Shaping thinking and providing platforms for exchange of best practice in all aspects of monitoring and evaluation has been a cornerstone of INTRAC’s work since it was founded.
Between 1989 and 2014 we convened eight international conferences on M&E. The emphasis was always on experiences from grounded practice, with participants coming from all over the world to share M&E knowledge, approaches and methods, from their various countries and contexts. They came from civil society organisations, NGOs, donors and private foundations. These large conferences sometimes followed regional events, such as a series of regional workshops in Peru, Ghana, Sweden and India in 2005.
A running theme – that continues to lie at the heart of INTRAC’s approach to M&E today – was the pursuit of appropriate responses to recurrent challenges for civil society organisations, balancing demands for greater accountability with a need for practical and ‘honest’ M&E that contributes to learning and helps civil society organisations to improve their work.
The two most recent conferences were:
November 2013 (UK) ‘Practical responses to current monitoring and evaluation debates’
To respond to the increased pressures on NGOs to improve their M&E systems and to move out of their methodological comfort zones to meet new requirements from donors and stakeholders, this event examined the challenges faced by NGOs and their responses. Case studies from numerous organisations formed the basis of discussions around designing and using baselines, information and communications technology in M&E, use of experimental and quasi-experimental methods and challenges in M&E of advocacy. Explore the case studies.
June 2011 (Netherlands) ‘Monitoring and Evaluation: new developments and challenges’ (INTRAC’s 7th Evaluation Conference)
This conference, convened with PSO, the Netherlands, and PRIA, India, examined key elements and challenges confronting the evaluation of international development, including its funding, practice and future. A particular emphasis was on the capacity of civil society organisations to use M&E for international learning and management purposes, whilst at the same time striving to meet the increasingly complex demands of multiple stakeholders.
Watch an overview of the conference below:
Download the conference report.
Visit our resources page to find more resources emerging from these conferences and many other key materials.