“I actually had fun doing my M&E reporting”: 3 tips for setting an M&E system up to be fun

M&E reporting is often seen as anything but fun

For team members of international development or other projects aimed at (co-)creating positive social impact, the reporting phase of the project cycle often evokes a range of negative emotions, from reluctance and tired resignation to repulsion and fear.

This is because reporting – a stage in the project cycle that typically recurs quarterly, bi-annually, and/or annually and that prominently features monitoring and evaluation (M&E) activities and related output – is frequently associated with, among others:

• spending hours drafting tedious reports recounting all the work that the project undertook during the reporting period;
• compiling, tabulating, and analyzing data on an endless list of indicators, a task that might include chasing down data producers to obtain the latest figures and/or rifling through the project files; and
• meeting a multitude of rigid donor requirements (sometimes from a multitude of different donors) that don’t seem to align into a coherent whole.

Worse still, it is not rare that all this reporting effort seems to have no clear practical objective except to satisfy the demands of some remote funder – that is, if the reports even get looked at at all (I kid you not, I’ve heard directly from clients’ project teams that no one read their reports until I came along as an M&E specialist!).

Add that to the observation that M&E is often seen as getting in the way of project implementation, and it is not surprising that “fun” is the very last adjective you’d expect to be used to describe M&E in the reporting phase of a project.

Think again! M&E reporting really can be fun (all while remaining robust)!

So when I heard “I actually had fun doing my M&E reporting” from the user of a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system that I had designed, the words were absolute music to my M&E ears! (I’m pretty sure I even broke out into a merry little jig right then and there!)

The statement confirmed my steadfast belief that M&E – at any phase of the project cycle – does not have to be a pain.

Indeed, M&E can be “fun”!

So how to set up an M&E system to maximize the chances that it will be fun, all while remaining robust (including meeting donor requirements)? Well, many elements play a role, particularly those related to mindset and those aimed at maximizing the practicality (read: user-friendliness) of the M&E system.

But it all starts with getting the foundations right.

Setting an M&E system up to be fun: getting the foundations right

Appropriately establishing the foundations of a project’s M&E system not only helps maximize the chances that M&E reporting will be fun but also – more importantly – helps ensure that the M&E system produces the information that is needed, to the people who need it, when it’s needed.

More broadly, if correctly operationalized and implemented, a solid M&E system­ ultimately helps optimize the positive impact that the project (co-)creates for the population or piece of the planet that it is intended to benefit.

Here are three practical tips to kick off getting the foundations of your project’s M&E system right:

1. PRACTICAL TIP #1: Establish specific objectives for the M&E system, inviting the input of everyone on the team to ensure buy-in. Ensuring buy-in on the objectives of your project’s M&E system not only helps ensure that the system meets user needs, but also makes using the system – including reporting – feel like much less of an imposition. And not having things imposed…well that’s way more fun than the contrary.
2. PRACTICAL TIP #2: Establish clear principles for the M&E system. When the principles of the M&E system are clear, users gain a better understanding of why certain elements of the M&E system are the way they are. This helps make everything make more sense, and when things make sense, they’re more fun to do – at least in M&E!
3. PRACTICAL TIP #3: Center the M&E system around a robust Theory of Change (ToC). Establishing the ToC as the foundation of an M&E system not only lends coherence to M&E activities but also to the project as a whole. I would ager to say that using an M&E system whose activities tie together well and that aligns nicely with one’s work is likely to be more fun than dealing with a system that feels disjointed.

[RELATED RESOURCE: For more detail on the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of the above practical tips, download our free guide towards a practical and effective M&E system available here via TolaData: https://www.toladata.com/blog/widen-your-m-and-e-horizon-with-specialist-kandi-shejavali-part-2/ (once you get to the page, just click on the words “special gift”).]

Setting your program’s M&E system up to make reporting fun is an important step – but it’s just the starting point. Keep an eye out for other articles on our blog that cover operational, relational, and other factors that contribute to making not just reporting but the full M&E process fun (or at least not an unpleasant chore! 😊).

Over to you!

As noted previously, many elements contribute to the fun quotient of an M&E system, but it all starts by getting key foundational aspects right. Apply the above PRACTICAL TIPS and the guidance provided in the related resource (including its follow-on emails), and you’ll soon be on your way to having fun during M&E reporting!

Update of 6 April 2023: Please share your experience by commenting or leaving an emoticon reaction at the bottom of this LinkedIn post.

Update of 25 April 2024: Paragraph added at the end of the ‘Setting an M&E system up to be fun: getting the foundations right’ section to underscore that getting the foundations right is just starting point towards making reporting ‘fun’. Also, we’ve shared another social media post related to this article – find it and comment or leave an emoticon here!

Photo credit:

Mi Pham on Unsplash

Suggestion for how to cite this article (using APA 7 style):

Shejavali, K. (2023, March 6). “I actually had fun doing my M&E reporting”: 3 tips for setting an M&E system up to be fun. Available at: https://www.rm3resources.com/blog/fun-ME-reporting (accessed: [insert the date that you last accessed this article at the stated link]).