Participatory M&E and Technology in Beneficiary Feedback

The Governance and Social Development Resource Centre (GSDRC) published a research report on participatory monitoring  and evaluation (PM&E), and beneficiary feedback for the Aid Effectiveness Team at DFID.

You can visit GSDRC’s website to download the report.

The report responds to the query:

“Please identify the existing literature on participatory monitoring and evaluation, with a particular emphasis on gaining wide-ranging beneficiary feedback. Comment on the coverage, scalability, risks, benefits and applicability”

After offering an overview and literature review on PM&E, the report highlights  examples of technologies being used to facilitate beneficiary feedback and notes that:

Although ICTs present opportunities for scaling up beneficiary feedback mechanisms, the advantages of these tools are largely unproven. It is important that ICTs are not viewed as a ‘magic bullet’ and that they are carefully tailored to context.

Owen raises a related “biomimetics for development” idea in a presentation arguing that we should not try to design a better world: we should concentrate on building better feedback loops. Aidinfo have argued elsewhere that the beneficiary feedback loop, alongside donor transparency, is a key part of the aid effectiveness equation.

We’re keen to learn about other good examples and models of beneficiary feedback – do get in touch if you’ve got any to add.