Recent technology advancements have been impacting monitoring and evaluation within the international development and humanitarian field. Resources are becoming increasingly limited, but expectations for what development and humanitarian aid should accomplish are rising. The hunt for more efficient impact measurement methods is still underway. This aspect compels donors, NGOs, INGOs, and independent Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) bodies to seek more rigorous yet flexible mechanisms to monitor and evaluate the development and humanitarian interventions projects.
The exponential rise of mobile phones and other information and communication technologies (ICTs) at all levels of society worldwide is a trend occurring concurrently with these changes in the international development arena. Broader access to digital devices, particularly mobile phones, alters how individuals obtain information, communicate, and interact with each other. The growing importance and sophistication of digital technologies have been infiltrating the development sector as well. New technologies and techniques are fast entering the M&E field, yet many M&E practitioners have yet to fully utilize their potential.
What is ICT?
According to OECD, Information and communication technology (ICT) refers to both different types of communications networks and the technologies used in them. ICT refers to both the internet-connected world and the mobile world driven by wireless networks. It also comprises antiquated technologies like landline telephones, radio, and television broadcasting, which are nevertheless widely utilized today alongside cutting-edge ICT components like artificial intelligence (AI) and robots. The list of ICT components is long, and it’s still growing.
Common Challenges in the M&E industry
M&E systems are developed and carried out under “real-world” constraints, such as a limited budget and limited access to essential data. Sometimes, they must also be created, executed, evaluated, and distributed within a very short time frame. The following are some of the most frequent challenges that arise as a result of the limitations:
- High costs of data collection. This might result in decreased sample size or that essential qualitative data collection methods, such as FGDs or IDIs, that complement the quantitative survey cannot be included in the assessment design.
- Real-time information on services (offered by government or development institutions) used by the target population is hard to obtain.
- Some groups are difficult to reach, sometimes even dangerous if it involves some conflict zone area. As a result, they are frequently left out of or underrepresented in the evaluation.
- Observing the project implementation process, which is just as essential as assessing the changes that have occurred during the project’s lifetime, can be time-consuming, expensive, and difficult, and so is frequently left out of the evaluation.
- Quality control of data collection is expensive and a time-consuming process. When working under financial and time restrictions, it may be difficult to follow standard quality control methods, such as verifying that the correct subjects have been selected and interviewed, or ensuring that questions are asked correctly, in the right order, and with the required follow-ups.
How Can ICTs Contribute to the M&E industry?
ICT integration is being used to help M&E keep pace with the dynamic external environment and to tackle some of the aforementioned challenges. M&E practitioners are experimenting using ICT to incorporate the voices of development program participants and aid beneficiaries, letting them to weigh in on a more realistic evaluation of whether success has been accomplished. Here are some promising ICT approaches which will help to address some of the challenges in the M&E industry.
1. Paperless Survey
In terms of the high cost of data collection, collecting and analyzing survey data via smart phones and hand-held devices may reduce the expenses of printing and carrying survey equipment, as well as drastically lowering the cost of data analysis. Using software to manage M&E processes can save costs and increase efficiency. Furthermore, capturing mobile data allows errors to be detected at the point of contact, reducing the need to return to re-collect data. Digital data collection can also remove the necessity for double data entry.
2. Ensuring Data Quality
Electronic versions of surveys can incorporate automatic consistency checks and guarantee that questions are asked in the proper order. The audio recording can be enabled at random so that the supervisor can listen in on the interview. Moreover, video can capture body language used during an interview or survey, allowing assessors to have a better understanding. Handheld devices give real-time feedback, allowing mistakes to be discovered and addressed before the interviewer/enumerator departs from the location.
Remote sensors can use information from satellites or other airborne equipment to examine distant targets. This might be beneficial when access to a location is restricted due to physical or security concerns. Remote sensing has the potential to be employed during humanitarian catastrophes when some places become entirely isolated. Remote sensing may also be used to detect significant physical changes in sectors of work such as deforestation, climate change, and natural resources.
4. Text Analytics Will Unlock New Insights in M&E
Text is not often seen as a data source capable of providing fresh insights to international development efforts. Data Scientists equipped with programming languages like Python and R, on the other hand, can now scrape and turn PDFs, webpages, interviews, and transcripts into useful insights.
5. Computer Vision Opens New Unforeseen Opportunities
Computer vision better known as facial detection or object detection is becoming more commonplace and I believe it is only a matter of time before such technology can be used in new and unforeseen ways on our monitoring and evaluation projects. Computer vision is a subset of machine learning and artificial intelligence which has exploded due to the dropping costs of higher resolution imagery and advances in machine learning models that use convolutional neural networks to more accurately identify patterns such as people and objects in images.
Conclusion
There are numerous ways of using ICT, including in diagnosis, program planning, ongoing activity monitoring, data visualization for course correction, learning and sharing evaluation results, and capacity building in the field of M&E. It is also feasible to integrate multiple ICT tools, or combine old methods with new ICT-enabled approaches, and to improve the efficiency of existing data gathering methods using icTs.
ICT is being integrated into many M&E systems. In certain situations, they can assist evaluators in gathering higher-quality information, and there is considerable potential for innovative and diverse uses of ICT in evaluation. However, data on how ICT enhances evaluation techniques and processes is still limited, and ICT also presents a new set of challenges.
References
Asociación EuropeYou. “What is Information and Communication Technology?” https://europeyou.eu/es/what-is-information-and-communication-technology/
Mataya, John. “Three Ways Data Science is Changing Monitoring and Evaluation.” USAID Learning Lab. May 20, 2019. https://usaidlearninglab.org/lab-notes/three-ways-data-science-changing-monitoring- and-evaluation.
OECD iLibrary. “Information and communication technology (ICT).” https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/science-and-technology/information-and-communication-technology-ict/indicator-group/english_04df17c2-en.
Raftree, Linda, and Michael Bamberger. “Emerging Opportunities: Monitoring and Evaluation in a Tech-Enabled World,” The Rockefeller Foundation. Sep, 2014.
Simister, Nigel and Dan James. “ICT in Monitoring and Evaluation.” INTRAC. 2017. https://www.intrac.org/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/ICT-in-monitoring-and-evaluation.pdf.
About the Author
Quinissa Putrirezhy is a Junior Officer at Trust. She has experience working with both NGOs and government institutions in Indonesia. She has systematic and meticulous research skills and is passionate about human rights, humanitarian issues and development.
Read more about Quinissa on LinkedIn.
