Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is a key component within the Africa's Health in 2010 project. The project designs systems to monitor and evaluate activities supported by USAID/AFR/SD, using the input-output-outcome-impact framework. The following definitions explain the type of indicators associated with this M&E framework:
- Input indicators include resources that are the basic materials of the program: financial, policies, personnel, facilities, space, equipment, and supplies.
- Output indicators include results of program activities; for example, the number of African institutions strengthened to design, implement and evaluate malaria programs.
- Outcome indicators determine whether the outputs have reached the intended audience and had their intermediate effect; for example, proportion of disease outbreaks confirmed by laboratory results among those reported in a given year.
- Impact indicators answer the question, "Have the outcomes resulted in the achievement of the goal of the project?" Impact indicators usually fall within the realm of evaluation and are much more expensive to measure.
Africa's Health in 2010 M&E system is used in the following ways:
- Learning Lessons. A great deal of experience is gained during project implementation and the M&E data serves as a rich source of lessons learned.
- M&E Support. Africa's Health in 2010 provides M&E technical assistance to African institutions, networks and other partners. This includes routine performance monitoring for project management and reporting. Through assessments and evaluations which allow for in-depth analysis of program activities, Africa’s Health in 2010 M&E team perform more rigorous analysis on topics of special interest to partners and to USAID. The aim is to assess the results, achievements, and lessons learned during the life of a USAID funded program.
