Participation has become a critical component in development. In the assessment of needs, governments, international donors, implementing agencies and NGOs are insisting on participatory approaches as they seek to assess community needs and project implementation strategies. An increased emphasis on the importance of participation in development has brought forth the need for a participatory-based monitoring and evaluation approach for community-based initiatives, projects, and social development projects.

Participants in participatory assessment, monitoring, and evaluation (PAM&E) work together in a collaborative framework to measure, record, gather and evaluate communication data for use in problem-solving and decision-making. As a result, project partners are able to identify remedial actions early on in the project’s development.