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The challenge of monitoring and evaluation under the new aid modalities: experiences from Rwanda*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Nathalie Holvoet  and
Heidy Rombouts
Nathalie Holvoet*
Affiliation:
Institute of Development Policy and Management, University of Antwerp, Lange St. Annastraat 7, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium
Heidy Rombouts
Affiliation:
Belgian Technical Cooperation, Hoogstraat 147, 1000 Brussel, Belgium
*
Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) are sensitive issues in relations between donor agencies and recipient governments, especially in a time when the responsibility for implementing aid activities is shifting towards recipients. This paper deplores that, so far, donors and recipients have adopted an overly technocratic approach to M&E, largely disregarding broader institutional and systemic issues. Using case study material from Rwanda, we illustrate that assessments regarding the quality of a country's M&E efforts may differ sharply depending upon one's perspective. At the core of the matter is ‘the denial of politics’, one of the most serious flaws in the new aid paradigm promoted in the OECD's 2005 ‘Paris Declaration’. We argue that while a narrowly defined technocratic vision of M&E may seem ‘politically neutral’, in fact it may jeopardise M&E's functions of ‘accountability’ and ‘feedback’. This can eventually undermine the effective implementation of some of the key principles of the ‘new aid approach’.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 46 , Issue 4 , December 2008 , pp. 577 - 602
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

*

The authors thank the interviewees, anonymous referees and Robrecht Renard for useful comments and suggestions. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors, and should not be attributed to either the Institute of Development Policy and Management, University of Antwerp, or the Belgian Technical Cooperation.

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Interviews

Staff members of national and international NGOs, Kigali, 11.5.2006, 15.5.2006, 17.5.2006, 18.5.2006, 19.5.2006.

Staff from various non-budgetary donors, Kigali, 12.5.2006, 15.5.2006, 17.5.2006.

Staff members of ministries, Kigali, 12.5.2006, 15.5.2006, 18.5.2006, 19.5.2006.