Measurement of the effectiveness of national development programmes is a growing concern in developing countries. The decline in development resources has provided a compelling case for effective and judicious use of available resources through the use of effective monitoring and evaluation.
To assist in the task of raising the management capacities of member countries, the former UNDP Central Evaluation Office (CEO) has, since 1985, studied the monitoring and evaluation practices in a number of developing countries to help in building an awareness of its importance. This experience has been captured in a monograph series. The country monographs have contributed to the strengthening of capacity in monitoring and evaluation by highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of national systems and presenting recommendations for improvements. Three country monographs on Paraguay, Jordan and United Arab Emirates were completed in 1994. This brings the total number of such country studies to 17. In addition, a study on generic issues of monitoring and evaluation was circulated in early 1994. All studies conclude that the key factors determining the effectiveness of a monitoring and evaluation system include: political support; economic and political stability; quality of governance; common standards for measuring efficiency of performance; information technology; and reporting and feedback system. However, the initial findings of the review (1994) of the contribution of these studies to awareness-building and strengthening capacity in programme countries recommended the need for major changes in focus, structure and timeliness in order to make them more effective instruments for building and strengthening monitoring and evaluation capacity in programme countries.