MONITORING AND EVALUATION

Monitoring includes the collection and analysis of data related to the progress of an Action and is primarily about comparing what was originally planned with what actually happens. Furthermore, it is an important tool for improving the project efficiency and effectiveness in order to achieve a relevant impact and acceptance by final beneficiaries.

Monitoring entails collecting data of the Action systematically and regularly. This collection should be focused on different aspects such as:

• Timely availability of necessary resources (supplies, staff, etc.);
• Physical progress of activities (undertaken by the Partner and/or by its Implementing Partners);
• Achievement of indicators, results, specific objective;
• Quality of processes (e.g. stakeholders’ participation);
• Financial progress;
• Materialisation of identified risks;
• Participation by beneficiaries in the activities (i.e. use of services);
• Reasons for any adverse response by beneficiaries and any actions to be taken.

A good monitoring should provide clear information on the progress of activities and promptly identify challenges and possible areas for improvement. In this regard, the Logframe is an essential tool for developing a feasible monitoring plan. The Partners will report back to DG ECHO in case of discovering circumstances likely to hamper of delay the implementation of the Action.

In particular, where monitoring activities identify corrupt, fraudulent, collusive and/or coercive practices, Partners should immediately inform DG ECHO through the functional mailbox echo-reportfraud@ec.europa.eu using the Fraus Allegation Reporting Form availalbe in the reference documents. In case of (potential) misconduct, especially concerning allegations of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment, Partners (but also beneficiaries, contractors, DG ECHO staff or any type of stakeholder) should contact DG ECHO at echo-reportmisconduct@ec.europa.eu.

DG ECHO may at any time monitor the Action. The purpose of the monitoring visits is to observe the progresses made in the Action and the degree of achievement of the results and the specific objective. As a general rule, DG ECHO staff will conduct at least one monitoring visit for each funded Action. In most cases, the monitoring will be carried out by DG ECHO staff in the field. In some cases, it can be done by DG ECHO staff coming from Brussels.

Such monitoring missions have different goals:

• To verify whether the Action is proceeding according to the logframe and the work plan;
• To check compliance with visibility requirements;
• To detect possible problems;
• To verify whether a readjustment of the initial proposal is needed;
• To meet and listen to beneficiaries.

Any monitoring visit will be formally notified to the coordinator (or co-Partner concerned) and will be considered to start on the date of the notification. 

If needed, DG ECHO may be assisted by independent, outside experts. If it uses outside experts, the Partner will be informed and have the right to object on grounds of commercial confidentiality or conflict of interest. 

The Partner must cooperate diligently and provide — within the deadline requested — any information and data in addition to reports already submitted (including information on the use of resources).

During field visits, Partners must allow access to sites and premises and must ensure that information requested is readily available. 

Information provided must be accurate, precise and complete and in the format requested, including electronic format.

At the end of the monitoring visit DG ECHO staff normally holds a meeting with the Partner in order to present main findings. DG ECHO staff in Brussels may also send feedback to Partners based on the conclusions taken by field staff.

If concrete steps have to be taken to improve the implementation of the Action, DG ECHO field staff will inform her/his counterparts in Brussels, who will officially inform the Partner on the steps/actions that DG ECHO expects to be taken (including, where applicable, amendment to the Agreement, interruption  or termination).

Evaluations are usually carried out by independent external evaluators but internal staff members can also evaluate an Action as long as they take an objective approach. This would normally mean staff who that was not involved in the response.

Humanitarian evaluations should use a set of dimensions known as the DAC criteria:

• Relevance and appropriateness;
• Connectedness;
• Coherence;
• Coverage;
• Efficiency;
• Effectiveness;
• Impact.

The evaluation should be planned in advance and described in Chapter 9 of the Single Form.

Evaluations are considered as eligible expenses under certain conditions:

• An external evaluation will be eligible under the condition that its pertinence is justified in the Single Form and the Terms of Reference are shared with DG ECHO before launching the recruitment procedure of the external consultants. The Partner will also have to provide a copy of the report as an annex to the Final Report.

• For an internal evaluation linked to the Action, the submission of the terms of reference is not a prerequisite. The internal evaluation should not necessarily be justified, as it is considered as a good project management practice. A copy of the evaluation report will have to be provided with the Final Report for the costs to be eligible.

DG ECHO has the obligation to regularly assess humanitarian aid operations financed by the European Union in order to establish whether they have achieved their objectives and to produce guidelines for improving the effectiveness of subsequent operations. Evaluations are carried out by independent experts who assess the activities of DG ECHO. Their conclusions and recommendations feed into DG ECHO's strategic planning, programming, communication policy, and the budgetary cycle.

Such evaluations may be started during implementation of the Action and until the time-limit set out in the Data Sheet (which normally corresponds to 5 years after the final payment). They will be formally notified to the co-Partners and will be considered to start on the date of the notification. 

If needed, DG ECHO may be assisted by independent outside experts. 

Partners must provide any information relevant to evaluate the impact of the action, including information in electronic format. 

Before the report is finalised, DG ECHO shall make a draft of its evaluation report available to the Partner for comments. The Final Reports of the evaluations carried out by DG ECHO are available on DG ECHO website.