How would you monitor this project's results?

Donors pay for results, not activities, so every programme, M&E and field post gets a monitoring question. The panel is testing four things: do you know the difference between an output and an outcome, can you name an indicator with a target, do you know how data is actually collected and checked in a Somali district, and will you be honest when the numbers are bad. “This project” means the one in the vacancy notice, so read its description twice before the interview and build your answer on it.

1. 1Start from the log frame. Outputs are what you deliver: 40 water points rehabilitated, 50 CHWs trained. Outcomes are the change that follows: more households using an improved water source, fewer diarrhoea cases in under-fives. Name one of each for the project in the advert.
2. 2Give indicators with a baseline, a target and a timeline: “share of households within 500 metres of a functioning water point, from 40 to 75 percent in 18 months.” If the advert names the donor, say you would align with that donor's standard indicators.
3. 3Say how the data is collected and how often: monthly activity reports on KoboToolbox with GPS and photos, distribution lists with signatures or thumbprints, a post-distribution monitoring visit to 10 percent of households two weeks after, baseline and endline household surveys, focus groups with women held separately.
4. 4Say how you check quality: spot checks on 10 percent of forms, call-backs to registered households, cross-checking numbers with finance and logistics records, third-party monitors in areas staff cannot reach, and the complaints hotline as a second source of truth.
5. 5Say what you do with it: a monthly review with the team, a simple Excel tracker or dashboard, corrective actions, and a shortfall reported to the donor early with the reason and a recovery plan. Donors accept a delay explained in month two; they do not accept a surprise in month twelve.