Thesis:

Monitoring and Evaluation of Agricultural Project’s Implementation: A Case of Rural Sector Support Project Phase II

Monitoring and evaluation is very important in project implementation because it involves control of time, resources, budgets, responsibilities and performance standards in order to ensure effectiveness and efficiency in implementation of project. This study intended to analyze how monitoring and evaluation effect on implementation of agricultural projects. For this study Rural Sector Support project was selected as the case study. The study was specifically focused on identifying the monitoring and evaluation mechanisms in place; assessing the capacity of Monitoring & Evaluation system in Rural Sector Support Project and identifying how monitoring and evaluation data affect project implementation in Rural Sector Support Project. The research adopted both descriptive and analytical research design and use both qualitative and quantitative data approaches. The study was carried out on a total population of 130 constituting 36 RSSP staff, 15 contractors from Private sector, and 79 cooperative members as beneficiaries of the project. The research used 130 beneficiaries as representative sample; thus the census method was applied. The rationale behind is that the collection of data from all 130 respondents provided ground for full representation of the implementation of Rural Sector Support Project. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaires and an interview schedule. The questionnaire was composed of both open and closed-ended questions. To test the validity and reliability of the research instruments, a pilot study where the researcher first gave the questionnaires to at least ten respondents to be done. Descriptive statistics was used in the data analysis to generate percentages and frequencies to facilitate the analysis of results and show how monitoring and evaluation effect on implementation of agricultural projects. . The study revealed that out of the 130 intended respondents the researcher managed to get information from only 115 respondents representing 89% of the total intended respondents. 84% of the respondents confirmed that rural sector support have monitoring and evaluation system in place and the system helps a lot , the capacity of the system is monitored by concerned people in the project.16% seemed not to be informed about the system because some of them are beneficiaries and they are not well conversant with it. So it was found that to have monitoring and evaluation system in place it is fundamental to rural sector support project II. The research revealed that developing monitoring and evaluation frame work is done participatory it is shown by findings where 83% agree with the statement while17%disagreed with the statement. The big number shows that it is very important because when it is done participatory the implementation of the project is also achieved on time. The results show that the first thing the rural sector support project did was to put in place monitoring and evaluation system and this system helps a lot the project to check out what was implemented according to the work plan. The findings again show that survey is conducted before establishing baseline and this is very strong mechanism that every project should use because it give a clear path when conducting monitoring and evaluation of the project.