Monitoring and Evaluation Course
Donors Are Demanding Stronger Evidence. Most Organisations Cannot Provide It.
USAID, FCDO, the EU, and Gulf foundations are all tightening their evidence requirements. The M&E officers and programme managers who can design rigorous evaluation systems and generate credible impact evidence are in increasingly high demand. This course builds those skills.
Is M&E a challenge in your organisation?
- Your indicators measure activity, not outcomes, and funders are starting to ask harder questions
- Data is collected but never analysed or used to improve programme delivery
- Your M&E framework was designed by an external consultant and your team cannot maintain or use it
- You are writing donor reports but cannot confidently say whether the programme is working
- Attribution is a constant problem: you cannot credibly claim the changes you are seeing are caused by your programme
- Your team has M&E officers but they lack the skills to design rigorous evaluations
This course gives you the technical and analytical skills to build M&E systems that generate evidence you can stand behind.
Who This Course Is For
M&E Officers and Managers
Dedicated M&E professionals in NGOs, government, and international organisations who want to deepen their technical skills.
Programme Managers
Programme leaders who need to understand M&E well enough to commission, review, and use evaluations effectively.
Government Planning Officers
Ministry and public agency staff responsible for monitoring national programmes and reporting to government and international partners.
Grant Managers and Fundraisers
Professionals responsible for funding proposals and donor reporting who need stronger M&E sections.
Researchers and Analysts
Research professionals moving into applied M&E in development organisations who want a structured framework for the sector.
Consultants
Independent M&E consultants who want to strengthen their technical skills and broaden their methodological toolkit.
What You Will Leave With
Practical tools you can use the day you return to work.
Programme Outline
Why this module matters: Module 1 establishes the conceptual and technical foundation. You will build or refine a Theory of Change for a real programme and develop the indicator framework that flows from it, with direct application to your context.
- The M&E landscape: frameworks, terminology, and how M&E fits into the programme cycle
- Theory of Change: building a rigorous causal logic model that is testable and credible
- Indicator design: the difference between output, outcome, and impact indicators
- SMART indicators: what makes an indicator technically sound and practically useful
- Baselines: why they matter, how to design them, and what to do when you do not have one
- Workshop: build or critique a Theory of Change and indicator framework for a real programme
Why this module matters: A monitoring system that is not used is a waste of resources. Module 2 covers the design of monitoring systems that are fit for purpose, practically manageable, and actually used by programme teams to make decisions.
- Monitoring system architecture: what to track, how often, and who is responsible
- Quantitative data collection: survey design, sampling strategies, and data management
- Qualitative data collection: KII guides, FGD protocols, observation checklists
- Digital data collection: mobile data collection platforms and data quality management
- Data quality assurance: how to verify that the data you are collecting is accurate and complete
- Workshop: design a monitoring data collection plan for a real programme
Why this module matters: Monitoring tells you what is happening. Evaluation tells you why. Module 3 covers evaluation design, from choosing the right design for your question to managing the politics of evaluation in complex organisational and donor environments.
- Evaluation types: formative, summative, process, impact, and real-time evaluations
- Evaluation designs: experimental, quasi-experimental, and theory-based designs
- Attribution and contribution: how to make credible causal claims in complex contexts
- Commissioning evaluations: terms of reference, evaluator selection, and quality assurance
- Most Significant Change: a qualitative method for capturing complex programme outcomes
- Outcome Harvesting: evaluating emergent outcomes in complex programmes
Why this module matters: Data that is not analysed and used is just stored. Module 4 covers the analytical skills to make sense of both quantitative and qualitative M&E data, and the skills to communicate findings in ways that lead to decisions.
- Quantitative analysis for M&E: descriptive statistics, progress against targets, and trend analysis
- Qualitative analysis: thematic coding, synthesis across sources, and triangulation
- Data visualisation: presenting M&E data in ways that communicate to different audiences
- Adaptive management: how to use M&E data to adjust programme delivery in real time
- Learning reviews: designing and facilitating team learning events that use M&E data
- Workshop: analyse a real M&E dataset and present findings to the group
Why this module matters: Module 5 connects your M&E skills to the donor reporting requirements of the major funders operating in the GCC and Africa, and ensures you leave with a concrete plan for strengthening M&E in your organisation.
- Donor M&E requirements: USAID, FCDO, EU, Gates Foundation, Gulf foundations, and national government
- Writing the M&E section of a funding proposal: what reviewers are looking for
- Donor reporting: how to write results sections that are honest, credible, and compelling
- Building a learning culture: the conditions that determine whether M&E findings actually change anything
- Your MEL strengthening plan: specific commitments for your organisation
- Presentations and peer feedback
Common Questions
Is this course suitable for beginners?
This course is designed for professionals who already have some familiarity with M&E concepts and want to go deeper. If you are completely new to M&E, we recommend starting with the Youth Programme Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation course, which covers M&E fundamentals in an accessible format. This course assumes you already understand the basic concepts and want more technical depth.
Does the course cover specific donor requirements?
Yes. Module 5 is specifically focused on the M&E requirements of the major donors active in the GCC and Africa: USAID, FCDO, the EU, the Gates Foundation, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Foundation, and major national government programmes. Participants have used the course directly to improve their donor reporting.
Can this be run in-house for our M&E team?
Yes. In-house delivery allows us to use your organisation's actual programmes, indicators, and data throughout the course, making every exercise directly applicable to your work. We have delivered this in-house for UN agencies, major INGOs, and government ministries.
Related Courses
Build the Evidence That Your Programme Deserves
Join M&E professionals and programme managers from across the GCC and Africa who have built the technical skills to design and use M&E systems that generate credible, decision-relevant evidence.
📅 Upcoming Schedules
View all dates for this course →We run this course as a private programme for organisations. Bespoke dates, tailored content, group pricing.
Related Courses
Communication Skills for Teams Course → Time Management Skills Course → Stress Management Course → Stress Management Course for GCC & NGO Professionals →Have a question about this course?
Get in Touch