Approach to the application of adaptive MEAL systems in development projects in El Salvador, challenges and perspectives in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Addressing development issues in contexts that evolve rapidly and unpredictably requires recognizing that they contain a certain degree of uncertainty, difficulties and unforeseen events; to analyze change from these factors in development projects is to think about how it affects them throughout the entire Project Management Cycle (PMC) and its different processes. This implies the importance of making a forecast of these factors in how and when the context will evolve and also how change can occur in a specific context. The article aims to preliminarily identify challenges and future perspectives in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, regarding the application of adaptive monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning -MEAL- systems in governmental institutions, Local Governments and Associations of municipalities in El Salvador, weighing on the new global challenges, such as the pandemic, in which from the beginning many interventions were affected by not having a risk-based management and therefore could be given continuity and could meet -with all the challenges that the pandemic implies- the objectives set for the projects already initiated and those that were about to start