Happy new year! The new year is usually replete with an aspiration for a new beginning, and a renewed hope to continue life’s journey. A proven approach at this time of the year is to set goals either for the short, medium, or long term, or to pursue existing goals. Although we’re advised to set SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound) goals, two components that will help us achieve our goals better are monitoring and evaluation (M&E). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), “Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is a continuous management function to assess if progress is made in achieving expected results, to spot bottlenecks in implementation and to highlight whether there are any unintended effects (positive or negative) from an investment plan, program or project (“project/plan”) and its activities.”
If we picture our goals as a vehicle that takes us from the point of our dreams to the destination of actualizing them, then M&E are like our dashboard. They tell us how fast the vehicle is moving, how much gas we have, if we have sufficient pressure in our tires, when we need an oil change, etc. M&E can serve as “emergency” tools to troubleshoot any issue along the way, and with them, we can avoid sudden stops on the road due to a flat tire, empty gas tank, over speeding, etc. M&E should be incorporated at the start of goal setting (typically at the commencement of the year) for proper planning, it should be done throughout the year to constantly appraise our efforts and preliminary results, and then at the end of the year to measure our set objectives against our achievements. When rightly done, these tools help us to efficiently manage resources and prevent/minimize damage.
Translating this to us as individuals, businesses, corporates, institutions, etc., M&E involves evaluating our available resources to determine if they are enough to meet our objectives. It also involves an assessment of our previous results or outcomes to see trends and note practices that we need to avoid or adopt in the new year. This is where record-keeping is very important because we can only make inference from available data/records. It is important to have a strategy for when/how we plan to carry out M&E throughout the year as this should not be left to chance but carefully laid out in advance to guarantee a smooth ride. The “when” can be monthly, quarterly, mid-year, etc., depending on organizational culture and available resources, while the “how” can be tailored to the most suitable tools for our peculiar setting. Sometimes, an external individual/entity can be hired to carry out M&E to ensure objectivity and to help identify blind spots that may evade our scrutiny. Irrespective of the timing and methodologies we decide to use for M&E, the important thing is to ensure that it is done in a systematic manner. As we set our goals for the year, let’s ensure we effectively communicate and constantly reiterate those goals to everyone concerned (especially for businesses/organizations). A quote by Venus Williams: “Set realistic goals, keep re-evaluating, and be consistent.”
As humans we tend to be so ‘destination-conscious’ that we miss out on enjoying the adventures along the way, but I hope that this year we can take it one day at a time, savoring the thrills of the journey and taking advantage of all the learning opportunities that our missteps afford us. I hope that we can find the courage to try again irrespective of seemingly past failures. I hope that we can reignite lost enthusiasm, dream bigger, and lend a helping hand to those we meet along the way. I hope that this is a better year for all of us.
“A year from now you may wish you had started today.” - Karen Lamb
— Gift Omoruyi