ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the experiences of the development assistance donor agencies with the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of their projects in developing countries. It discusses the concepts and definitions of monitoring and evaluation. The chapter traces the donors' early efforts to develop appropriate methodologies and procedures for M&E of development projects, and analyses the problems and issues that emerged during the 1970s. It also discusses how the lessons from experience are leading to new M&E initiatives and reorientations among the donor agencies in the 1980s. The chapter provides a donor agency perspective, drawing primarily on reports and experience from the United States Agency for International Development, from the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and from the World Bank and other international and regional development agencies. Different donors have taken different organizational approaches to the establishment of M&E capabilities at the project level.
