Secretaría de Desarrollo Social's (SEDESOL) goal in building a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system was to move beyond the case-by-case evaluation framework of social programs that has been in place since 2000. This is due to significant challenges that complicated past monitoring and evaluation efforts. First, separate evaluation results for all SEDESOL programs are not integrated into a system that can provide feedback on social program design or efficiency. Secondly, the evaluation budgets have been small in the past which can affect the quality of such evaluation efforts. Thirdly, as all programs, even those operating within close proximity, are evaluated separately, evaluation costs are high. Lastly, the annual requirement for program impact evaluations required by law is a timeframe that is too constrained to perform a meaningful evaluation. In order to strengthen the M&E system, the National Social Development Law (2003) provided for the creation of the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policies (CONEVAL). The council was officially created by a presidential decree in August 2005 and the Executive Secretary was appointed by the President in November 2005. The council counts among its objectives three primary areas: poverty measurement, the regulation and coordination of the Federal Government's evaluation of social development policy, and the systemization of results and information regarding social policy.