Neutral and systematic observation and monitoring is an embedded concept and constitutive part of every IT project in the ITP coach approach.
Monitoring
…is the systematic and routine collection of information from projects and programmes for four main purposes:
- To learn from experiences to improve practices and activities in the future;
- To have internal and external accountability of the resources used and the results obtained;
- To take informed decisions on the future of the initiative;
- To promote empowerment of beneficiaries of the initiative.
Monitoring is a periodically recurring task already beginning in the planning stage of a project or programme. Monitoring allows results, processes and experiences to be documented and used as a basis to steer decision-making and learning processes. Monitoring is checking progress against plans. The data acquired through monitoring is used for evaluation.
It is ideally understood as dialogue on development and its progress between all stakeholders.
In general, monitoring is integral to evaluation. During an evaluation, information from previous monitoring processes is used to understand the ways in which the project or programme developed and stimulated change. Monitoring focuses on the measurement of the following aspects of an intervention:
- On quantity and quality of the implemented activities (outputs: What do we do? How do we manage our activities?)
- On processes inherent to a project or program (outcomes: What were the effects /changes that occurred as a result of your intervention?)
- On processes external to an intervention (impact: Which broader, long-term effects were triggered by the implemented activities in combination with other environmental factors?)
The ITP coach process is an analysis or interpretation of the collected data which delves deeper into the relationships between the results of the project/program, the effects produced by the project/program and the overall impact of the project/program.
Actual examples and more detailed information about this revolutionary approach and the neutral and systematic observation and monitoring of IT projects will be published as soon as possible.
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