ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the main theoretical and practical issues related to monitoring and evaluation, and applies them to health planning. The definitions, models and design criteria are discussed, as are the politics and challenges of monitoring and evaluating health plans. Evaluation of Aboriginal health plans and interventions has highlighted the importance of political, social and cultural contexts, community involvement and control. A number of leading commentators argue that participatory evaluation is more likely to lead to improvements in a plan or project. Evaluation and monitoring of health plans is most likely to occur in facility, program, corporate and business planning, and least likely to occur in service planning and policy development. Whilst many well-constructed health plans are based on such a rational approach, these conditions cannot always be met. However, as health determinants, in part, reflect social, ecological, economic and cultural factors, the significant difficulties of evaluating changes in health status and health improvement have often been recognized.
