Have you ever had these questions in mind when running a project?
Are our initiatives working? Have our programmes had a measurable impact on expected outcomes? If not, how can we make strategic changes in order to achieve our objectives? This is where Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) comes in.
A complex and often intertwined process, M&E is integral in any programme where tracking, assessment and evaluation of progress, impact, goals and set targets are undertaken. It is also an essential tool in assessing the quality of programmes being conducted.
The ‘measured’ success!
Through our collaborative partnership with Yayasan Pahang, LeapEd’s Islamic School Enhancement Programme (ISEP) is designed to transform and place Tahfiz institutions at the forefront of Islamic education in Malaysia. For the past three years, this programme has been implemented at Maahad Tahfiz Negeri Pahang (MTNP), an Islamic private school, where the intervention leaning towards 21st century learning was successfully delivered.
“Teachers’ beliefs have greater influence than the teachers‘ knowledge on the way they plan their lessons ..…” (Pajares 1992).
What was very encouraging about our findings is that the evidence shows an increasing number of teachers are now practising student-centred learning (facilitative) compared to teacher-centred (didactic). The percentage of teachers who are facilitative doubled (62%) in 2019 compared to the beginning of the project (31%) in 2018. With the M&E mechanisms are embedded within the programme, the impact and success can be measured!
The needs for M&E
The above is just one of the many evidences that the dedicated M&E team in LeapEd regularly collect to track the progress and achievement of our array of projects. M&E is the way for us to apply check and balance and accountability to our project stakeholders – our methodologies are results-based, using data and empirical analysis to demonstrate project impacts. Ultimately, the success stories and project challenges are used as continuous learning for further improvement.