1. Reporting, Monitoring and Evaluation
Giovanni Rum, Chao Xing
GEO Secretariat
GEO Programme Board meeting
Geneva, 7-8 Sep 2016

2. GEO_XII_Document 7 M&E Lessons Learned 2005-2015
Point 4 RECOMMENDATIONS PROVIDED TO THE IPWG FOR THE FUTURE OF GEO M&E
…………………………………….
Define key intended outcomes of GEO in the Strategic Plan;
Ensure measurability of those outcomes at the start;
The Strategic Plan should be supported by two evaluations: one at mid-term, the other near the end of the Plan and both timed to report during Ministerial years;
Incorporate greater capacity within GEO Sec to support M&E activities;
The M&E WG is difficult to maintain, the oversight of M&E function should be assumed by the Programme Board;
Build required info for M&E into Implementation Plans of GEO Flagships and GEO Initiatives and set M&E expectations proportionately to the size and status of the activity.

3. GEO Strategic Plan 2017-2019 Page 14 – Core Functions
These Core Functions are accompanied by specific, measurable, and achievable targets designed to enable an effective implementation, including the monitoring of progress and evaluation of achievements.
Page 18 – Progress Report
An annual Progress Report will be compiled by the GEO Secretariat on all activities, drawing on available reports of the GEO Flagships, GEO Initiatives, GEO Foundational Tasks and, to the best of the Secretariat’s knowledge, of GEO Community Activities. This Progress Report will give due recognition to the major contributions of GEO Members, Participating Organizations, and any third party. It will also enable an evaluation of progress towards the corresponding targets.Define key intended outcomes of GEO in the Strategic Plan;

4. GEO Strategic Plan 2017-19 Reference Document
Core Functions: Monitoring, Evaluation, Expected Results and Indicators
Page 14
The Core Functions will be implemented through specific actions set out in the GPWs. GPW activities reflect GEO’s specific choices on approach to implementation which may in many cases be incremental steps. Their effectiveness can be evaluated against expected results, which are defined based on indicators presented here.
1. Monitoring & Evaluation
Results of the evaluation will help determine how effective GEO has been in terms of societal impacts. The evaluations previously performed by the Monitoring and Evaluation Working Group (one per year, from 2009) will be implemented through Foundational Tasks included in the GPW.
Page 15
…... During the course of GEO’s second decade, key elements of the monitoring and evaluation framework are established up-front. These include a more efficient and targeted approach to monitoring, one that is connected to the relevant Implementation Mechanism, as well as evaluations connected to GPW finalization, Ministerial meetings and the midterm review. To monitor progress and evaluate outcomes, a series of indicators underpin expected results. These are designed to be quantifiable, based on data used to manage implementation of the GPWs whilst allowing the actual targets to be refined as resourcing options become clearer during GPW preparation

5. from GEO Strategic Plan (1/2)
The purpose of monitoring is to track the progress of the completion of the GEO Work Programme.
The GEO Secretariat will conduct monitoring on an on-going and systematic basis.
The purpose of the evaluation is to inform improvement of GEO’s activities by conducting assessments of the progress towards achieving targets, including intended outputs and outcomes.
An internal evaluation report is produced involving GEO Secretariat and Programme Board.
Two external evaluations during the period

6. from GEO Strategic Plan (2/2)
Reporting, Monitoring and Evaluation function within GEO will be implemented in different ways depending on the Implementation Mechanism (GEO Community Activities, GEO Initiatives, GEO Flagships and GEO Foundational Tasks).
The results of Monitoring and Evaluation activities will be presented to the Executive Committee and Plenary.

7. M&E Framework Plenary Target Indicators Report
Indicators calculation
6 Core Functions
19 Expected Results
GEO Secretariat
Target Indicators Report
Annual Evaluation Report
26 Indicators
PROGRAMME
BOARD
Annual Progress Report
Other Sources
Plenary
GEO Secretariat
Foundational
Tasks
Community Activities
GEO Initiatives and Flagships

8. M&E reports (1/3) – Progress Report
An annual Progress Report will be compiled by the GEO Secretariat on all activities, based on the inputs received from each Community Activity, GEO Initiatives and GEO Flagships and on the Secretariat-prepared report on Foundational Tasks.
The annual Progress Report will assess the progress of all the GEO Work Programme activities and will contain data and information which are necessary to calculate the target indicators.

9. M&E reports (2/3) – Target indicators report
The 26 indicators defined in the GEO Strategic Plan reference Document are the benchmark in the GEO Evaluation mechanism.
GEO Secretariat will calculate indicators on a yearly basis using inputs from the Progress Report and from other sources and issue a yearly “Target Indicators Report”

10. M&E reports (3/3) – Evaluation Report
The annual Evaluation Report will be developed by the Programme Board, using the information contained in the Progress Report and in the Target Indicators Report.
It will include recommendations and proposed recovery actions, when needed.
The annual Evaluation report, together with the Progress Report will be presented to GEO Executive Committee and Plenary.
Mid-term (2019) and Final (2025) Evaluation Reports will be produced by independent Evaluation Teams

11. Performance indicators definition Progress
The Programme Board, at its first meeting, established a dedicated Subgroup on indicators
The Programme Board discussed the matter at its second meeting, on 5-6 May, recommending better use of GEO Initiative/Flagship reports, referencing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), climate, and other cross-cutting issue agendas.
GEO Secretariat performed a consolidated analysis of indicators definition and its methodology.

12. GEO Secretariat M&E activities in 2016
Covered by the SO-03 Foundational Task
Production of the 2016 annual Progress Report
Consolidation of the 26 performance indicators. GEO Secretariat has made assessment, including the preliminary definition of the methodology for obtaining indicators and the information to be gathered to obtain their values.

13. Performance indicators analysis
9 red indicators, the conception and methodology need to be consolidated or further developed, in term of the core functions in the GEO Strategic plan.
9 yellow indicators, need to discuss on the methodology and the efficient way of collecting data.
8 green indicators, clear conception, methodology and standard available, data regularly achieved.

14. Next activities
Consolidate the definition of the 26 indicators and associated methodologies, by May,2017.
Standards and definitions as the output of GEO Foundational task.
Methodologies to be developed/consolidated with the support of the GEO community.
Reporting requirements clearly identified
measure baseline values for performance indicators, with GEO community’s support, by September 2017
Final, consolidated reports to be presented to GEO-XIV Plenary – interim reports to ExCom
It is proposed that GEO Secretariat works together with the PB to develop proposals and reports (= Secretariat proposals reviewed and agreed by the PB).

15. Back-up slides

16. GEO Core Functions, Expected Results, Indicators - 1

17. GEO Core Functions, Expected Results, Indicators - 2

18. GEO Core Functions, Expected Results, Indicators - 3