Print This Page
Print This Page |
Quality assurance
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
| A (Top) | |
| Appraisal | Audit |
| E (Top) | |
| Evaluation | |
| F (Top) | |
| Finding | |
| I (Top) | |
| Inspection | |
| M (Top) | |
| Monitoring | Monitoring and evaluation |
| P (Top) | |
| Performance assessment | Performance measurement |
| Performance management | Performance monitoring |
| Performance measure | Projects/Programme cycle management |
| Q (Top) | |
| Quality assurance | |
| R (Top) | |
| Recommendation | Results-based management |
| V (Top) | |
| Validation | |
Appraisal (Back / Top)
An overall assessment of the relevance, feasibility and potential sustainability of a project or other operational exercise. It is an assessment of the overall soundness of the project and a justification for its implementation. Criteria commonly include relevance and sustainability. An appraisal may also relate to the examination of opinions as part of the process for selecting which project to fund. The purpose of appraisal is to enable decision-makers to decide whether the activity is in accordance with mandates and represents an appropriate use of resources.
Audit (Back / Top)
An exercise to determine if there is an adequate and effective system of internal controls for providing reasonable assurance with respect to:
Integrity of financial and operational information; compliance with regulations, rules, policies and procedures in all operations; and safeguarding of assets;
The economic and efficient use of resources in operations and identifying opportunities for improvement in a dynamic and changing environment; and
Effectiveness of programme management for achieving stated objectives consistent with policies, plans and budgets.
See also: “Evaluation”, “Inspection”
A process that seeks to determine as systematically and objectively as possible the relevance, effectiveness and impact of an ongoing or completed programme, project or policy in the light of its objectives and accomplishments. It encompasses their design, implementation and results with the view to providing information that is credible and useful, enabling the incorporation of lessons learned into both executive and legislative decision-making process. Evaluation is often undertaken selectively to answer specific questions to guide decision-makers and/or programme managers, and to provide information on whether underlying theories and assumptions used in programme development were valid, what worked and what did not work and why.
See also: “Cluster evaluation”, “Ex-post evaluation”, “External evaluation”, “Formative evaluation”, “In-depth evaluation”, “Internal evaluation”, “Joint evaluation”, “Meta-evaluation”, “Participatory evaluation”, “Project evaluation", “Self-evaluation”, “Strategic evaluation”, “Summative evaluation”, “Thematic evaluation”
Statement about the programme or project based on empirical evidence gathered through monitoring and evaluation activities.
See also: “Conclusion”, "Terms of reference”
Inspections address specific mandates, management issues or areas of high risk and recommend remedial action. Inspection teams also examine procedures set in place by management to ensure adequate preparation, implementation, evaluation and control of the programme of work and the resources appropriated for it.
See also: “Audit”, “Evaluation”
A periodic assessment by programme managers and by the Office of Internal Oversight Services, of the progress in achieving the expected accomplishments and delivering the final outputs in comparison with the commitments set out in the programme budget as approved by the General Assembly. It provides assurance that the implementation of a programme or project is proceeding as planned.
See also: “Self-monitoring”, “IMDIS”
Monitoring and evaluation (Back / Top)
The combination of monitoring and evaluation together provide the knowledge required for effective programme and project management and for reporting and accountability responsibilities.
External assessment or self-assessment by programme units, comprising monitoring, reviews, end-of-year reporting, end-of-project reporting, institutional assessments, and/or special studies.
See also: "Self-evaluation”, "Self-monitoring"
Measures taken by a programme manager, based on monitoring and evaluation information, to foster continuous improvement. It is supported by performance measurement.
See also: “Results-based management (RBM)”, "Learning"
Specific statistics chosen because they provide valid, practical and comparable measures of progress or level of change towards achieving expected results for the period.
A system for the collection, interpretation of, and reporting for the purpose of objectively measuring how well programmes or projects contribute to the achievement of expected accomplishments and objectives and deliver outputs.
See also: “Indicator”, “IMDIS”, “Logical framework”, “Results-based management (RBM)” , “Data”, “Expected accomplishment”, “Objective”, “Activity”, "Methodology form"
A continuous process of collecting and analyzing data to compare how well a programme, project, or policy is being implemented against expected results.
See also: “IMDIS”, “Programme performance report (PPR)”, "Self-monitoring"
A tool for understanding the tasks and management functions to be performed in the course of a project or programme’s lifetime. This commonly includes the stages of identification, preparation, appraisal, implementation/supervision, monitoring, evaluation, completion and lesson learning.
See also: “Results-based management (RBM)” , “Work plan”
Quality assurance encompasses any activity that is concerned with assessing and improving the merit or the worth of a programme, project or an output and their compliance with given standards.
Proposal for action to be taken to enhance the design, allocation of resources, effectiveness, quality, or efficiency of a programme or a project. Recommendations should be substantiated by evaluation findings, linked to conclusions and include the parties responsible for implementing the recommended actions.
See also: “Finding”, “Conclusions”
A management strategy by which the Secretariat ensures that its processes, outputs and services contribute to the achievement of clearly stated expected accomplishments and objectives. It is focused on achieving results and improving performance, integrating lessons learned into management decisions and monitoring of and reporting on performance.
See also: “Logical framework”, “Performance management", “Self-evaluation”, " IMDIS”
The process of cross-checking to ensure that the data obtained from one monitoring and evaluation method are confirmed by the data obtained from a different method.
See also: "Data”, “Reliability”