In the world of poly-crisis, the development paradigm is undergoing a fundamental change. As we move beyond the Covid-19 black swan, the development praxis is also settling towards a new normal. Innovation, technology, and scale underline almost all the strategic choices we make and identity, equity, and inclusion have become the central values underpinning human development endeavors. The role of data for decisions and evidence-based policy has got highly accentuated as we strive for effectiveness, results, transparency and accountability. Data-for-impact is no more a buzzword.

In sync with the shifting latitudes, M&E has also evolved, best fitting the emergent needs of the programmers, policymakers, investors and other key stakeholders. New perspectives, methods, and tools are increasingly finding space in tracking progress and measuring impacts. And therefore, it becomes necessary to have a shared understanding and appreciation of the new vocabulary such that the most appropriate approaches, methods and tools can be deployed in a given development context.