Topic 3: Reflections on monitoring a large-scale civil society WASH initiative: lessons for sector monitoring and potential contributions from NGOs

This paper draws on the experience of monitoring a large-scale civil society Fund to provide insight into some of the challenges facing sector monitoring and how non-governmental organisations (NGOs) might play roles to support government in developing and implementing such systems. Structured reflection was undertaken by the Monitoring Review Panel, authors of this paper, who had oversight of the monitoring arrangements of this AusAID Fund that covered 20 countries in Asia, Africa and the Pacific. The reflection addressed two areas: (i) innovative aspects and key success factors that held relevance for sector monitoring, and (ii) use of a ‘strategy map’ to consider the ways in which NGOs are currently, and might in the future, support sector monitoring. [authors abstract]