The Government of Vietnam has received a Credit from the International Development Association (IDA) to finance the Vietnam Irrigated Agriculture Improvement Project (VIAIP). The project has started in the second quarter of 2014 and its objective is to “improve the sustainability of irrigated agriculture production system in 7 provinces in the Northern mountainous and central coastal areas, namely Ha Giang, Phu Tho, Hoa Binh, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, Quang Tri and Quang Nam”. Total investment of the project 210 million US$ (of which, 180 million US$ from IDA and 30 million US$ from counterpart budget).
The project has four components:
+ Component 1: Improved Irrigation Water Management (9.5 million US$)
+ Component 2: Upgrading irrigation/drainage system (170.5 million US$)
+ Component 3: Climate Smart Agriculture Practices support (23 million US$)
+ Component 4: Project management, monitoring and evaluation (7 million US$)
M&E system plays an important role in gathering information to assess progress against implementation plans (monitoring), and assessing the outcomes and impact it has achieved (evaluation). The purpose of monitoring and evaluation is collect accurate information and make appropriate adjustment, improve and ensure proper use of resources as well as to maximize the results and benefits achieved from these resources.
Currently, PPMUs have assigned staff in charge of M&E. However, clear guideline and principles for M&E implementation should be prepared to facilitate these officials. In addition, capacity building is very important for both central and provincial project officials. They should be well equipped with knowledge and practice related to project management and M&E. As a result, the project staff can manage and utilize available resources in effective, high quality, timely and cost saving manners.
M&E Consultant was selected to support CPMU and PPMUs in evaluating the impact of the project on the income and living-standards of the beneficiaries, extreme poverty mitigation and prosperity sharing. The project’s achievements will be monitored and evaluated annually and at the end of project implementation duration, based on the Project Result Framework. One of the main tasks of M&E Consultant is developing M&E manual. This document will provide project partners at central and provincial level with knowledge and experience in implementing M&E activities.
The manual was prepared mainly for the two major audiences:
+ Project managers: the people responsible for managing the various aspects of project implementation. This includes the project director, managers of project components and the responsible managers of partner or contracting organizations who are implementing a specific element of the project
+ M&E staff: the staff of a project or implementing partners and contractors who have responsibilities for setting up and/or implementing M&E systems
+ Besides above major audience, the manual is useful for project assistants on M&E and information management, CPMU and PPMUs staff, and other supporting staff.
The ideas in this Manual are not a mandatory M&E system with which all projects must comply. The Manual Guide describes what is considered-and has proven to be-good practice in project M&E.
The manual was developed based on reference document namely “M&E Manual Guide for IFAD funded projects in Vietnam” (IFAD, 2012), “Monitoring and Evaluation Handbook” (MPI, 2006), “Joint Framework on Outcome and Impact Orientation” (BfdW & EED, 2011) and “Glossary of Terms in Monitoring, Evaluation, and Results Based Management” (UNDP, 2011) and other reference documents on monitoring and evaluation system.
STRUCTURE OF THE M&E MANUAL
The manual has 8 chapters. The first Chapter provides basic M&E concepts and guidance on how to set up M&E system, gender and M&E, and a brief about method to collect data for the purpose of M&E.
Chapter II to Chapter VII are about selected methods and tools to collect data for M&E, e.g. Measuring and Reporting M&E results (Chapter II), How to conduct annual outcome survey (Chapter III), How to conduct baseline and end-line survey (Chapter IV), Sampling methodology (Chapter V), How to conduct key informant interview (Chapter VI), and How to conduct focus group discussion (Chapter VII), and Online Results Framework (Chapter VIII)
The Annexes provide Project Results Framework (Annex 1), Data collection for Results Framework (Annex 2), Annual data collection form (Annex 3), Indicators for Results Framework by provinces (Annex 4) for M&E system.