Assessing Country Readiness for Results-Based Monitoring and Evaluation to Support Results Informed Budgeting

This brief provides an overview of the role of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) in informing budgetary decisions and presents one tool: the readiness assessment - that can help determine the M&E capacity and demand present in a country. Case studies on the use of this assessment are included from Egypt, Romania, and a country in East Asia. This assessment tool focuses on collecting baseline information on how well positioned a government is to design, build and sustain a results-based M&E system. It is divided into three sections: incentives; roles and responsibilities; and capacity building. There are 40 questions in the instrument that cluster into eight areas. These questions identify issues at the national, sub-national, or sector-wide levels of government, rather than at the program or project level. The readiness assessment tool seeks to assist individual governments, the donor community, and their multiple development partners also involved in public sector reform to systematically address the requisites (present or not) for a results-based M&E system. With the information garnered from this effort, development partners can help address the challenges inherent in improving on the current system used to track progress towards achieving the results from government action.