The Monitoring and Evaluation of Public Sector Programs in Asia

The article describes the organization of monitoring and evaluation (M/E) of public sector programs in South Asia and discusses how the information from the studies is actually used. While considerable resources are invested in monitoring the efficiency of project implementa tion, very little attention has been given to evaluating the performance and sustainability of public sector programs. The article considers why governments and international donor agencies appear to have so little concern in knowing whether their investments have produced sustainable programs which are generating the desired impacts. The information for this article is largely taken from a monitoring and evaluation seminar organized by the Economic Devel opment Institute (EDI) of the World Bank and the Pakistan Administrative Staff College (PASCOL) for evaluation researchers and senior government officials from South Asia in April 1987 in Lahore, Pakistan.