monitoring

When significant events threaten to alter the course or delivery of a project, as well as having the flexibility to extend in time it may also be beneficial to review Results Frameworks and adjust objectives and target indicators. Risk management should not shy away from worst case scenarios (who would have thought that after so much effort in Chile to draft a new Constitution during 2021-2023, there would be so little to show for it?).

Post-project studies can constitute a key element in shedding light on the performance of any project. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the progress of the project, even before the UNDEF evaluation, provided early visibility on the results obtained. The Post-Project Study carried out by the implementing agency after the closure of the project proved to be crucial for evaluating the achievements of the initiative.

Efficient communication between project and finance management staff, and between grantees and implementing partners, is key to ensuring the delivery of projects in challenging conditions, such as during a global pandemic or when significant staff changes take place, especially when adaptive programming is required.

WhatsApp can be a key project management tool that delivers support to both cost-effective monitoring of implementation and the building of networks and structures. But this is most effective when combined with occasional in-person meetings or visits, to ensure personal relationships are built offline, before they are maintained, sustained, and developed online.

It is vital to document and present evidence of how a project meets target indicators in the delivery of its activities both for internal learning but also to be able to demonstrate effectiveness and impact in a robust and comprehensive way. This requires a dedicated person in charge of monitoring, evaluating, and learning.

The adaptation strategy to the COVID-19 pandemic was key for the project success. In this regard, a strategy aimed at adapting methods to changing, external circumstances (natural, pandemic and/or geopolitical), going beyond the risks inherent to the project’s internal design, and defining the actions and measures to be to be taken should such potential changes materialize should also continue to be considered systematically in all UNDEF projects.

 

Project design should focus on the detailed definitions of Global Objective, Specific Objectives, Actions, Indicators (at outcome and output level), Baseline and Targets. As it stands, the project definition lacked a clear project design matrix; overall and specific objectives and outputs were missing; outcome indicators were missing (outcome indicators were in fact output indicators), and outputs were not defined. Lastly, no sources of information/means of verification were formulated.

The elderly project should be a source of learning for both UNDEF and the grantee organization LBH Apik, since both parties have not dealt exclusively with elderly before. In a short project such as this (especially with an unexpected challenge like the pandemic), the Donor and Implementing Agency should conduct more frequently periodical pause and reflection to assess direction, progress, challenges, and lessons learnt in order to be able to manage the project adaptively. Ideally this is done every quarter. Sessions for the purpose of learning need to be intentionally planned from the outset. It is unclear whether programmatic learning is being performed from the bottom to the top, and vice versa. It is useful however to cohesively provide a picture on the differences and similarities, and what worked and what did not work.

Advocacy projects in highly complex contexts require rigorous monitoring to (i) strengthen coalitions and ties despite changes to the positions of stakeholders and changing power dynamics; and to (ii) capture and adapt to the different levels of changes that could occur.