The MONITO tool was developed to track the implementation of co-developed actions aimed at addressing public health emergencies (Figure 1). It provides feedback on the progress of these actions, identifies implementation challenges, and assesses their outcomes – whether they’re improving, stagnating, or failing to mitigate public health risks. Importantly, while MONITO tracks outcomes, it does not perform formal evaluations to establish a causal relationship but rather aims to discern the effectiveness of interventions and pinpoint any overlooked evidence that might necessitate further action. MONITO is designed not to judge stakeholders, but to support them in enhancing the tracking, planning, and implementation of their co-developed actions through evidence-based insights.

Source of Co-developed Actions for MONITO: Introduction to MONITITOs
MONITITOs, smaller and more detailed versions of MONITO, are designed to capture health risks, observations and their associated contributing factors and underlying causes, customized to each partner’s capacity. These tools are integral to co-development sessions (Figure 2) and form the core of MONITO. They facilitate streamlined discussions, promote evidence-based action development, and guide the entire process from planning to implementation, ensuring actions are based on collaborative analysis and realistic capacities. Click here for an example of the MONITITO tool

What Insights Do MONITO Reports Provide?
MONITO reports offer detailed insights into implementation of co-developed actions by emergency, location, time, and/or by partner (click here for an example of the MONITO tool). These reports:
- Classify and track the types of actions being co-developed
- Note and identify reasons for any implementation delays or abandonments.
- Provide indicators for monitoring the progress of co-developed actions
- Document agreed-upon deadlines for achieving specified objectives
MONITO Ensures Operational Actions
MONITO effectively identifies and addresses challenges and limitations in implementing co-developed actions. It helps to clarify:
- Why certain actions are implemented while others are not.
- The reasons behind the varying levels of engagement among different partners, such as NGOs versus the UN.
- The discrepancy in action development and implementation across diseases like Ebola, Plague, and COVID-19.
Understanding these dynamics allows for strategic responses, including redefining actions to ensure feasibility, augmenting support, and enhancing team training for more effective action implementation.
For more detail please see this IOA Network Session where Izzy Scott Moncrieff describes the application of MONITO in DRC (Figure 3)
Figure 3: The application of MONITO in DRC