An assessment of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) was undertaken to learn lessons, both positive and negative, from the experience of the South Asia Health, Nutrition, Population Sector (SASHNP) in ongoing or recently closed projects. The objectives of the study were to: (a) improve the design and implementation of M&E of Bank HNP operations in the region
(b) understand how to increase the number of impact evaluations of important innovations
(c) figure out means to assist our clients to improve the monitoring of the performance of their health sectors
(d) further strengthen the "results" culture among sector staff
and (e) establish a baseline against to which judge progress on improving M&E that could be repeated in 2-3 years. This paper contains the following sections: executive summary, introduction, methods, results, recommendations, and checklist for M&E in HNP operations.