubly useful as a resource.

The City Bridge Trust is a funder that is publishing the knowledge gained from its funding programmes. For more, see The Knowledge.

The Big Lottery Fund has also published the lessons learned from its evaluations, in Answering BIG questions.

Useful links

• See Evaluation Support Scotland’s support guides on analysing information, writing case studies and report writing.

Have your say

What have you learnt from past evaluations? What changes have you made to the way you work?

Share your experience on the Improving performance forum.