Effect of Employing Mobile-Based Application Tools for Monitoring and Evaluation of Community and Social Development Projects in South West Nigeria

Abstract

The significant of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) in project management cannot be over-emphasised as M&E stands to improve the quality and efficiency of developing policies and implementations. This study was carried out to determine the effect of employing mobile-based application tools for monitoring and evaluation of community and social development projects (CSDPs) in South West, Nigeria from 2009 – 2014 using innovation in information technology (IIT). A total sample size of two hundred and ninety (290) respondents was purposively selected across the South West states. Data analytical tools (simple descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation) were used for the analysis of the data collected. Findings indicated that more than ninety percent (90%) of the respondents were directly involved in M&E of community development. The results further showed that, all the respondents' perception on the effect of employing mobile-based applications tools for monitoring and evaluation of community and social development projects (CSDPs) in the study area were significant, with all the mean scores above 3.00. High quality and dependable data (3.73) has the highest mean scores, followed by flexible and easy tracking of project's progress, impact and enabling participating, regular and timely feedback both have 3.70 each.The study recommended that government at all levels are advice to legislate, institutionalise and scale up Management Information System (MIS) in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for transparent, cost effective, timely, efficient and sustainable participatory Monitoring and evaluation of various projects.