Measuring what matters: Monitoring and results measurement
- Partner: Springfield Centre
- Publication Type: Book Chapter
- Date: April 2021
- Team: Ben Fowler and Jake Lomax
- Recommended Citation: Fowler, Ben (MarketShare Associates) and Jake Lomax. “Measuring what matters: Monitoring and results measurement.” In Making Market Systems Work for the Poor: Experience inspired by Alan Gibson, 45-57. Edited by Joanna Ledgerwood. Warwickshire: Practical Action Publishing, 2021.
In Chapter 4 from “Making Markets Work for the Poor,” a recent edited work inspired by the life and legacy of Alan Gibson, MSA Founder and Principal Ben Fowler and co-author Jake Lomax examine the shift in M4P programmes from monitoring and evaluation to monitoring and results measurement to inform decision-making and understand system-level change.
The greater complexity and uncertainty of Making Markets Work for the Poor (M4P) programming has led to monitoring and results measurement (MRM) as a replacement for traditional monitoring and evaluation. MRM shifts the emphasis towards analysis-based learning and more frequent measurement to inform decision-making and understand system-level change. This change has not always been straightforward. We have learned that MRM must be internally owned and well resourced, evaluation methods need to keep up with advances in development practice, and donor requirements such as the value for money agenda can block progress. Building on these lessons, this chapter outlines opportunities for further advancing MRM practice within M4P, including putting the market system at the centre of measurement efforts, building theory on a deep understanding of incentives and capacities, and using that theory to analyse when and how interventions are working and making changes when they are not.
