Developing a Frequent Monitoring Framework to track progress made by UN agencies’ programming in Jordan

Since the outbreak of the Syria crisis, Jordan has been seeking to accelerate the country’s development whilst mitigating the impact the crisis has had on the country. The United Nations Assistance Framework, UN(D)AF – which outlines six key outcomes and related targets for resilience programming in Jordan – serves as a common strategic framework that enables the UN system to provide a coherent response to nationally identified needs and priorities. In 2018, the UN(D)AF will be followed by a new 5-year programmatic framework.

Currently, the UN Country Team is working towards developing a Frequent Monitoring Framework (FMF) to have a robust Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) structure for the future UN(D)AF cycle. To this end, an M&E Task Force was established comprising UN Women, UNICEF, WFP, UNOPS, UNFPA and UNDP and chaired by the UN Resident/ Humanitarian Coordinator’s Office (UN RC/HC-O), with IMPACT’s support for the information management and development of the monitoring framework.  The overall aim of the FMF is to establish a mechanism for frequent monitoring of UN agencies’ programming in Jordan which is needed to enable the analysis and use of timely information to trigger programmatic adjustments and address gaps in programme delivery.

To work towards the development of this FMF, UN RC/HC-O and IMPACT engaged with members of the M&E Task Force to identify indicators which can be monitored on a regular basis, are relevant to programming, and have accessible data sources. The selected indicators measure both outcomes (i.e. a broader measure of change brought about by a programme or activity) and outputs (i.e. programme-specific deliverables and activities). These indicators have been represented onto a pilot dashboard in a way that reflects the “theory of change” i.e. how the output/ outcome being discussed is relevant to and practically contributing towards the broader UNAF outcomes.

Overall, the FMF will accelerate the impact being made by the UN system and also contribute towards enhancing public accountability of the UN by showing joint results through an online dashboard system.