Monitoring and Evaluation Practices and Performance of Non-Governmental Organisation Projects in Rwanda: A Case of Care International Village Savings and Loan Associations Project

Abstract

The study aimed to examine the effect of monitoring and evaluation practices on the performance of the Care International Village Saving and Loan Association project in Rwanda. The study was specifically to examine the effect of monitoring and evaluation planning, stakeholders ‘involvement and capacity building on the performance of the Care International Village Saving and Loan Association project. The study was important to Care International Rwanda, other Organizations, further researchers and the government. The study was directed by three theories: theory of change, program theory and agency theory. This research may be used by researchers as a source of information in scientific, empirical further surveys. The research design that was used is descriptive. The targeted population was 157 composed by staff of Care International staff working with Village Saving and Loan Association and beneficiaries from five saving groups of Rulindo District Village Saving and Loan Association. A sample size of 113 respondents was sampled using simple random sampling. Data was collected using questionnaires and an interview guide. Data was analyzed by qualitative and quantitative methods with help of SPSS software. Both inferential statistics (regression and correlation) and descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) was used. Data was represented using tables and charts. According to the findings, project planning is considered as the principal function of project evaluation that plays a role in the performance of the project as shown by a mean of 4.8407 and a standard deviation of 0.45447 at a percentage of 87.6 of strongly agreement. It was also found that stakeholder’s involvement and capacity building play an important role in its performance. It was recommended that Care International Village Saving and Loan Association project has to improve the stakeholder’s involvement especially for the beneficiaries at the initiation stage so that the beneficiaries can themselves contribute in the decision of what they need. Care International Village Saving and Loan Association project has also to increase their area of operations in order increase a number of beneficiaries who need to change their lives through Village Saving and Loan Association project services.  Keywords: Corporate Governance Practices, Financial Performance & Microfinance Institutions