ABSTRACT
Monitoring and evaluation do not affect the decision-making cycle, they only evaluate the system performance. Three main steps are proposed to carry out monitoring and evaluation effectively: Implement the strategy and monitor the problem, analyse the impacts across sectors and actors and re-start the decision-making process. The monitoring phase should start simultaneously with the start of the implementation. The system behaviour should be observed from the launch of corrective measures in order to promptly detect possible synergies and unintended consequences. Having assessed the effect of the interventions on the problem and its causes, the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) phase should proceed with a careful analysis of the interventions' impacts on other sectors and actors that are part of the system. A common mistake in the M&E phase is decision makers' reluctance to reframe an unsuccessful approach in light of the lessons learned from the analysis of the system responses.
