Simple:Monitoring must be simple because a complex monitoring system in itself leads to failures. The basic concern of monitoring is to ease out the difficult situations arising in the on going programmes.
Timely:Monitoring must be done well in time as the management requires feedback from the monitoring system to take timely action. Efficiency of monitoring is also judged by its action well in time.
Relevant:Monitoring must be relevant which means that the emphasis is only on those aspects which are concerned with programme objectives and none of the information is gathered which is of no use by the management.
Information is dependable: Information provided through monitoring should be accurate and then only the management will depend on monitoring findings.
Participatory:Monitoring efforts should be participatory that is monitoring be equally conducted by all concerned with the programme-field level personnel, subject matter specialists, farmers etc.
Flexible:Monitoring must be flexible, not rigid and can be modified according to the situation.
Action oriented:Monitoring should lead to action, hence whatever information is collected; it should be put to use and not be of waste.
Cost effective:Monitoring efforts cost money and time; hence it needs to be cost effective. Computerization makes monitoring more cost effective by reducing staff hours in data processing.
Top management oriented:Monitoring efforts should be top management oriented, keeping in mind their requirements when designing and operating a monitoring system.
Monitoring units represent specialized undertakings: like that of diagnosing problems and suggesting practical solutions, besides collection and analysis of data.
Participants