While the World Bank has invested heavily in CDD approaches, it has been observed that most CDD programs do not incorporate adequate or rigorous monitoring and evaluation (M&E). M&E in CDD operations is crucial in order to provide information for decision-making and improve project management, to assess development effectiveness and demonstrate results, and of particular relevance in the CDD context, to empower communities and ensure greater transparency and accountability. Monitoring refers to the regular collection and analysis of data on specific indicators to assist timely decision making, ensure accountability and provide the basis for learning. It is a continuing function that provides management and other stakeholders with valuable feedback on what is working, what isn’t and why, and early indications of progress and achievement of objectives. Ongoing monitoring is integral to a flexible and responsive CDD program. Such monitoring needs to be more than just a reporting mechanism, and serve as a management tool and as a means for advancing CDD goals of accountability, transparency and inclusion. Ideally, CDD programs should incorporate a range of monitoring mechanisms - data on financial and physical outputs generated by management information systems, independent audits or external monitoring by civil society groups, supervision missions, and participatory methods which actively engage key stakeholders, particularly primary beneficiaries, through out the process. Impact evaluation assesses changes in the well-being of individuals that can be attributed to a particular project, program or policy. Impact evaluations address questions such as: Does the program achieve the intended goal? ; Can the changes in outcomes be explained by the program, or are they the result of some other factors occurring simultaneously? ; Do program impacts vary across different groups of intended beneficiaries (males, females, indigenous people), regions, and over time? ; How effective is the program in comparison with alternative interventions? Despite the inherent challenges of conducting impact assessment of CDD programs, there is a growing recognition that there is a need for evidence of the actual impact of such programs and a need for insights on how to improve project performance.  Thus impact evaluations are emerging as a strong priority within CDD. In order to ensure the rigor of such evaluations, it is important that they follow good practice in terms of identifying comparison groups, establishing a baseline, and mixing quantitative and qualitative methods.
Related Resources: CDD and Social Capital Impact: Designing a Baseline Survey in the Philippines CDD Impact Assessment Study: Optimizing Evaluation Design under Constraints, Wassenich & Whiteside (2004) Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation: Learning From Change (IDS Issue Brief) Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation: Participation and Civic Engagement Website  |
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