This keynote reflects on experiences of country-led Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) of rural and small town water supplies.
Published on: 01/04/2013
“Country-led Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E)” is a term that has been introduced into the development discourse in reaction to donor-led M&E. The term “country-led” is in line with the principle of country ownership set out in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. It emphasises the leadership of the host government together with other national stakeholders rather than external agents.
This keynote reflects on experiences of country-led M&E of rural and small town water supplies. It goes beyond the term “country-led” to “country-wide”, thus considering the M&E needs of a country’s full range of stakeholders. The keynote presents a monitoring cycle with six stages from initiation and planning, to reflecting on the results and taking action. The M&E landscape is inherently messy, characteristically with multiple, overlapping systems in use. M&E is not only a technical, but also a political process and it can take ten years or more for country-led and country-wide M&E systems to mature. More efforts are needed to document and reflect on and share country-led, country-wide M&E experiences. A better understanding may help efforts to stimulate demand and improve support.
The keynote has been prepared for the Monitoring Sustainable WASH Service Delivery Symposium in Addis Ababa in April 2013. Six sessions on country-led monitoring at the Symposium in April will shed light on experiences from Malawi, South Africa, West Africa, Uganda, Thailand, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Latin America and the Caribbean (Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama), Liberia and East Timor. The rural water supply monitoring systems in these countries have been operational from under a year to 15 years.
