Chapter 1 of the Handbook provides an overview of the integrated nature of planning, monitoring and evaluation, and describes the critical role they play in managing for development results. Underlying the entire Handbook is the principle that planning, monitoring and evaluation must at all times be considered in relation to, and build upon, one another. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the conceptual foundations of planning and specific guidance on planning techniques and the preparation of results frameworks that guide monitoring and evaluation.
Good planning, monitoring and evaluation enhance the contribution of UNDP by establishing clear links between past, present and future initiatives and development results. Monitoring and evaluation can help an organization extract relevant information from past and ongoing activities that can be used as the basis for programmatic fine-tuning, reorientation and future planning. Without effective planning, monitoring and evaluation, it would be impossible to judge if work is going in the right direction, whether progress and success can be claimed, and how future efforts might be improved
