While their scope and purpose are different, both monitoring and evaluation processes at the EC generally rely on external resources for objective and systematic assessments of programme progress and performance. The Terms of Reference (TOR), which guide external monitoring and evaluation processes at the EC, determine their purpose, scope, focus and resources.

By mainstreaming child rights in the TOR, we ensure that EC investments are assessed with regard to child rights and child well-being. In developing the TOR, the task manager must decide what relative importance to accord children and their rights, relative to other cross-cutting issues and competing priorities (i.e. gender, governance, the environment, etc). The answer to this question rests with programme decision-makers and key stakeholders – what are their information needs, what do they want to learn and how do they want to use the monitoring and evaluation information collected?