Praxis Paper 21. Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation in Practice: Lessons learnt from Central Asia

Participation in development is generally accepted as a process that is fundamental to addressing issues of ownership and sustainability. Everyone acknowledges the value of participation. Yet when it comes to developing monitoring and evaluation systems many civil society organisations continue to employ experts to develop their objectives, indicators and data collection methodologies – with very little participation from the very people they are attempting to engage with.

This paper records an attempt to develop a fully participative M&E system, drawing on the experience of a team of INTRAC staff working on a civil society strengthening programme in close collaboration with their partners in the five countries of Central Asia.