Orphans and Vulnerable Children - CRIN

Activity 3: Monitoring

Explain to the CCC that it is useful for them to monitor their activities so that they can later evaluate

the extent to which they have been successful in achieving their purpose. For a simple understanding

of monitoring and evaluation, you can explain to the CCC that they can track Primary, Secondary

and Tertiary information.

Primary informationrelates to the CCC itself. Primary information helps to answer the question,

How well do we function as an organised CCC? Ask the CCC what they need to keep track of,

or to measure, in order to answer that question. You may need to help with one or two examples.

Examples of primary (organisational-level) information include:

 Existence of OVC registers (yes/no)

 Existence of leadership structure (yes/no)

 Existence of activity plan (yes/no)

 Number of CCC meetings, or number of CCC meetings per month

 Amount of funds generated internally by communities

 Amount of funds mobilised externally by communities.

The CCC should choose those pieces of information, called indicators, that they feel are most useful

for their own situation.

Secondary informationrefers to the things that the CCC does. Secondary information helps to

answer the questions, What, and how much, are we doing? Ask the CCC what they think they

need to count or to keep track of in order to answer these questions. Possibilities include:

 Number of OVC registered

 Number of OVC registered who are visited regularly

 Number of home visitors trained

 Retention or turnover rate of home visitors.

Again, the CCC should select those indicators they feel to be most important to their situation.

(If the level of the CCC is high enough, you may go into further detail and explain that these can be

considered as output indicators.)

Tertiary informationhelps to answer the question, What is the result of what we are doing?

or What is the impact of our interventions? They should remember that the people they are

most trying to help are the OVC themselves, and that therefore this information should be collected

with respect to impact on OVC. Examples include:

 Number and percent of OVC in school

 Number and percent of OVC accessing healthcare services

 Number and percent of OVC accessing social services

 Number and percent of OVC with at least as much food as the norm for children in the

community.

(If the level of the CCC is high enough, you may go into further detail and explain that these can be

considered as impact indicators.)

(^54) Unit 1, Module 1 Guide to Mobilising and Strengthening Community-Led Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children