This volume presents a holistic approach to monitoring systems, with a range of purposes that monitoring practices serve, followed by a selection of the components of a monitoring system, and then case studies of monitoring systems. The aim is to explore monitoring as a practice on its own, related but not constricted to its framing in performance management or evaluation. 

The book looks in particular at African governments, who invest significant resources in monitoring and compliance-related activities and explores the barriers between effective monitoring practice and effective governance and development interventions.