Why are monitoring and evaluation systems a core development issue?
Jos Vaessen is the Chief Evaluation Officer at the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) of the World Bank. He leads the Global Evaluation Initiative, IEG’s capacity development unit.
Strengthening national monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems and capacity are central to public sector effectiveness, accountability for results, and governance. While many initiatives and resources exist to support governments in developing countries, greater coherence is needed to bolster M&E systems worldwide.
Strengthening national M&E systems and building capacity has become a central component of effective public sector management. Yet many developing countries lack fully developed institutional systems to generate and use monitoring and evaluative evidence. These are the systems that everyone from governmental leaders to rank and file staff rely on for evidence-based decisions about policies, programs, and projects. Underdeveloped systems affect not only governance and accountability in these countries, but also the quality and results of development projects, including those of the World Bank.
Who cares about M&E?
From a government perspective, the ability to generate, interpret, and use credible evidence is foundational to good governance. Strong M&E systems and capacity development contribute to transparency, public sector effectiveness, and more adaptive decision-making—features that are increasingly essential as governments confront fiscal pressures, climate risks, and complex policy trade-offs.
Robust national M&E capacities are equally important for creditors, donors and investors. Country systems shape the quality of results frameworks, the credibility of implementation data, and the feasibility of measuring outcomes. For performance-based lending instruments, such as in the World Bank, Program-for-Results (PforR), the reliance on national M&E systems makes these capacities even more critical. Efforts in strengthening national institutions’ capacities can generate important “downstream” incentive and capacity development effects in sub-national governments as well as in the not-for-profit and private sectors.
In practice, weak institutional arrangements, limited skills, unclear roles, and fragmented approaches often constrain the use of M&E evidence. Addressing these issues requires a long-term, systems-oriented approach that goes beyond individual advisory activities or ad hoc M&E training. It requires strengthening the institutional architecture, the enabling environment, and the awareness levels, attitudes, and skills of various actors to achieve meaningful and lasting changes in M&E evidence production and use.
The Global Evaluation Initiative (GEI)
Established in 2020 by the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) of the World Bank and the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Global Evaluation Initiative (GEI) partnership program helps countries build the systems, capabilities, and enabling environments needed to make evaluative evidence a routine part of policy making. Funded by a multi-donor trust fund—now supported by 12 donors—GEI builds on a decades-long commitment that IEG has made to M&E capacity development. This included the creation of an International Program for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET) in 2001 and the Centers for Learning on Evaluation and Results (CLEAR) in 2010, a network of centers hosted by leading universities providing locally grounded expertise and resources to advance M&E excellence.
GEI’s work combines two complementary dimensions: long-term partnerships with governments to strengthen national M&E systems and build capacity, and global and regional efforts that advance evaluation practice through knowledge, convening, and training. GEI works through its implementing partners—the CLEARs alongside IPDET, the École nationale d’administration publique (ENAP), and other regional institutions—to provide long-term, context-sensitive support for strengthening M&E systems and capacity development, anchored in local institutions rather than short missions.
GEI’s work often begins with a Monitoring and Evaluation Systems Analysis (MESA), co-developed with government counterparts, followed by the joint design of capacity development plans tailored to national priorities. These plans typically combine advisory services, training, and institutional strengthening. Here are some examples on what that looks like in practice.
In Mozambique, GEI worked with the Ministry of Economy and Finance in strengthening the country’s M&E system through a partnership grounded in a jointly conducted MESA diagnostic. This collaboration helped clarify institutional roles and develop a national M&E framework. In 2010, the Government of Mozambique created the National Directorate of Monitoring and Evaluation (DNMA), within the Ministry of Economy and Finance and improved coordination between the ministry and other government bodies such as the National Directorate of Planning and Budget; the National Directorate of Economic Policies and Development; the Ministry of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources; and the National Directorate of Water. As a result, evaluation and performance information are becoming more systematically integrated into planning and budgeting processes, including the preparation of annual performance reports that now draw on consistent and higher‑quality data. By reinforcing leadership and institutional capacities at the heart of government, Mozambique is building a more coherent, evidence‑informed approach to national decision‑making.
In Uzbekistan, the findings from the MESA study helped the government—led by the Agency for Strategic Reforms (ASR) under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan—to draft a national M&E decree in 2024 that would formalize institutional roles and standardize procedures across ministries. Departments are already applying diagnostic findings to refine sector strategies and strengthen coordination, indicating that evaluation is becoming more embedded in public administration reforms supported by the Office of the President.
In Jamaica, long-standing collaboration with international and regional partners—including GEI and the Center for Learning on Evaluation and Results for Latin America and the Caribbean (CLEAR–LAC)—supported government‑led efforts to strengthen M&E systems and informed the development of the country’s first Integrated Results-Based Management (IRBM) policy in 2024. The engagement was initiated through a CARICOM‑facilitated partnership with IEG and is being led nationally by the Office of the Cabinet, through its Performance Management and Evaluation Branch. Once adopted, the IRBM policy will help institutionalize M&E practices across ministries and improve how evidence informs planning and budgeting.
A fragmented landscape
Demand for support in M&E systems and capacity development strengthening is growing, especially among countries advancing public sector reforms, implementing performance-based projects, or seeking to access climate finance. However, M&E is generally seen as a corporate function in multilateral development institutions, not necessarily structured for front-line support to countries. In the World Bank for example, several units contribute to aspects of M&E capacity development—from operational support to client-facing learning, public sector governance, statistical capacity, and results measurement approaches. This fragmentation makes it more difficult to present a coherent offer to governments. It also limits opportunities to build on complementary strengths.
A more unified approach to M&E systems and capacity development is needed to better serve the needs of client countries, notably given the renewed organizational focus on supporting client capacities and positioning the World Bank Group as a Knowledge Bank.
A coherent approach to M&E capacity development should start with mapping existing activities—including training, operational engagements, and advisory services to help clarify comparative advantages and reduce duplication. GEI has started collaborating with colleagues managing the World Bank Group Academy to create a shared repository of knowledge on M&E capacity development, which could serve as a central anchoring point for operational teams who support clients on this topic.
An invitation for comprehensive collaborations on M&E
By making M&E systems and capacity development an explicit area of expertise that the Bank Group offers to clients, including as part of policy dialogue, institutions such as the World Bank can better support countries in building durable institutional capacities. GEI’s diagnostics, advisory support, and training can provide a direct mechanism for delivering this expertise. While GEI’s current focus is on public sector M&E systems and capacity, private sector clients also face distinct challenges related to data, incentives, and evidence use. This is an area that merits further reflection across development institutions.
There is untapped potential for expanding the World Bank Group’s support for M&E systems. The combination of operational perspective, results measurement expertise, and governance knowledge with GEI’s systems-focused model and global network would create a coherent approach to meeting the growing demand for M&E capacity development.
