5 Tips To Boost Your Career in Monitoring and Evaluation in 2023

Are you a monitoring and evaluation expert looking to better your career this year?

I recently had a conversation with Lucia, who is M&E officer with six years of experience. She was worried that she has been stagnating in her career because she has never had a pay rise or a promotion since she joined the organization. In a bid to understand more about her, I realized that she had not implemented the strategies that would help her advance her M&E career. She lacked the attributes that were essential for career growth.

Just like any other career, M&E requires constant cultivation to make it successful. So, what can Lucia do to improve her monitoring and evaluation skills?

This is what I proposed to her.

1. Join a M&E training class

One of the best ways to better your monitoring and evaluation skills is to acquire knowledge and skills formally.

Once she enrolled in an M&E short course, she was able to refresh her skills as well as learn new and innovative monitoring and evaluation techniques.

 This is the only way to stay sharp and on top of your game. You either aim to continuously upgrade your career or risk it becoming obsolete.

2. Subscribe to online platforms that focus on M&E

The online platform is a good source of knowledge on monitoring and evaluation expertise; browse for such sites and subscribe to them.

The advantage of using the internet to learn is that you have free access to a variety of information you can employ to grow your M&E expertise.

Monitoring and evaluation websites are rich sources of useful documents in a wide variety of thematic areas.

3. Join an Evaluation Society or Association

As someone serious about improving their expertise, I recommended her t0 join regional evaluation society.

Not only does this give you credibility, but it is good for networking and for keeping abreast of the developments in your local context.

4. Find a Mentor

Identify a personality in the M&E field that you admire and would love to learn from. Once you identify them, use your networking skills to reach out to them.

Mentors are beneficial as they have achieved what you hope to someday; they will teach you their ways so you can learn and even do better than they have.

5 Acquire area-specific skills

The best way to have better monitoring and evaluation career is to specialize your skills.

It is hard to get a job when you have generalized knowledge. Once you become an expert in a specific M&E area, employers will trust that you will manage to deliver the best.

 It is good to have general knowledge but ensure you have specialized expertise to have the upper hand.

Conclusion,

You need to improve your monitoring and evaluation skills this year for a better career. All you have to do is seek formal knowledge, network, improve your communication skills and acquire area-specific skills.

Better yet, join this monitoring and evaluation class today.