MONITORING AND EVALUATION IN A CHAOTIC AND COMPLEX GOVERNMENT INTERVENTIONS’ ENVIRONMENT

This paper analyses the factors that influence Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of government interventions in a chaotic and complex organisational environment. The central argument is that many factors from the natural and man-made (intellectual) environment affect the evaluation of government interventions. However, despite approximately three decades of M&E studies, there is currently no known study that has focused on the effects of the different factors that influence the M&E of government interventions. The objective of this paper is to critically analyse the effects of different environmental factors on M&E of government interventions. This paper is an attempt to close the knowledge gap in the current literature. This research is qualitative and is based on a robust literature review of the existing literature on M&E and the theory of change, chaos and complexity. The research followed an interpretive, social constructivist paradigm which basically starts from an assumption that when M&E experts, scholars and practitioners construct meaning of their world, and in making sense of that world, they are influenced by their historical, economic, social and cultural backgrounds. This paradigm resonates well with the research’s central objective of identifying, explaining and interpreting the environmental factors that influence M&E. The main finding in this paper is that there are many natural and intellectual (man-made) environmental factors that affect M&E. Change caused by these environmental factors is chaotic, complex and unpredictable. The effects of these environmental factors on the M&E of government interventions is inevitable because organisations are open systems. An M&E endeavour which ignores the effects of natural and intellectual (man-made) environmental factors on M&E cannot produce accurate information and valid recommendations. Therefore, M&E scholars, professionals and practitioners should take into account the environmental context in which M&E is done in order to produce more accurate M&E results and valid recommendations.

Keywords:

Monitoring and evaluation, M&E, public policy, chaos and complexity, open systems, act of God, internal environment external environment,

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