The Tempus field monitoring policy identifies three main functions of the monitoring depending on when and how the monitoring is undertaken:
Preventative: carried out in the first half of project lifetime. The main objectives are: to provide beneficiaries with rules, procedures and advice to prevent future difficulties and obstacles; to review the objectives, priorities, methodology and planned activities; to discuss and check the applied procedures, their relevance and adequacy in particular for financial management.
Advisory: carried out in the second half of the project lifetime. The main objectives are: to provide beneficiaries with recommendations and advice to accompany the implementation of the project; to check the level of implementation of project activities; to ensure sound and efficient management of Tempus funds.
Control: carried out after the end of the project. The main objectives are to assess the results of the project, their impact and the sustainability and to identify best practices. It could also be used to check financial and accounting aspects related to the use of the grant.
There are two aspects of the project monitoring. The first aspect is the direct contact with the project partners.The second aspect is the follow-up of field monitoring visits ensured through desk monitoring. The field monitoring report is the main output of the field monitoring visit, it is written by the NTO and sent to the responsible P10 project officer in the weeks following the visit.
The Tempus field monitoring policy sets the following quantitative objectives:
- 2/3 of ongoing projects should be monitored annually;
- 100% projects should undergo preventative monitoring;
- 70% should undergo advisory monitoring;
- 30% should be monitored after their completion (control monitoring);
- Each project should be visited on average twice.
The projects are monitored by EACEA(P10 Unit), National Tempus Office or by DG DEVCO (external monitoring in the framework of the Result Oriented Monitoring (ROM) which was considered as complementary to P10 internal field monitoring policy).
Some specific criteria for the identification of the projects to be monitored by P10 staff were established as follows:
- Projects coordinated for the first time by a higher education institution located in the partner country;
- Size of grant;
- Problematic projects flagged by desk monitoring;
- Appropriate balance between Structural Measures and Joint Projects;
- Interval of least six months between two monitoring visits in the same country.
Main findings of the field monitoring visits
There are five criteria to be addressed by the monitors. It is following criteria: relevance and quality of design, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and potential sustainability.
The main questions regarding relevance relate to the extent to which the project’s objectives remain pertinent to needs, problems and issues of the partner countries and to the logic of intervention, feasibility and flexibility of the project design.
Efficiency relates to the capacity of the project to produce results at a reasonable cost. The monitors therefore are asked to assess how well the means and activities are converted into results and the quality of the results achieved.
Effectiveness is measured taking into account the contribution made by the project’s results to the achievement of the project’s objectives.
Impact is defined as the effect of the project on its wider environment and its contribution to the achievement of the project’s overall objective as well as to positive changes at different levels.
Sustainability refers to the likelihood of a continuation in the stream of benefits and results produced by the projects after the external support has ended.
