Monitoring and Evaluation Practices and Performance of Projects in Rwanda: A Case of Building Learning Foundations (BLF) Project of British Council in Rwanda

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to examine the effect of monitoring and evaluation practices on performance of British council projects in Rwanda. The research adopted a descriptive research design and targeted a population of 109 individuals where a sample of 99 respondents were drawn by use of simple random sampling. 98 participated in this research giving response rate of 98.2%. The results of the first objective of the study revealed a strong agreement among respondents by mean scores ranging from 4.250 to 4.333 indicate a high level of agreement and support for the statements regarding linking M&E with strategic plans enhances project performance in the British council education project in Rwanda. The correlation results support the descriptive findings by providing statistical evidence of strong positive relationships between linking M&E to strategic plans and project timeline, budget, and quality. The Pearson correlation coefficients of 0.899 for project timeline, 0.867 for project budget and 0.875 for project quality demonstrated the strength and direction of these relationships. The p-values of 0.00 which are below the standard statistical significance indicate that these correlations are highly significant. The results of the second objective showed mean scores for all statements range from 4.277 to 4.342 confirming the respondent’s agreement regarding the positive effect of participatory M&E on performance of British council education project. Its correlation results show that the correlation coefficients/Pearson correlation (r) indicate strong and positive relationship between use of participatory M&E and project timeline (r = 0.883, p < 0.01), project budget (r = 0.890, p < 0.01), and project quality (r = 0.855, p < 0.01). Since, all the calculated p-values (Sig. 2-tailed) for all correlations are reported as 0.000, which is less than the significance level of 0.01. This implies that these correlations suggest that there is a significant and positive effect of the use of participatory M&E on performance of British education project in Rwanda. The third objective results show mean scores ranging from 4.250 to 4.629 confirming that respondents strongly agreed that M&E results dissemination has effect on performance of British council education project. Its correlation results show a strong positive correlation between M&E results dissemination and project timeline (r = 0.868, p < 0.01), project budget (r = 0.913, p < 0.01), and project quality (r = 0.878, p < 0.01). The p-values (Sig. 2-tailed) for all correlations are reported as 0.000, which is less than the significance level of 0.01. The study reveals significant positive effects of disseminating M&E results on the performance of the British Council education project in Rwanda. Respondents strongly agree that integrating M&E into strategic plans, employing participatory approaches, and ensuring results dissemination are key to enhancing project performance and achieving successful outcomes.

Keywords: M&E Practices, Project Performance, British Council, Rwanda