More often than not, community-based activists have an acute understanding of what their communities need, but struggle in communicating that need effectively to potential and actual donors. However, it is not only essential to be able to describe program needs, and ultimately demonstrate impact for donors, but it is also good practice for organizations.

Often, when highly experienced monitoring and evaluation experts begin talking about M&E, they use terms and describe systems that intimidate less experienced program implementers. This handbook takes it step-by-step, defining concepts, and using examples to aid in making M&E a less intimidating subject.

At its core, M&E planning is merely a well-thought-out description of what you intend to do, describing the actions you will take and the impact you expect. It is also about how to communicate with both your team and others.

In this handbook, we examine key M&E terms and concepts, try to understand some of the jargon, and how and when those ideas fit into our monitoring and evaluation of programmes. Using a fictitious NGO called the Global Peace Organization we illustrate the use of some of the tools of M&E.