Brazil

As Northeast Brazil contains the largest concentration of poverty in Latin America and is in need of development, the Bank has attempted to review its monitoring and... Show More + evaluation experiences in light of rural development projects undertaken there. This report reviews these experiences gained during the execution of several rural development projects in that area. It is based on a desk review of documents relating to project monitoring and evaluation as well as the findings of an OED mission to Brazil in July 1982, undertaken in conjunction with audits of the Brazil Alto Turi Land Settlement Project and the First Agro-Industries Credit Project. This review calls attention to the different objectives of monitoring and evaluation: monitoring is essentially a management tool and therefore part of or equal to "management information systems"; evaluation is a specific in-depth assessment of project impact. Even though evaluation is typically linked to monitoring in M&E components, it should be optional and separate from the management information system. This review also concludes that management information systems should be designed during project preparation, and that the objectives of any proposed evaluation system need to be clearly spelled out from the beginning. Show Less -