Presentation Abstract: International development projects operate within a complex ecology; not only do projects have multiple stakeholders, accountabilities and bottom lines, often times they operate in environments that are physically and bureaucratically challenging. To be successful projects must lean towards an adaptive management style and all staff must have a clear understanding of the project monitoring system and their role in its implementation. Yet few manuals exist on the nitty-gritty task of how to set up a monitoring system. CRS has created an approach to project monitoring – SMILER – that includes mechanisms to turn data into useful knowledge that informs project learning and decision making whilst maintaining a focus on achieving results and reporting accomplishments. By emphasizing project monitoring, CRS is seeking to balance its desire to seek and listen with its evaluative obligations to quantify and prove. The presentation will introduce SMILER and discuss the opportunities and challenges that have presented themselves.#EvaluativeMonitoring #InternationalandCross-CulturalEval #2012Conference #Complexity #SMILER #Monitoriong