Remote management is not new in the Monitoring and Evaluation field, particularly for those organizations based in conflict- or crisis-affected contexts. For security reasons, international staff is withdrawing from fraught environments and activities have been transferred to their local partners. Coupled with the global COVID-19 pandemic outbreaks and the subsequent movement restrictions in 2020, the World Bank estimates that 20 per cent of the people in need live in fragile regions, and this number is expected to be doubled by 2030.
A remote monitoring mechanism needs to be regulated for better accountability of both International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) and the Local Implementing Partners (LIPs). As one of the remote management tools itself, TPM has its advantages in mitigating risks, providing additional perspectives, and offering independent measurements of the projects for aid agencies in challenging contexts.
About the Research
Since a Third-Party Monitoring program can sometimes make up to 3-5 per cent of total project expenditure, erroneous reporting can lead to operational disasters, corruption and loss of credibility. Beyond its function as a remote monitoring tool, how Third-Party Monitoring could make the information it creates genuinely useful to all parties and facilitate the relationships among all parties needs to be discussed.
The specific aims of this research are to:
1) Investigate the stance of LIPs and international actors towards TPM and identify avenues for improvement;
2) Examine the factors impeding and promoting effective communication between the three parties (INGOs/IOs, LIP, and TPM provider);
3) Assess what practices can and should be put in place by the TPM implementers that will facilitate healthy cooperation between international agencies and LIPs and in turn, enable a better practice of TPM.
Methodology
The research employs a mixed-methods approach, including literature reviews, re-examination of Trust’s interviews for similar studies, and two separate questionnaires designed for local partners and INGOs/UN agencies. Taking into account Trust’s expertise, the scope of the research focuses on the remote management practices of humanitarian agencies in the MENA region. Findings from the various data sources are triangulated during the analysis phase to reach a consensus on the findings and conclusions.
This paper starts by contextualising the general cooperation challenges faced by the INGOs and LIPs under remote management. It will then utilise both the qualitative and quantitative data collected through questionnaires and interviews from actors in the MENA region to explore good communication practices among three parties (INGOs, LIPs and TPM providers).
Main Findings
This research builds on existing assessments and publications that consider remote management as one of the regular operational responses to the increasing insecurity in the humanitarian field. However, in contracts with its growing prevalence, most organizations, especially the local ones, are not fully ready for it. No clear working and feedback mechanisms are introduced to them and most of them do not receive any capacity building support related to remote management from their international partners. This lack of structural guidance also applies to the TPM practice where the local partners demonstrate lots of confusion in how to cooperate with the TPM providers.
Findings challenge, however, the stereotype of donors or INGOs/IOs being the drive for the M&E practice. Many local agencies hold a welcoming attitude to any form of evaluation because they realise the value of lessons learned in improving their competencies. This shift is also due to the improvement in service quality of the TPM consulting companies in recent years, which is partly pushed by international actors. But, as the findings show, poorly performed TPM practice can negatively influence the consolidation of partnerships and trust-building between all parties. As the risk of fraud and diversion is greater when working at a distance and in violent conflict situations, the international actors need to be extra careful when developing monitoring benchmarks so that they can ensure quality control while not losing the trust of the LIPs.
